Greenvale Kangaroos score upset 25-run win over Camberwell Magpies

Cellar dweller Greenvale Kangaroos sprung one of the upsets of the Premier Cricket season after scoring a 25-run victory over finals aspirant Camberwell Magpies.

Dylan Hodge bends his back. Picture: Hamish Blair

Camberwell Magpies suffered a shock 25-run defeat at the hands of Greenvale Kangaroos on Saturday as it resumed its Premier Cricket campaign after mid-season break.

Set 184 for victory, the Magpies were dismissed for 158 on a deteriorating wicket against the competition cellar dweller to fall out of the top eight after building some pre-Christmas momentum.

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Camberwell coach Brad Loveluck said conditions progressively became more difficult as the day progressed.

“I think the toss played a big part in the game, however you have to give full credit to Greenvale because obviously they’ve made the most of the conditions and posted 180-odd on a track that deteriorated throughout the day,” Loveluck said.

“I didn’t say anything to the umpires but the umpires came up to me after the game and said, ‘the best we can do is put a report in’ because three batters were dismissed with balls that rolled.

“It was probably a little bit underprepared … but in saying that we should have been good enough to get the runs so you have to give a bit of credit to Greenvale for the fight they had with the ball.”

Ball game. Roos bowl out @MagpiesCMCC for 158 to get our second win of the year @vicpremcricket

— Greenvale Kangaroos (@GreenvaleRoosCC) January 12, 2019

Camberwell Magpies import Lewis McManus logged his first half-century of the season but failed to find the support needed to give the Magpies their sixth win of the summer.

McManus hit 7 fours and 2 sixes in his knock of 74 from 99 balls, only to be removed by paceman Nathan Johnson when it appeared he may guide the visitors to victory.

“I still felt like we could knock them off even nine-down but every time we got in front of the run-rate, obviously the pitch got slower and lower and was even harder to score on,” Loveluck said.

“Lewie was a tad ahead of the run-rate the whole time he was in and it probably wasn’t until he got out that it made it quite hard.”

Captain Andrew Fekete had earlier grabbed four wickets to claim his best figures for the season of 4-26 from 10 overs, while Will Walker finished with 2-33 to help restrict the Roos to 9-183 from their 50 overs.

Greenvale was 6-115 but a 49-run stand for the seventh wicket between Zaheer Hussain (34) and Bernard Kelly (26) took the home side to a competitive total.

Camberwell lost wickets at a steady rate, falling to 3-44 and 6-97 as Sunam Gautam (3-21), Johnson (3-28) and Kyle Adams (2-29) turned the screws.

Gautam removed Magpies star Simon Hill (22) lbw just as he was looking comfortable before trapping Adit Pawha leg-before for a duck.

Camberwell sits in 10th place on the ladder and will host Dandenong at the Sports Ground in a one-day fixture on Saturday.