LJ Hooker League: Wrap, results, standouts from round three

There were some truly remarkable performances as the wickets tumbled during a wild weekend of action in the LJ Hooker League.

There were some brilliant spells of bowling and quite stunning batting collapses during a dramatic round three of the LJ Hooker League.

In what was the first weekend of two-day fixtures, the ball well and truly dominated the bat at a couple of venues, which led to some quite remarkable scorelines.

This was no more evident than at Ron Hill Oval where a whopping 16 wickets fell in the clash between Alstonville and Tintenbar-East Ballina, at an average of 8.8 run per dismissal.

“It was unbelievable, I’ve never been involved in something like it,” said Alstonville’s Jack Oates. “We had a really challenging time with the bat. The Tintenbar guys bowled well,” he added.

“But our opening bowlers Terry Murphy and young Lachie Barnes, who’s only 16, absolutely tore shreds and were bowling with really good heat, really good speed, really good accuracy. A couple of really good catches were taken as well.”

Terry Murphy led the line for Alstonville. Photo Ursula Bentley@CapturedAus

Batting first, Alstonville struggled with the willow, slumping to 5-48 before being bowled out on 9-104, on account of being down one player.

In a brilliant display of bowling, at one stage the Tintenbar attack bowled five consecutive maidens while spearhead Steven Leahy finished with brilliant figures of 5-20 from 15.5 overs, going at just 1.26 runs per over.

However not to be outdone, the Alstonville bowlers put on one of the most remarkable performances seen in recent memory, ripping through the top order to leave their rivals at 7-38 after 25 overs.

Remarkably, opening bowlers Terry Murphy and Lachlan Barnes combined to take a stunning 5-0 over a six-over spell to leave Tintenbar in all sorts at 5-6 after eight overs.

“To take 5-0 was unbelievable,” said Oates.

“The first wicket to fall was their strike batsman and we knew if we got him early then we could start to get a little run on, but we didn’t believe that was actually happened was possible. After one went another fell, and then after a couple of good catches from the boys the belief was sky high and we just kept rolling on.”

At one stage the team looked like rivalling state side Tasmania, which last week took 8-1 to dismiss Western Australia for just 53 in a national One-Day Cup game.

“There was talk of a similar collapse happening while we were out there, we did joke about that,” said Oates. “We had shades of that, it was incredible.”

Barnes finished the day with the incredible figures of 3-3 from six and Murphy 2-10 from seven, while debutant Harrison Hunt capped off a dream debut day with a couple of late wickets of his own to leave Tintenbar in struggling at 7-38.

“As a young kid, still playing juniors, he came in bowling medium-pacers and got the ball to swing and took two on debut, which was fantastic,” said Oates.

With so many wickets falling in a day’s play, Oates attributed the result to some excellent bowling rather than any serious demons in the wicket.

“It was down to really good bowling. There were some really good spells,” he said. “Lachie Barnes was bowling with tremendous speed, the quickest I’ve ever seen him bowl, which really troubled the Tintenbar batters.

“It was just line and length. There were a couple hitting the top of off stump, which is exactly what you want. One went to the keeper, one went to first slip and one went to second slip, so it was a really good spell of tight fast bowling.”

MARIST TURN ON HEAT AGAINST MURBAH

Brendan Mitchell took six wickets as Marist Brothers tore through Murwillumbah.

Hill Park wasn’t the only ground to witness wickets tumbling as Marist Brothers put on a clinic against Murwillumbah at Rabjones Oval.

Winning the toss and chose to bowl, the defending premiers bowled the Panthers out for just 77 before Joe Parsons made an excellent ton as the Brothers made it look easy with the bat and declared on 1-202.

From here they sent the home side back into bat, with Murbah finishing the day on 1-42 in its second dig.

“Our bowlers and fielders were really switched on,” said Marist skipper Brendan Mitchell. “We bowled exactly to our plan: nice and tight and we attacked the stumps early.

“We took our chances, they may have played a couple of rash shots but I think a lot of it came down to our bowlers getting the job done and putting the ball where they needed to.”

In a similar story to the Alstonville-Tintenbar game, Marist Brothers ripped through the Murbah top order, reducing the Panthers to an incredible 6-7 after eight overs.

“I looked up at the scoreboard at one point and thought they must have missed something,” said Mitchell.

“Normally if you get a couple of early wickets it’s a great start but you never expect that. We definitely were very happy to take it. They fought back really well, had a nice little partnership and batted well and ended up getting 70-odd. But hats off to our bowlers for doing the job that they did.”

The chief destroyer was Mitchell himself, who took 6-27 from 10 overs in an at times unplayable spell. He was well supported by opening partner Harrison Gillett (2-10) and spinner Harry Donelan (2-28).

“It felt a lot smoother than the week before,” said Mitchell. “I think that also helped having young Harry (Gillett) coming in from the other end, continuing to build pressure. We speak about it often in our side that pressure will bring wickets, so if we bowl in partnerships then we’ll do well and that’s what we did. But it definitely felt nice to contribute.”

Capitalising on the team’s fantastic performance with the ball, the team then rammed home its advantage with the bat, scoring at around a run a ball to record a total of 1-202 from 34 overs before declaring.

The innings was highlighted by an unbeaten 105 from 111 balls from 16-year-old opener Joe Parsons in what was his first ever ton.

“It was absolutely sensational,” said Mitchell. “He’s been waiting a long time to get his first hundred. He told me he missed out a couple of times in juniors and in the lower grades, so it was nice for him to cash in. He’s definitely got the skill and talent to do it, so it was good to see him get the job done.”

He added: “We’re very happy where we are but there’s still a lot of work to do. They won’t roll over and they showed in the second innings that they’ve got some fight, so we’ve got to come fully prepared to get the job done this Saturday.”