Mil Lel V East Gambier

Starting the day away from home four down was not the desired position for Mil Lel, but that it’s where they found themselves in Saturday’s Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association Barber Shield.

The pressure was on the Mil Lel batsmen who were struggling to score early in the day.

A boundary at the end of the second over from Ty Dinninson provided some hope for a change in momentum.

East’s bowlers would not allow it to happen, with the boundaries being backed up by two maiden overs.

The last ball of the 22nd over spelt disaster for Mil Lel when Dinninson was caught by Peter Kerr off Liam Turley’s bowling.

The tight bowling from East continued and the pressure continued for Mil Lel as they were unable to find consistent runs.

Two boundaries within quick succession placed the pressure back on the East bowlers and they responded well.

Alex Hentschke claimed his fifer with the wicket of Craig Lock trapped LBW for nine.

Mil Lel then found themselves in a tough situation at 6/66.

Still requiring 88 runs with only four wickets remaining, East had Mil Lel in a tough spot.

The tail started to wag in the 34th over with Logan Gibbs smacking Emerson Marks for two sixes in three balls.

Marks finished the over off well with three dots.

The following over started with another three dots and then on the fourth ball East found another breakthrough.

Archer Virtanen was bowled by Connor Little for a very hard fought 12 off 37 balls.

Mil Lel’s situation had become dire, a seventh straight loss was likely to become reality.

The situation worsened when Karthik Srikande did not stick around, only facing five balls when Marks bowled him for a duck.

Another tail-ender who stood up for Mil Lel was Logan Gibbs who departed the crease for 17, with Little bowling Gibbs to claim his second wicket for the day.

Gibbs’ 17 came off 31 with he and Virtanen trying their best to save the side in a tough run chase.

Harry Hicks and Nick Walters were the last batters with an extremely difficult task ahead, needing 61 runs from the last wicket.

East did not need to worry about a last stand for long with Walters caught off Marks’ bowling.

East Gambier claimed the win by 57 runs as Mil Lel’s batsmen were unable to stay around to develop a partnership that worried East.

East now looks locked in for a finals spot and Mil Lel continues to look like it could go winless for the season.

South Gambier v Penola

After posting a solid 199, Penola started the day on the right foot with some tight bowling in the first few overs.

South Gambier got the first boundary away but the last ball of the over brought the wicket of Jared Kuhl for four, caught LBW by Lachy Jones.

Only four balls later Elwood Geary was joining his opening partner in the sheds caught for a 22 ball duck.

Two quick wickets soon became three when Michael Waters bowled Adam Somerfield for a three ball duck.

South had quickly found itself in a lot of trouble at 3/10 after only eight overs.

An eight run over started to get South in the right direction, with the runs starting to be more consistent.

However, as they started to build a partnership which could get them back into the game Penola set them four down.

David Somerfield left the crease for nine off 19 deliveries, caught for Waters’ third wicket of the day.

Dan Loupus was joined by Jed Sims at the crease and they caused major headaches for the Penola bowlers.

Joshua Doyle eventually broke the partnership with the big wicket of Loupus who looked dangerous for his 37.

Stephen Easterbrook and Sims continued the fight back with a 10-run over following the wicket of Loupus.

The runs started to flow for South as it scored quickly and boundaries became frequent, with Penola struggling to find an answer for the South batsmen.

Easterbrook led the counter-attack before he was dismissed, scoring his 41 off 45 balls including seven fours.

Sims and Easterbrook had completely turned the game in South’s favour, with the 51st over starting with back-to-back boundaries for Sims off Waters, the following over Jack Mullan dismissed Sims caught by Jones.

Sims’ fighting innings was a crucial one for South, with his 35 coming off 117 with only two fours.

South managed the scoreboard well finding runs when they needed to, Penola struggled to find the required wickets after a strong start.

Zac Zema claimed a consolation wicket of Robert Drenthen for 24 as the runs continued for South, with the Penola’s total proving to be too little.

Waters claimed his fourth wicket of the day bowling Michael Sims for a hard-earned 32 from 102 balls.

The 76th over rubbed salt into the wounds of Penola with Opie hitting 11 and Scott Bradbrook hitting a boundary.

Gerard Merrett ended tallied 15 runs and the following over Bradbrook was caught for Zema’s second wicket.

Opie remained not out for a quickfire 28 off just 13 balls including four fours and one six, with South Gambier’s innings finished all out for 231, 32 runs over the score set by Penola the previous week.

North Sportsmans V West Gambier

Chasing a massive 232 that West Gambier had set last week, North Sportmans was hoping the home ground advantage would help get the side over the line.

There were dots aplenty early as North started to build scoring momentum, however the bowling tightened up and the dots became a constant again.

West finally claimed its first wicket with the first ball of the 10th over, with Nicholas Brown bowled by Sam Willis after a good start to get to 10.

North continued to fight hard, with Mitch Lewis hitting Trent Badman for four, however Badman took his revenge the very next ball.

Lewis was caught off Badman’s bowling for six and North’s captain left the crease with his side in a bit of trouble.

A short time later, Matthew Robinson was also dismissed LBW for Badman’s second wicket of the day.

Robinson’s nine came off 61 balls as he fought hard for his wicket.

Two quick wickets of Copping and Kenny had North go from 3/27 to 5/40.

North, still well behind the total set by West, needed someone to stand up to lead the run chase.

Elliot Fisher looked in as he passed the 20 mark and North hoped he could stick around.

It was not to be though and Sam Willis dismissed him for 22 off 67 balls faced.

Thomas Madigan provided some support to Harry Fisher and together they hit 13 off a Jack Geddes over.

Badman came back on and claimed his third wicket for the game, with Madigan out for eight, quickly followed by Harry Fisher the next over.

Fisher’s innings came to an end thanks to Willis, finishing 35 runs which included two fours and a six.

At 8/96 the game looked all but over, however West still had to finish it – and they would.

Willis took the final two wickets to bowl North all out for 100.

Willis claimed a five-for from his bowling, with three wickets for Badman and two for Kyal Chapman.

West claimed the win by a massive 132 runs, with North lacking fight they were bowled out in 51 overs.

Finals for North seem very difficult from here, with a win next week a necessity, West however will be guaranteed finals and the top spot looking all but theirs.