THE deadly blade of Declan Hogg wasn’t enough to condemn Murrabit to their first loss of the season as the Blues strolled on to record their seventh win across all competitions.
Chasing 197 to win, Kerang looked set for an upset victory with Hogg (95 off 67) playing one of the knocks of the season in an innings that included 15 fours.
Besides an 80-run opening stand, Hogg was unable to find any partners to go with him on his rampage.
But sitting at 3/147 and 7/170 at stages, Kerang was still considered as favourites to usurp the competition’s benchmark.
Yet Murrabit is the best in the NDCA for a reason, and when the heat was on, they cranked it up to take 7/23.
When Cooper Hein (3/7 off three overs) bowled Hogg, the air went out of the Kerang balloon.
Hein was excellent in his short burst and was well backed up by Michael Hartley (3/36 off 7.1) and Simon Kelly (2/37 off eight).
Earlier, Murrabit posted 9/196 from their 40 overs.
It was a team effort, with skipper Tim Millard (30), Nathan Henry (43) and Hartley (39) all contributing.
Kerang used 10 bowlers throughout the innings, with the wickets column shared evenly.
Tyler Schmidt was the pick, however, taking 2/24 off his six overs.
Kerang is in good form and faces a winnable game against Koondrook next week, while Murrabit travels to Barham.
