Premier Cricket 2018-19: Camberwell Magpies and Melbourne locked in tight fixture

Fighting for a place in the Premier Cricket top eight, Camberwell Magpies will call on their recent form with the bat when they set out to chase down Melbourne’s 280.

Will Walker finished with three wickets on Saturday. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Fighting for a place in the Premier Cricket top eight, Camberwell Magpies will call on their recent form with the bat when they set out to chase down Melbourne’s 280 this Saturday.

Led by Will Walker and Matt Whittaker, the Magpies knocked over Melbourne in 86.3 overs on a flat Camberwell Sports Ground wicket and finished 0-12 after surviving a six-over burst from the Demons’ opening bowlers.

Walker grabbed 3-64 off 20 overs while Whittaker finished with 2-38 from 17, the pair combining for 11 maidens.

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Camberwell coach Brad Loveluck considered it a win that his side was able to take 10 wickets in conditions suited for batting.

“I would have said to get all 10 wickets in the day’s play and keep them to 280 is probably a massive win for us on that deck,” Loveluck said.

“We felt it was a little bit below par that score and obviously to finish 0-12, knocking a few off the score, I felt like we just took the momentum away at the last minute so (the game) has probably just ticked over in our favour.

“We did a fantastic job really on a really flat wicket so it was a big tick for our bowlers.”

Matt Whittaker pushes through the crease. Picture: Chris Eastman/AAP

Charles Lill (61) and Will Pucovski (43) put Melbourne in a strong position at lunch, advancing the score to 1-101 before Whittaker removed both early in the second session thanks to sharp catches from James Rosewarne and Dylan Hodge.

Pucovski was smartly caught by Rosewarne at slip and Lill hit a hard cut shot that was brilliantly caught by Hodge at gully.

Meyrick Buchanan (26) and captain Matt Brown (22) also departed in quick succession after a 51-run stand for the fourth wicket, leaving Melbourne with work to do at 5-175.

But Jackson Koop held the tail together with 61, finding important contributions from Jack Harper (22), No. 10 Jackson Coleman (9) and No. 11 Wilson McGillivray (10) to give the Demons a competitive total.

Meyrick Buchanan in defence. Picture: Chris Eastman/AAP

Koop’s knock came off 95 deliveries, five of which he put to the fence and two over it.

Ben Rowles and Daniel Rawson survived a 25-minute period at the end of the day and will resume with the Magpies needing another 269 runs for victory.

Loveluck said he was confident Camberwell could make the runs — in the past two two-day games the Magpies have made more than 280.

A victory would keep the eighth-placed Camberwell in the top eight, but Melbourne, sitting three points behind on the ladder, could leapfrog the Magpies if it can defend the total.

“It was a really fast outfield as well — very easy to score 100 in a session. If you’re scoring a 100 in the first session, that just shows you how easy it is to score at that ground,” Loveluck said.

“As long as we bat disciplined like we have the last few weeks — we chased down a tick over 280 last week — and that was at the same ground, so we’d expect our boys to be able to get the job done as long as we bat disciplined and we take the game deep.”

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