IT was a weekend for the bowlers in Round 16 of Swan Hill District Cricket Association, with three sides bowled out for less than 100 runs.
A six-wicket haul from Garry Lolicato wasn’t enough to see Barham Koondrook over the line against an Ultima TUF side playing on their home deck.
Lolicato was devastating with the ball early. Following the dismissal of Charlie Kingwill, TUF were 5/54 and Lolicato had taken four of those wickets.
But a late fightback from Jordan King, Samuel Nelson and Mitchell Seton-Stewart pushed the Roodogs’ total to 132.
Seton-Stewart top scored for TUF with 28, while King and Nelson scored 25 and 23 respectively, Lolicato finished with figures of 6/43 off 19 overs.
A first-wicket partnership of 25 may have filled the Raiders with confidence but after the loss of the top order, that confidence dwindled.
Ultima had their own bowler tear through the opposition, with Jordan King becoming the second bowler to take six wickets in the game.
King finished the game with 6/29 off 15.4 overs, while Tom Bell also played a key role with 3/15 off four overs.
Barham Koondrook’s lower order found runs difficult to come by, and were dismissed for 87 off 38.4 overs.
In-form side Woorinen piled on the misery for St Mary’s a day after the Bulldogs’ Kookaburra Cup loss, claiming a 9-wicket win after an all-round Darren Rushton masterclass.
St Mary’s were dismissed for just 93, as Rushton tore through the side to claim figures of 7/38 for the game. He was well supported by Gurmander Singh who took 3/53.
Jonty Chaproniere fought through the innings and made 25, two runs more than next best Jake Foster, while Riley Daniels finished the innings on 14 not out.
Woorinen were on the front foot with bat in hand, with Connor Fletcher smacking nine fours on his way to an unbeaten 52.
Fletcher picked apart the St Mary’s bowling during a 44-run partnership with his opening partner, before Jackson Hughes was dismissed for 8.
This wicket brought Darren Rushton to the pitch, and he followed up his bowling heroics with an unbeaten 55 runs, including 5 fours and 3 sixes.
The batting display was just too good, as Woorinen finished the game at 1/122.
It was a different story for the Kookaburra Cup victors, as Nyah District waltzed to a 10-wicket victory against Murrabit.
Batting first, Murrabit could only manage 72 runs against a bowling attack which kept things extremely tight.
Max Thompson took 4/14 off eight overs, while Joel Walsh took 4/26 off 16 overs.
Opening batsman Dean Harrop rolled the arm over for a couple of overs and walked away with a tidy 2/1 off 1.4 overs.
Harrop got the job done with the bat in under 10 overs, partnering with Charlie Boulton for 74 runs, Harrop scoring 44 not out, and Boulton an unbeaten 27.
Wandella got the better of RSL thanks to the introduction of young bowler Laing Waddingham.
In the absence of Peter Moore, Waddingham opened the bowling for the Bombers and showed that he was more than capable of being a spearhead.
The young man, likened by teammates to Nathan Bracken, took 5/39 in his 10 overs, while Ethan McKnight held up his end brilliantly, and took 3/33 off 17 overs.
Alarm bells were ringing early for RSL, but runs down the order almost proved to be important.
Paul Munro was a rock with the bat, scoring 44 off 95 balls and doing his utmost to protect his wicket, while Todd Day-Henery also provided important lower order runs with 25.
But Wandella took their innings slow and steady, eventually winning by four wickets in the 48th over, thanks to the batting performance of Gregory Dickson.
Dickson scored a quickfire 50 off 57 balls, including seven fours and a six, Patrick Oliver made 22 off 49 and Luke Murray proved hard to dismiss in a 130-ball 29 run performance.
