IONA Cricket Club’s seconds have moved into third spot on the Warragul and District Cricket Association ladder after a relatively comfortable win over Drouin on Saturday.
Winning the toss Iona elected to field and started well getting a wicket in the second over.
Drouin then put on a solid partnership between Justin Hill and Bruce McGillvray with Hill doing the bulk of the scoring, making 29 in a partnership worth 40, before Dave Kelly ripped through his defences. Soon after McGillvray became Kelly’s second victim.
Drouin captain Michael Paez made a handy 22 until he nicked one to the keeper off the bowling of Jason Sheedy who bowled very well.
Drouin then lost a couple of cheap wickets, but a handy unbeaten partnership of 42 between Clay Bawden (24 not out) and Chris Gardiner (14 not out) helped take the side to 6/134 from 40 overs.
Jason Sheedy was the best of the bowlers with 2/17 off eight overs.
Iona’s run chase started well with Shaun McCormack and Jason Kelly putting on 40 for the opening stand until McCormack edged one on 19.
Iona soon lost two more wickets, Jason Kelly falling to an excellent catch in the deep for 30.
Dave Kelly and Michael Neilson then compiled a steadying partnership that reached 50 before the latter was caught on 33 in what proved to be a matchwinning partnership.
Dave Kelly pressed on playing a streaky, but effective, knock soon reaching his second half century of the season.
He along with Jason Sheedy let loose at the end, Sheedy’s bat going further than the ball on one occasion, but at the end of the day both finished unbeaten on 68 and 28 respectively in a partnership worth 79 and Iona finished the day 4/189.
FIRSTS
Iona had a disappointing result, going down to Drouin.
Winning the toss Drouin elected to bat and from there quickly stamped its authority mostly through John Perry who soon got going and began smashing the Iona bowlers to all parts of the field.
He along with Bryce McFadyn put on 100 for the opening stand until Shaun Taylor cleaned up McFadyn for 23.
Adrian Campbell also looked dangerous before being caught on 21 and with the score on 157. Perry’s blazing innings ended on 89 when Scott Hoare knocked him over.
Shaun Kleeven made a good 26 for Drouin and with the lower order chipping in with some decent scores, Drouin ended the day with 9/251. For Iona, Scott Hoare took 3/53 and George Lineham picked up two wickets.
Iona’s run chase started badly losing 3/15 at the start of the innings, Drouin skipper Adam Neumann leading the way with two of them. Scott Hoare and Andrew Davidson then resurrected the situation as they put on 60 for the fourth wicket.
Hoare fell on 21 and Davidson, who dominated the partnership, went just one run later for 41, this sparking a mini collapse for the Swamp Tigers as they lost 4/4 in the space of a couple of overs.
William Grbic, who has been in good form, and Daniel Tomasetti then put on a good partnership of 90 for the eighth wicket, the two left handers both playing very composed innings of 46 and 39 before both falling with the score on 169 and that’s where it finished.
For Drouin Adam Neumann bowled superbly taking 4/29 in what ended up a fairly comprehensive victory for the Maroons.
THIRDS
Iona had a good win over Jindivick at the weekend.
Jindivick batted first and started poorly, losing two early wickets to Nathan Vistarini.
Logan Colley (19) and M. Tyson (36) then put on a good partnership of 53 before Brian Campbell came on and picked up both wickets with the score on 65.
Jindivick then failed to put together any decent partnerships as Brian Campbell and Will Braaksma each picked up two more wickets. The Mitchell’s then finished their opponents off with one wicket each, Campbell the best of the bowlers with 4/28.
Iona lost both openers in Brian and Raymond Campbell for 12 and 10 and from there Iona’s captain Nathan Vistarini and Richard Mitchell took control, Mitchell the more aggressive of the pair as he soon begun to carve up the opposing attack.
Mitchell reached 50 and saw Iona past Jindivick’s score in an innings which contained some glorious shots before he was silenced on 71 when his stumps were knocked over by Alex Colley and the young lady soon found herself with another three wickets, but it was too little to late. Nathan Vistarini played a very solid knock, finishing unbeaten on 46 and Iona ended the day 7/182.
Alex Colley was the best of the Jindivick bowlers with 4/13.
PLAYERS WANTED
Anyone interested in playing senior or junior cricket is welcome to attend the Iona Cricket Club at Murray Rd, Iona on Thursday afternoons for training from 5pm or contact Andrew Davidson on 0438 709 705 or Michael Neilson 0438 295 966.
