A blistering 68 by Shaun Taylor guided Iona Cricket Club’s first eleven to a good win against Western Park in round one of the Warragul and District Cricket Association, played in perfect conditions at the WHK Armitage oval on Saturday.
The Parkers won the toss and sent Iona in to bat and broke through early as P. Hughes dismissed Luke Ferguson early with Will Grbic and Andrew Davidson following soon after.
Craig Byrnes made a handy 20, but when he was dismissed, Iona was in a vulnerable position at 4/45.
Shaun Taylor came to the crease and had an immediate influence with a couple of sizzling strokes.
Good support came from Scott Hoare and Scott McKay as Taylor reached his 50 and guided Iona past the 100 mark.
Taylor’s swashbuckling innings ended when he was caught on 58, but some good efforts late in the innings from Sean McCormack (13) and Oscar Braaksma (14 not out) helped Iona reach a total of 167.
J. Laffy was the Parkers best bowler snaring 3/15.
Shaun Taylor continued his great day picking up the first two wickets for his side. P. Croft played a steady, solid innings for his team, but thanks to the likes of Grbic and Hoare, wickets kept falling around him.
There was a glimmer of hope for the Parkers when Croft and Hughes combined for 41, but when Braaksma made the breakthrough the tail fell away to see Western Park fall short by 30 runs.
Will Grbic and Shaun Taylor each took 2/21 and Andrew Davidson chipped in at the end with 2/13.
SECONDS
A brilliant fivewicket haul by Phil Medley helped Iona to a hardfought victory in a lowscoring contest over Western Park.
Iona was sent in to bat and lost Jason Kelly and Nathan Vistarini early both to opening bowler D. Brain.
Opener Roger Bain and Michael Neilson put on a handy partnership of 34 for the fourth wicket to steady the ship.
Neilson’s 20 included two sixes and Bain made a solid 22, both men fell in quick succession to off spinner J. Rabl.
The tail struggled to supply runs, but thanks to Bob Rogers (10 not out) and Russell Ferguson (7 not out) the team was able to bat out its overs to finish with a total of 9/79.
J. Rabl was the Parkers best bowler claiming 3/10.
Western Park’s innings started well with the openers looking solid.
Iona skipper Gary Donoghue then brought himself on with immediate effect, picking up the first wicket, Ross Donoghue grabbed another soon after and Michael Neilson’s brilliant direct hit another couple of overs later had Iona back in the game.
Back from injury, Medley picked up the vital wicket of P. Jeffery and with the pressure now on the Parkers, along with great bowling from Gary Donoghue and Phil Medley the wickets began to fall.
Medley took a great caughtandbowled to remove S. Price for 26 and Donoghue removed his opposite number M. Jeffery for a duck.
His superb spell continued to cause Western Park’s batsmen all sorts of problems and thanks to a couple of top catches from Bob Rogers and Nathan Vistarini he soon had five wickets.
Medley was brilliant, finishing with 5/4 from his eight overs in what will go down as a memorable win for Iona seconds.
