AIC First XI cricket: Thrills and spills of round 2
AIC First XI cricket: Stunning Villanova College fast bowling, a near century in a losing side and power batting highlighted round 2.
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Stunning Villanova College fast bowling, a near century in a losing side and some power batting highlighted round 2 of AIC First XI cricket today.
At Andrew Slack Oval, visiting St Peters Lutheran College were dismissed quickly by stunning Villanova College new ball bowlers Benjamin Jeffs (6-10) and Benjamin Fingland (4-14).
Jeffs and Fingland bowled their rivals out within 10 overs, with Saints mustering just 24 in reply to Villanova’s 7-216.
Just as the Indian cricket side was dismissed for a mere 36 earlier in the international summer, it was just one of those days in cricket when Villa seized the momentum early, and after a couple of early wickets, the rot set in.
“It is just one of those days where it all works. I felt for St Peters because they are better than that and were coming off a competitive game against Padua,’’ said Villa coach Nathan Dufty.
“I thought St Peters bowled and fielded well, so credit to them. It was just some late hitting that got us a decent target.’’
Curtis Beevers top scored with 13 for St Peters as Jeffs conceded just four runs off the bat after bowling six wides.
“Benny Jeffs has worked really hard to develop his game. He bowled really quick. stump to stump,’’ Dufty praised.
The day had started with great promise when Saints pair of George Thomas and Oscar Wright burst through for early wickets before home side Villanova College (7-216) steadied the ship.
Villa’s Dimitri Horton swung the match with a brisk (37, 24 balls) that carted his side well beyond 200 when, for most of the day, Saints were looking at a sub-200 run chase.
Horton’s teammates Baiden Parker (24) and the classy Louis Henderson also added 51 early on before the economical James Roberts had Parker caught by Wright.
Henderson, with four fours and a six, pushed Villa’s recovery toward 100 as the Saints bowling attack of Thomas, Wright, Roberts, Custis Beevers, Raju and Matthew Harvie encircled the batsmen with disciplined team bowling.
Harvie was then rewarded with the prized scalp of batting ace Henderson (59), whose 138 ball innings was highlighted by his shot selection.
When the ball was there to hit, Henderson clotted it, hitting seven fours and a six around his defence.
After Henderson was dismissed, Nicholas Fee (39, 59 balls) became the senior partner before Horton iced the innings with a late and sustained flurry.
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At neighbouring Iona College, leg-spinner Daniel Linning unravelled St Patrick’s momentum with a showstopping 10 over spell but it was not enough to secure victory for the home side.
Needing 39 runs off the last five overs, Iona fell short after Paddies’ all-rounder Bailey Reed (45, 22 balls) swung the match in his team’s favour earlier in the day.
Reigning AIC premiers St Patrick’s (7-189) dismissed Iona for 165, with Hayden Vickers taking 3-30.
The day started with Paddies sneaking along nicely at 0-54 when the retirement of Harrison Clench (14 not out) and the dismissal of one of the competition’s best batsmen - Charles Moore - halted Paddies’ progress.
With Linning building pressure from one end, Moore (35, 47 balls) was dismissed by Thisal Peiris - and then Linning claimed 2-0.
However, St Patrick’s recovery started when Benjamin Buechler then counterattacked for 22 runs, including three fours and a six, and another 30 minutes of his batting could have really done some damage.
But his innings gave only a hint of what was to follow when Reed unleashed.
Reed did not worry about hitting fours - he hit sixes, five of them in fact, and his 73 run partnership with Lachlan Hartshorn (20, 23 balls) came in the blink of an eye for Paddies.
Paddies fast finish to the innings was in contrast to earlier in the day when Linning finished with the compelling figures of 10-4-12-2, complementing the hard working efforts of bowling teammates Archer Linning, Mitchell Yarrow, Peris, Lachlan Piket and Bodie Richardson.
After Buechler’s dismissal, Braden Volker (22, 40 balls) before Piket deservedly got his man by hitting the stumps.
When it came time to bat, Reed and Volker both claimed early wickets for Paddies to reduce Iona College to 2-22.
Clench then did his bit with the ball for Paddies taking 1-21 from 10 overs and despite a marvellous lower order rally from Bodie Richardson (32) and Linning (20), Iona fell marginally short.
At Runcorn, Padua all-rounder Ryan Pembroke was superb after his teammates Thomas Francey and Joe Cotgreave had defiantly laid foundations for a challenging run chase for the St Laurence’s College batsmen.
Pembroke unleashed 64 runs from just 56 balls while Josh Nevill did even better with his 35 off 16 balls as the Padua innings exploded to 7-260.
In reply a gallant St Laurence’s made 208 after the classy Oliver Lunt (91) threatened to take the match away from Padua.
Lunt’s superb 91 from just 94 balls deserved a century and his 71 run partnership with Nicholas Parrott (33) gave Laurie’s more than a glimmer of hope.
Hats off to Lunt who could not have done more in the circumstances.
“He is good. He can bat that boy,’’ praised Padua assistant coach Simon Stower.
Stower said it was a mature batting performance from Padua that was well paced throughout.
“And the bowling, although they got a good score I was impressed how our bowlers stuck to it against a good batsman,’’ he said.
George Kelsall led the way with 4-31 for Padua while Pembroke backed up his batting effort with 2-34.
While Pembroke feasted to race to his 50 in just 45 deliveries, the hard work was done earlier in the day for Padua.
After Laurie’s Lochie Josefski (1-33, 10 overs) had prised apart the 49 run stand of Pacey Broadhurst (11) and Francey, Francey and Cotgreave then set about constructing a 77 run partnership which took the score to 1-126.
Then quick wickets by Noah Edmonds and Callum Reidy established Laurie’s challenge and an intriguing battle unfolded before Pembroke broke the match open.
Cotgreave (59, 92 balls) played second fiddle as Pembroke went on the attack with what shaped as a match defining innings.
When Cotgreave was dismissed by Max Peapell, Pembroke pushed on.
Luke Stenhouse (2-41, nine overs), Josefski and Noah Edmonds (1-31, eight overs) held firm under pressure for St Laurence’s at the bowling crease.
At St Edmund’s Tivoli Fields, Eddies’ trio of Angus Chisholm (17), Kobe Rae (45) and Samuel Callaghan rose to the occasion to challenge Marist College Ashgrove before Ashgrove spearhead Jacob Kumaru (4-22) pulled the rug from beneath the feet of the batsmen.
Ashgrove won the match by eight wickets, scoring 2-172 in reply to St Patrick’s 168.
“We applied ourselves in a chase that was challenging,’’ said Ashgrove coach Tom Gibson.
“They opened well when they batted and got themselves to a good start and we clawed it back in the middle session.
“Then we chased it pretty well. It was a good chase.’’
Earlier in the day St Edmund’s were 1-85 before Ash bowlers Jesse O’Neill, Baxter White, Nicholas Muir and Cooper Mackie worked Ashgrove back into the game.
Eddies were eventually dismissed for 168.
O’Neill (1-30) was bowled out early while White struck twice, including dismissing the well organised Rae who proved a handful during his well paced 90 minutes at the crease.
Around the wicket takers, Mackie kept things tight for Ashgrove at a time when Callaghan was itching for action.
Marist strike weapon Kumaru then returned to the attack to dismiss Callaghan (41, 93 minutes) and then claim another with three wickets at a time when St Edmund’s was hoping to launch its innings toward 200 runs.
When Ashgrove went into bat, openers Jaxon Barwell (45, 67 balls) and Jakub Bennett (40, 49 balls) got cracking, racing to 0-96 after 18 overs.
Eddies’ bowlers Patrick Schmidt and Harry Sammut deservedly took two quick wickets and Ashgrove had to start its run chase all over again.
But Mackie (42, 24 balls) and O’Neill (30, 32 balls) were in good touch and Ashgrove glided to victory.
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