CASTERTON DISTRICT has thrashed St Andrews at Island Park 1 to keep its finals hopes alive, after Kane Forbes smashed the ball to all parts of the ground in recoding his maiden A Grade century in round nine of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association competition.


The Maroons were forced to use the hard wicket at Island Park after damage to the turf wicket caused by corellas, but it did not faze the home side as Kaden Humphries won the toss and elected to bat first.


The early wicket of Carey Megaw (nine) saw Forbes come to the middle to join Ben Holmes and the pair added 75 for the second wicket as Holmes caught the eye with fine 32 with a couple of boundaries and a six.


Forbes was joined by Rick Killey and after Forbes enjoyed a life when on 20, the pair were quick to turn the strike over and the runs flowed as the Saints bowlers wilted in the heat.


The pair took the score past 100 and then 150 and appeared to be set to bat out the overs when Killey (30) was caught by Michael Fitzpatrick from the bowling of Brendan Huf, with seven overs remaining in the innings.


Forbes had raised his bat to acknowledge the applause from the home town crowd after reaching 50 but he was in no mood to hand his wicket over as he flayed the ball to every part of the ground.


Once Killey departed the home side seemed to lose its way as Humphries (15), Justin carlin (golden duck), Logan Gibbs (duck), Oliver Foster (golden duck) all came and went in the chase for quick runs.


Forbes was finally dismissed for a stunning 123 from only 111 balls, with the ball rebounding off the fence six times and sailing over it an incredible 10 times.


So dominant was he that he scored 123 of the 216 runs while he was in the middle, but the Maroons lost 6/54 in that final seven overs as the tally finished on 8/232 with Brendan Huf claiming 3/36 while stand-in Drews skipper, John Walsh took 3/59.


After the tea break the home side came out determined not to lose and the early wicket of Michael Fitzpatrick (four), bowled by Carey Megaw gave the side the start it needed.


Huf and Fraser Hill came together and added 36 for the second wicket, but with the fall of Hill (16) with the score on 40 the visitors proceeded to lose their last nine wickets for only 50 runs.


Huf (28) once again top scored for his beloved Drews in his milestone game, where he was celebrating his 250th match, but aside from Rylan Pech (14) there was little to no support for the veteran.


Casterton District secured the bonus point by dismissing the visitors for only 90 as Carlin (3/4) and Fletcher Bright (3/17) shared the bowling honours.


The win lifts the Maroons into seventh on the ladder and they are less than eight points behind the Drews who are fifth, but they are 15 points adrift of fourth place and cannot afford to lose even one game if they want to feature in the finals.


TAHARA d GORAE-PORTLAND


TAHARA has recorded its second victory since returning to the top grade this summer with a nail biting one wicket victory at Alexandra Park against Gorae-Portland.


The Blue Caps made the road trip to Portland knowing the hosts were in good form even though the side was disqualified after playing an ineligible player against Casterton District in the last round before Christmas.


Go-Ports won the toss and elected to put runs on the board for their visitors to chase, but two early wickets to Taine Morris gave Tahara the early advantage the bowlers refused to hand back.


The home side could only watch on as the first seven wickets fell with only 80 runs on the board and the Blue Caps attack mopped up the tail to have their batsmen only needing 116 to win.


Morris was the pick of the bowlers with 3/29 while Nathan Slaughter, Ross Hopkins and James Povey grabbed a brace of wickets each in support to restrict the strong batting line up.


With the top three batsmen in the order all back in the hutch with only 31 on the board, it fell to Sam Brewer to stage a rescue operation from the number four spot.


He found a willing partner in Hamish Myers (14) as the pair took the tally to 67 before Myers fell.


James Povey (four) turned the strike over to Brewer and they took the score to 4/99 and seemingly bound for an easy victory, but Povey was bowled by the leading wicket taker in the competition Tom Roberts and this caused a collapse to eventuate.


Roberts had Kieran Barker bowled two balls later then had Brewer (46) well caught by Andre Wallace and then Nick Wills chimed in with the scalps of Slaughter (seven) and Harry Armstrong (duck) to have all the momentum with the home side as Tahara had slumped to be 9/113.


Thankfully for the Blue Caps Jayden Dark (one-not-out) and Hopkins (two-not-out) guided the side through to the winning runs, but there were many fingernails being bitten before victory was achieved.


Roberts was the pick of the Go-Ports attack with 3/17 (which lifted him to the 20-wicket barrier for the summer and still four games remaining), while Wills finished with 2/8 both from a full eight over spell.


Tahara has the opportunity to climb even higher on the ladder as the team hots Hamilton next round, while Gorae-Portland is at home again but against second placed Macarthur.


PIGEON PONDS d COLLEGE


ON paper this should have been a fairly simple task for Collage at Pigeon Ponds Recreation Reserve, but the home side wanted revenge for its loss in the T20 grand final at the hands of the Eagles and despite having to hunt down a sizable target, the Pigeons cruised to victory by six wickets.


Lachie Watt won the toss for the Eagles and had no hesitation in batting first on the hard wicket with Jack Austin and Charles Murrie looking to get the side away to the usual fast start.


After a Jack Beaton first over that only went for four runs, Pigeon Ponds skipper Hamish McCrae made the vital breakthrough with his first ball of the game as he had Murrie (golden duck) nicking off.


Austin was reserved in his play as his return of eight from 24 balls demonstrated as McCrae struck again in the seventh over with 25 on the board as Austin was caught by Beaton.


George Macdonald was in great touch as he scored at run-a-ball pace, and after raising the bat for his 50, he was out hit-wicket to the bowling of Anthony Close for 53 from 52 balls with six boundaries and a maximum.


Adrian Burn has been the best batsman for College this summer and he once again was in full flight as he posted a fine 80 to reach the 400-run barrier for the summer.


Lachie Brown (26 from 15 balls) and James Cole (18) ensured the visitors posted an imposing 8/217, while McCrae was the only bowler with multiple wickets with 3/38.


The run chase certainly was not helter-skelter as Simon Close and Peter Staude were happy to knock the ball around scoring at run-a-ball pace with the pair adding 77 from the first 12 overs before Burn had Staude caught by Austin for 25.


McCrae (10) gave some support to Close but at the drinks break after the first 20 overs, the home side was 2/106.


The visitors had to wait until the 35th over for their next success as Ben Hanrahan (55) and Close took the tally to 206 before Jordy Anthony struck a double blow with the wickets of Hanrahan and Anthony Close in the same over.


Simon Close raised his bat to acknowledge his second century of the summer and hi finished with 110-not-out to steer the Pigeons to a much-needed victory as he struck 12 boundaries and a further three maximums from the 101 balls he faced.


Anthony (2/51) was the only multiple wicket taker for College.


Ponds has a derby game against Casterton District at home next round with the loser of the game looking ahead to next season while the winner will keep its finals hopes alive.