Liam Murphy, Michael Stretton hit tons but Brunswick claims the victory

Skippers Michael Stretton and Liam Murphy duelled with the bat, both hitting impressive tons, but it was Brunswick that came out on top.

Liam Murphy in action for Brunswick.

It wasn’t high noon but there was a duel at Preston City Oval on Saturday.

Like a pair of wild west gunslingers, Brunswick and Preston captains Liam Murphy and Michael Stretton both scored centuries but it was the Wicks that walked away with the points.

Murphy’s 114 not out trumped Stretton’s 101 – both reaching triple figures for the first time this VSDCA season – to secure a nine-wicket win.

Murphy combined with young gun Will Lalor (53 not out) in a match-winning 138-run stand, chasing down the Bullants’ 7-205 with seven overs to spare.

“It was excellent and needed this time of year, very important to keep our campaign alive,” Murphy said.

Brunswick captain Liam Murphy. Picture: George Sal

“It’s not often you get to chase down a score one down and to do it with a young gun in Will Lalor and games against Preston is always good.”

Murphy’s hundred came off 113 balls, with 16 boundaries, and takes him to 412 runs on the season, ranked seventh in the North-East group.

It was his fifth ton for the club.

The Wicks talisman admitted he suffered physically in the heat.

“It’s getting harder and harder to face 100 balls, I’m a little bit out of shape – oxygen was required at one point,” he joked.

“I’m definitely not at peak fitness, the boys were a little concerned about my health at times and one of the umpires asked if I didn’t a barley sugar seeing the distress.

“Alls well that ends well, it’s nice to make a big score and contribute to a win.

Murphy also claimed 3-55 from nine overs, including the key wickets of Stretton and Upul Bandera (62).

Stretton’s knock included seven fours and a trio of sixes, lifting him to 12th overall on the run-scorers’ charts with 385.

With Preston in trouble at 4-47, he and Bandera put on a 149-run fifth-wicket partnership to give the Bullants a defendable total.

Brunswick wicketkeeper and coach Karl Mayne. Picture: George Sal

Matthew Doric in action for Brunswick. Picture: George Sal

“Aiden Purcell (1-16), another young player we’ve got coming through, is bowling left-arm orthodox at the top of the innings to take pace off and is doing a great job, it’s very hard to score off him,” Murphy said.

“Then with Matt Doric (2-51) back in the line-up after his quad strain, those two set us up nicely.

“They did a great job to get to 205, Michael batted exceptional well with Upul making 60-odd as well.

“There were some really classy shots, inside out over cover type of stuff, which is pretty hard to do.”

However, Murphy and Lalor proved too good in the chase.

Lalor, 16, scored his maiden First XI for Brunswick and backed up on Sunday for Northcote in the Dowling Shield.

Murphy was rapt to see his young charge prove himself at the level.

“It’s good to have these guys coming through and it’s what you want in a sub-district club, to have these kids like him and Aiden coming through, while they can play with Hilly (Simon Hill), Doz (Matt Doric) and Louis (Cameron),” he said.

“He batted really well, staying composed – they bowled well to him early – when a lesser batter would have tried to press on and made an error.

“He was really smart, gave himself time to get in and was able to push the ball around, but if I’m completely honest me not being in peak fitness potentially cost him a couple of runs.”

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Brunswick has won four of it’s past five matches and sits ninth just six points outside the top six with three games to play.

It faces Box Hill, fresh of smashing Kew, at Gillon Oval on Saturday before matches against Balwyn (away) and Kew (home).

“We made it tough on ourselves with a really slow start so we’ve got to back-end it,” Murphy said.

“Jim Valvano said it best ‘survive and advance’ that’s what we need to do and we’ll see where it takes us.”