West Gippsland Cricket Association – round 7

By Ian Ferguson
CLYDE snatched an exciting onerun victory over Merinda Park when round seven started after the Christmas break on Saturday.
In other Agrade matches in the limitedovers round, Beaconsfield overcame Pakenham in a highscoring encounter and Tooradin overwhelmed Emerald.
The challenging total of 7/185 was compiled by Clyde from its allocated 40 overs after the host side Merinda Park invited it to bat first.
Promising allrounder Callum O’Hare top scored with a well compiled 49, club stalwart Simon Rogers added a valuable 33, while Jarred Leontini and Mick McGuiness both recorded 20s.
Shannon Mathers, who claimed 3/40 from his eight overs, was the Cobras’ main strike bowler, while his younger brother Jess Mathers (1/20) and veteran Rick Dennerley (1/33) both bowled tidy eightover spells.
The host side then began its run chase promisingly, before a middleorder batting collapse saw it fall short by an agonising one run.
Skipper Brett Armitage top scored with a fighting 62 notout, opener Peter Jessop compiled 36, while numberten batsman Adrian Slater added a crucial 31 runs late in the day.
Clyde’s bowling hero was newcomer T. Adams who took the excellent figures of 5/28 from eight overs, while newball operators Callum O’Hare and Shane Webster both bowled accurate spells.
Pakenham’s early order batsmen pounded the Beaconsfield attack, savaging 94 runs from the first 16 overs before being dismissed for the competitive total of 188.
Alan Ruddell scored an unconquered 39, captaincoach Rawan Weerawardane contributed an exhilarating 36, Sean Gramc reached 32, while Kalantha Ramanayake and Daryl Rooks both scored 20s.
Tiger allrounder Ryan O’Connor (3/25 from seven overs) and assistant coach Jason Dodd (2/25 off eight overs) were the host’s best bowlers.
Returning opening batsman Kris Fletcher then scored a superb 98 and his commanding 106run stand with Don Kerslake helped set up a comfortable victory.
Kerslake notched 41 and an undefeated 54 from captaincoach Luke Sibley saw the Tigers easily retain the Bruce Pollard Shield after they reached the formidable total of 3/204.
Emerald endured a horror day at Tooradin.
The Bombers’ rapid spiral to defeat began in the early overs of the day when accomplished opener Mark Alenson was needlessly run out for 8 and overall their small total of 103 was a disappointing result.
Numberten batsman Aaron Cameron top scored with a defiant 31, but the rest of the batting squadron were grounded for low scores.
Ricky Holland made a pleasing return to Agrade ranks, collecting the fine figures of 4/22 from eight overs, while Greg Bethune (2/21) and Brenton Adams (2/21) also bowled telling eight over spells.
Adam Baumgardner (0/11 from eight overs) dried up the runs effectively in his accurate eightover spell, while skipper Trevor Johnston snapped up three catches.
Johnston and his young fellow opener Sean Baker then cruised past Emerald’s total without mishap and the score of 113 was reached before Baker fell for 32.
Johnston continued his fine batting form by compiling an excellent 80, while the consistent Andrew Sparks reached 48.
Aaron Cameron ended a personally satisfying match by capturing 4/41 from his eight overs in the Emerald attack.
In other matches, Officer (4/190) defeated PakenhamUpper Toomuc (9/188) and Devon Meadows defeated Kooweerup.