Premier Cricket 2018-19: Simon Hill and Andrew Fekete hit half-centuries for Camberwell Magpies
Camberwell Magpies made the most of the invitation to bat first when asked by Footscray captain Dylan Kight, setting a difficult chase for the Dogs.
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Camberwell Magpies made the most of the invitation to bat first on Saturday.
Surprisingly sent in by Footscray captain Dylan Kight, the Magpies ran up 293 at Merv Hughes Oval.
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But the total would have been a lot leaner if it wasn’t for a swashbuckling 52 from captain Andrew Fekete in the No.9 slot.
The Magpies were 4-219 but lost 5-11 after an inspired spell from Jack Sheppard.
The paceman burst through Camberwell’s middle-order, removing Simon Hill (62), Tom Russ (21), Adit Pawha (1) and Matt Whittaker (1) as the visitors crashed to 9-230.
But Fekete crunched 4 fours and 3 sixes off just 38 deliveries in a 63-run partnership for the final wicket with Will Walker, who absorbed 31 deliveries and contributed 15 valuable runs.
Together the pair ensured Camberwell would take day one honours, setting Footscray a difficult chase next week.
“They didn’t take the second new ball, they just kept using the old ball bowling stump to stump so it was pretty hard to score,” Fekete said of his knock.
“I just wanted to bat and see how many we could get in the allotted overs. Short boundary one side so just tried to pick the right bowler to target and then the last five overs see how many we could get.”
Openers Ben Rowles (48) and Daniel Rawson (38) had earlier put down the foundations, batting through the first session to put on an 89-run opening partnership before Lucas Dredge removed both in the space of two runs.
Hill made it back-to-back half-centuries and in the process became the eighth player to reach 10,000 First XI runs in Premier Cricket.
The champion left-hander shared a 72-run stand with Lewis McManus to take Camberwell to 4-185 before Sheppard created his carnage.
But Fekete bossed the final hour of play to put the Magpies in a dominant position.
Sheppard finished with 4-54 from 21 overs, while Dredge collected 3-45 from 16.1 overs.
Fekete said he was surprised by Footscray’s decision to send his side in.
“Looking at the pitch and the conditions, I thought it was a pretty good batting wicket,” he said.
“We were aiming for a total of around 270 so to get 293, we were pretty happy with that at the end of the day.”
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