MURRABIT’S terrific start to the season has transferred over to the Swan Hill Pools and Spas Northern District Cricket Association T20 competition.
The competition, to be played until mid-January, started on Saturday and Murrabit continued their regular season form with a 52-run victory over Kerang.
Murrabit lost the crucial wicket of Nathan Henry early for a duck, with Jon Roberts dislodging his bails on his way to 3/22, Kerang’s best bowling figures.
After Henry’s dismissal, captain Tim Millard (59) and Blake Watts (25) took the game to their opponents in a strong partnership.
When Watts departed, Brent McKnight (1) and Simon Kelly (golden duck) quickly followed and Kerang were right back in the contest at 4/61.
Seasoned campaigner Neil Teasdale steadied the ship, though, with a run-a-ball 23 before Simon Ettershank smashed 19 from nine balls, the innings ending on 7/146.
In reply, Kerang was never in the contest as the evenness of the Murrabit side was on full display, with all seven bowlers used picking up at least one wicket.
Roberts (19) and Matthew Hodgson (27) were the only two to play an innings of any substance.
Kerang faces Barham after the Christmas break on January 14 in the second week of the T20 competition, while Murrabit will next welcome Koondrook to Riverside Park.
Koondrook vs Barham
KOONDROOK has taken out the derby against Barham by six wickets to get revenge on their cross-town rivals from their loss on the regular season’s opening weekend.
Sent into bat first, Barham produced a tale of starts with little substance as four players scored between 20 and 29.
After a 41-run opening partnership, Koondrook picked up the key wicket of Chameera Akurugoda (20) to halt the breaks on a promising-looking innings.
Barham would lose 4/17 in a strong period for the bowling side, before a vital 55-run fifth wicket partnership that included a run-a-ball 27 not out from Jade Stewart gave them a defendable total of 4/113.
However, Koondrook made light work of the chase, getting home with two overs to spare and four wickets lost.
The win was Koondrook’s first of the season and should give them plenty of confidence post-Christmas.
Wandella
IT was double delight for Gannawarra-based side Autopro Wandella in the Swan Hill District Cricket Association’s McDonalds T20 competition.
Heading into the double header with no prospect of making the grand final, the Bombers fired up and stunned a strong Pizza Kitchen Tigers away in Woorinen.
The Bombers welcomed back skipper and star batsman Gregory Dickson into their line-up and the competition’s leading batsman made a big difference.
A scare was sent through the Bombers camp early in their chase of 142 when they lost in-form opener Patrick Oliver for a golden duck.
Dickson (28 off 14) came in and produced a quick-fired counterattack to get the Bombers back on track.
Sitting at 4/87 and in trouble, a fantastic 58-run partnership from Luke Murray (32 not out) and Daniel Higgs (31 not out) got the Bombers over the line with four balls to spare.
This was backed up by a more comfortable victory against the Phones R Us Blues in the T20 season’s final round.
After the Bombers were sent in to bat, Brenton Caldwell (3/17) was causing major headaches for them by taking wickets, getting runouts and swallowing catches.
But not even Caldwell had an answer to Dickson, who smashed 73 from 55 balls.
Dickson now has 225 runs at 75 from four innings this season and is one the inform batsman of the SHDCA.
His blistering innings gave his side a total of 144 and the Blues never really looked like chasing it down.
Ryan Barnes’ early wicket of Ryan Hinton was huge, and if it weren’t for Stuart Patterson (40) and Caldwell (44), it would have been a lot worse for the men from North Park.
The Bombers triumphed by 13 runs and head into Christmas in the top four of the SHDCA’s main competition, with the T20 points transferring to the main ladder.
