Tight at the top of SCA ladder

WORKERS Gol Gol, Irymple and Mil­dura Settlers are separated by percentage only at the top of the Sunraysia Cricket ­Association First Division after rounds 4 and 5 at the weekend.

Settlers and Workers both posted two victories from their Twenty20 games while Irymple split their results – meaning every Division 1 team has now ­recorded a loss.

Irymple and Nichols Point went into the weekend as the only undefeated teams, however the Pointers dropped both their games – to the Swallows and Settlers – and fell to fourth on the ladder.

Settlers captain Braidyn Turner said he was happy with his side’s ability to grind out victories despite not playing its best cricket.

“We’re nowhere near our top form at the moment but we’ve been able to tough out four wins in a row now,” he said.

“It’s a good confidence boost knowing we haven’t played our best cricket yet and we’re still getting wins.”

Turner said getting early wins was crucial with the competition looking to be very tight this.

“All year every team is going to have their day,” he said.

Mark Cleary was the standout in Settlers’ victory over Mildura West, scoring 55 as the team posted 9/111 and snaring 2/16 as they restricted West to 4/98.

Turner said he restructured his batting line-up for their second game, pushing Cleary down the order because he was struggling with hamstring cramps.

Setllers posted 6/129 with Turner (47) top scoring before holding Nichols Point to 6/109.

Workers (4/145) defeated Mildura East under lights at Alcheringa Oval on Friday night.

They backed it up by chasing down Irymple’s 8/124 in the final over of their match on Saturday.

The Swallows started their weekend by chasing down Nichols Point’s total of 6/100 in the 18th over.

They started their second match, against Workers, brightly with captain Jordan Payne and Jarrad Armsden making half-centuries, but a collective effort with four batsmen scoring in the 20s allowed Workers to reach 3/125 in the 20th over.

Payne was pleased with his side’s form after five rounds.

“It’s a new format (and) no one has really come in with great confidence in terms of where they’d be after five rounds,” he said.

“But if you told me we’d be 4-1, I would have taken that because all it takes is a batting collapse or a batsman getting off the chain and you can win or lose a game just like that.”

Payne felt the Swallows had fallen short in their innings against Workers when batting first.

“We probably should have pushed to 140 or 150, which has been about par on that oval,” he said.

“We bowled really well in the first 10 overs … I think they needed 40 or 50 runs off the last seven overs.

“It got down to a run-a-ball and it’s quite a hard ground to defend because it so quick and so big.

“They deserved to win.”