A HAUL of late wickets has given Berwick Cricket Club’s turf-one side a reasonable run chase of 221 against Narre Warren next Saturday.
It was a local showdown at Sweeney reserve with the Bears taking the early honours with three early wickets.
However Berwick let Narre back into the game with a 49-run fourth wicket partnership. Will Carr had 1/13 as Narre Warren moved to 66 before Simon Cornell struck.
It was 3/63 at tea with 38 overs remaining and Ryan Crawford with a top 14-over spell took 1/43.
Narre cruised to 212 before it lost their sixth wicket.
The Bears stemmed the flow of runs as the Narre Warren batsmen hit out and collected the last five wickets for nine runs,
TURF TWO
Berwick bowlers ended the day on a high note as they restricted the Southern Pirates first XI to 181.
Marty McGauran held a sharp chance at point and Shaun Haberfield pulled off a lightning stumping off the bowling of Sean Gramc to make it 2/35.
Berwick raced through its overs and put the pressure on the Pirates batsmen, Sean Gramc bowling 10 overs for 1/22.
Rod Allan racked up the maidens and claimed two lbw’s to finish with 2/2 off seven overs. Matt Crosby put in a lion-hearted effort of 20 overs on the trot and was rewarded in his 16th over when Allan held a one-handed diving catchy at slip.
Crosby finished with 1/61 and Lloyd racked up the dot balls throughout his spell but also got some vitals wickets, grabbing two lbw’s and a third victim when McGauran held onto another outfield catch.
Lloyd ended with 3/46 and Darren Shepherd cleaned up at the end with 3/25 and the Bears were happy to keep the Pirates to 181 all out.
Berwick is on 0-33, with an exciting run chase this week.
TURF FOUR
Berwick is confident of another victory after a good team effort on day one of its clash with Maranatha Methodist.
Adam Baumgarder and Leigh Harris got the ball rolling for the Bears, Harris taking the first wicket. That opened the floodgates for Berwick with two more wickets with Wayne Viney joining in to make it 3/20.
Michael Wallace took a wicket in his first over and followed with a second as the score tumbled to 5/41.
Trevor McGeachin struck with his off-spinners and Berwick was proving far too strong with pressure coming from every one of the 11 players.
Ben Adams took a wicket with his first ball and grabbed two more as Berwick closed things out quickly. He ended the innings with 3/22, the other wickets shared between Harris, Viney and Wallace, all with two, and McGeachin with one.
The fielding was faultless, Wayne Margitich holding two catches and Viney, Harris and Brad Eagleton all clasping one, Matt Olver also latched onto one with the gloves.
The Berwick batsmen had 22 and finished with 1/30.
B GRADE
Berwick took on Narre Warren at Edwin Flack reserve with Carl Sutton returning for his first game of the season, bowling 16 overs and restricting the bats to 16.
He hit the spot from ball one and hardly wavered throughout his 16 overs split into two spells, just 20 runs coming from his bowling.
Aiden Harold offered great support from the other end but was unable to get a wicket,
Michael Dalzotto wasted no time when given the ball, having success in his first over.
Berwick had to fight hard for every wicket.
Shane Wylie got one wicket in his 11 overs and Adam Kruger had similar reward for his 11 overs as the score went from 3/79 to 4/148 as Berwick lost its way during the middle stages.
Berwick did well to hold the lower order of Narre’s line up as the score finished on 7/184 at compulsory closure.
C GRADE
Things started terribly for Berwick against Lyndale as its top order fell in a heap.
Only Matt O’Donoghue provided any resistance with 18 runs from his bat.
Berwick sunk to 8/52 before Ray Henry and Kyle Wills did their best to rescue the innings with a 91-run ninth-wicket partnership.
Henry hardly played a false stroke and Wills thumped six boundaries on his way to 35 just as he looked set to tear the game apart.
Henry hit his second consecutive half-century and remained not out 57 when Berwick lost its last wicket, a defendable score of 143 on the board.
Lyndale is 1/24 after ten overs.
D GRADE
Berwick sent Fountain Gate into bat and Brenton Thorpe made a great start with a couple of boundaries.
The first wicket fell at 39 and Geoff Wilcock came in to add 18 becoming the second victim, Berwick 2/69.
Jim Pickering got a handy 20 but there were few major contributors and if it weren’t for Thorpe’s 50, Berwick would have been in serious trouble. He helped Berwick build a defendable total of 170, extras also helping the cause.
The Bears bounced back with some sensational bowling, grabbing four quick wickets in eighteen overs.
Lyndale will resume this week on 4/20
E GRADE
Berwick put in a great team effort against Lyndale with Jim Koulos leading from the front with 3/14 and Xavier Gargarin 3/41 from nine overs.
J. Holden bowled well for 0-15 from eight and also took a neat catch while Marty Allan’s leg spin got him a wicket in his three overs. S. Tulley took two wickets and a catch and Matt Van Heswyk also got a wicket.
Berwick was set 140 for victory and had 36 overs left, couldn’t hold its nerve.
S. Tulley finished off a good day with 17 runs and Dave Ramsay (14) and Xavier Gargarin (17) but Berwick lost eight wickets in putting 101 runs on the board.
