The fight for a home final in the 2021/22 Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association summer between Penola and Mil Lel is no closer to being decided after a see-sawing opening day at McCorquindale Park.
Under the Saturday afternoon sunshine amidst the vineyards, the Eagles hoped to drive home the advantage after batting first and controlling the first session of play.
Openers Jack Mullan and Lewis March were watchful against the new ball before the former got going with a couple of boundaries off Logan Gibbs.
Mullan was timing the ball sweetly and showing a similar rich vein of form that helped him score a century in his previous hit at the venue seven days earlier, while March was watchful in defence.
The duo had negotiated the first hour with success and put 43 runs on the board.
But a period of dot-ball pressure from Mil Lel captain Jack Miller brought about March’s downfall for 13.
Despite the breakthrough, the visitors struggled to get on top and take a regular chain of wickets as Penola’s top order dug in to provide strong support for Mullan.
Lachlan Jones and Mark Smith both batted time to irritate the visitors throughout the second hour of play before tea.
Jones carefully crept to 11 before falling to the spin of Mitch Little, while Smith played an innings of two extremes.
Smith soaked up many dot balls, but still managed to get off the mark with a towering six before repeating the dose against Little in the following over.
Even after the onslaught, the returning captain’s strike rate remained less than 50, but he helped the Eagles rise to the formidable position of 2/100.
With Mullan looking imperious and set for another big score after he raised the bat for a third half century in five knocks, the Mil Lel fielders braced themselves for a day of toil.
However, the return of Nick Walters into the bowling cartel was a masterstroke from Miller.
Walters bowled well without luck with the new ball, but found some magic with the old Kookaburra to flip the game upside down.
Across the 14-over spell, the right-arm paceman was close to unplayable and broke things open by beating Smith’s defences.
Walters then removed Drew Clayfield, Jack Schulz and Michael Walters for single-figure scores, while trapping Mullan lbw after he scored 167 runs since his last dismissal.
After Walters took 5/23 and Miller struck twice in one over, suddenly Penola was shaking at 9/150.
But one man remained and had ammunition for any situation.
George Kidman used his expertise to farm the strike and score 34 vital runs in quick time to boost the total up to a more than competitive 181.
Kidman and number 11 Josh Doyle scored 31 runs for the last wicket and opened the possibility of batting through the entire day before Gibbs struck the pad of the tail-ender.
The flourish forced Mil Lel’s openers to grit their teeth through a daunting five-over stay before stumps.
Craig Lock and Gibbs concentrated hard and gritted their way through to fight another day on five and one not out respectively.
