North Gambier V West Gambier
West Gambier started their round 9 Mount Gambier and District Cricket Association contest against North Gambier with a useful win of the toss.
West decided it was best to bat first and their decision paid off as they set a massive total for North’s batsmen to chase next week.
It was not the best of starts for West with opener Justin DeJong bowled by Isaac Mulraney for a 15 ball duck in the sixth over.
Nuwan Gunawardana was not deterred from scoring after losing his partner, sending the first ball of the following over for six.
North’s Declan Kenny was hit for two more boundaries in the over by Gunawardana and then 4 byes to rub salt into the wound.
Kenny fought back well after an 18 run over by delivering a wicket maiden that included the important wicket of Gunawardana.
Some tight bowling followed from the North bowlers, but West still managed to find the boundary enough to keep the runs flowing.
West captain Jake Blackwell started to get going hitting two sixes within 2 overs.
The bowling tightened and runs became hard to find for West.
The pressure became too much for Trent Badman, with Mulraney claiming his second wicket of the day leaving West 3 for 92.
Blackwell brought up his third half century of the season and would go on to reach West’s highest individual score for the season.
Kenny had him caught behind for 73, leaving the crease with West firmly in the lead at 4 for 135.
Sam Willis was joined by Bray Stephenson and the two batsmen built a handy partnership falling just two runs short of a 50 partnership when North finally found another breakthrough with Thomas Madigan picking up his first wicket of the day.
Samuel Coxon came to the crease and wasted no time hitting a four off the very first ball before lots of dot balls followed.
Elliot Fisher dismissed Coxon for 8, the very next over his partner Willis was also dismissed for 32 caught off the bowling of Mulraney.
West was 7 for 194 after the wicket of Willis, and they continued to find ways to score runs, however North managed to find wickets more frequently.
Jack Geddes was Fisher’s second scalp of the day bowling him for seven,
West found themselves 8 for 204, North had managed a mini fight back taking 3 for 14.
The last two wicket partnerships offered valuable runs for West before North finally bowled them out for a massive total of 232.
Mulraney finished the pick of the bowlers for North taking 4 for 50 from his 19 overs.
South Gambier V Penola
South Gambier travelled to Penola to take on the Eagles at their home ground.
South sent Penola in to bat first and it did not take long for them to find the first wicket.
South young gun Elwood Geary ripped through Penola’s Lewis March for 3, with Penola 1 for 6.
Things did not improve quickly for Penola as they quickly became 2 for 14 when Jack Shultz was caught for 8.
Some tight bowling from South restricted Penola to just 4 runs from the next 5 overs.
In the fourteenth over Penola started a fight back hitting nine off it, with the sixteenth over beginning with back to back boundaries.
Just as Penola seemed to be developing a big partnership that could turn the game around, South found a breakthrough.
Mark Smith was caught off the bowling of Jared Kuhl for 27.
The classic adage when there’s one there’s two was proven true when Smith’s partner Tom Clayfield followed the very next over.
Penola captain Drew Clayfield started an incredibly important captain’s knock.
Eli Hunter failed to get a proper start and was dismissed for only 9 and Penola found themselves in a precarious position at 5 for 69.
Clayfield and Michael Waters combined for an important 51 partnership that steered the game in Penola’s favour.
South captain Camron Jorgensen was the one to break the partnership, sending Waters back to the pavilion for 32.
Clayfield lost two partners in quick succession and South had Penola 8 for 130.
Zac Zema came to the crease and provided crucial support to Clayfield, with the partnership adding 44 runs to Penola’s total with Zema contributing 12 of those runs when dismissed by Geary.
The ninth wicket partnership was dominated by Clayfield who continued to provide important runs for his side.
Bringing up his second half century for the season, Clayfield was well in control heading into the 80s.
Unfortunately for Clayfield he ran out of partners when Merret was bowled by Kuhl for three.
South bowled Penola all out for 199, with Clayfield’s 83 not out top scoring for the innings.
South’s bowling attack all bowled well with five different wicket takers.
Kuhl proved to be the pick of the bowlers taking 3 wickets for 31 runs off 9 overs.
South batted out three overs without the loss of a wicket and only scoring two runs.
East Gambier V Mil Lel
The first day of the East Gambier and Mil Lel clash provided lots of action as East look well in front ahead of day two.
East won the toss and elected to bat first, with their openers beginning in the right fashion scoring at a consistent rate.
The seventh over brought Mil Lel’s first wicket with Nick Walters bowling James Sullivan for 13.
Things went from bad to worse two balls later when Walters found the stumps again, bowling Ben Robinson for 5.
The first ball of the very next over, East lost another wicket when Alex Hill was caught LBW for a duck by Logan Gibbs.
At 3 for 21 Emerson Marks and Dion Stratford were at the crease needing to provide an important partnership to rescue East’s innings.
They battled out for some time finding runs when they could but Mil Lel built up the pressure which eventually resulted in the wicket of Stratford for 7.
Marks continued to score runs with his new partner Connor Little at the crease.
Little struggled to find runs though and eventually the ball with his name on it found him, caught LBW to Walters.
East captain Alex Hentschke joined Marks at the crease and once again proved handy with the bat.
Together the pair took East to 100 but Hentschke did not stick, walking back to the pavilion for 17 having been caught off Gibbs’ bowling.
Marks was joined at the crease by Marc Roberts for his 5th partnership of the innings.
The loss of his captain did not affect Marks’ ability to score, in the 43rd over hitting Jack Miller for back to back boundaries.
Marks brought up his half century, an incredible performance and important innings for East.
William Rowland started his cleanup of East’s tail with the wicket of Roberts for 14.
The very next over Mil Lel finally had their man Talbot taking the wicket of Marks for his first and only wicket of the innings.
Marks departed the centre with a brilliant 72 that gave East a total they could defend.
Rowland put a stop to the chance of any tail wag with two quick wickets.
Ben Hentschke remained not out for East with 11.
East’s innings finished all out for 154, a great fight back from 3 for 21 thanks to an impressive knock from Marks.
Mil Lel having bowled East out then had to face out 16 overs.
Mil Lel’s innings started off slowly, they looked to score more quickly in the third over with Jarrod Sanders hitting 6 off the first three deliveries from Hentschke’s second over.
Hentschke fought back bowling Sanders for East’s first wicket.
Again East applied the pressure with dot balls, and once again Mil Lel looked to up the scoring leading to their downfall
Rowland knocked Hentschke for 8 off an over and with the final delivery of the over Hentschke then knocked Rowland’s stumps over.
Rowland made his way back to the shed for 10 and his side 2 for 18.
Hentschke continued to rip through Mil Lel’s batting line up with Brodie Pfitzner joining the openers back in the stands for a 5 ball duck.
Talbot rotated the strike well with Miller looking to build a strong partnership, however Hentschke again found the breakthrough.
Talbot was caught on 5 by Sullivan for Hentschke’s fourth wicket of the innings.
Ty Dinnison joined Miller at the crease and the pair batted out the remaining overs.
Miller finished the day 18 not out, Dinnison remained on 1.
Mil Lel sits at 4 for 42 going into day two.
