STRANGE things can happen, says Irymple’s captain, after just squeaking home against a strong Gol Gol First Division side at the weekend.
Irymple captain Mark Thomson said his side’s mood changed after they picked up four wickets in the span of eight runs in the middle of Gol Gol’s first innings.
Gol Gol began the day at Henshilwood Oval on 0/34 and were in a strong position to be exceed Irymple’s total of 203 on the back of performances by Wade Hancock and Nick Jensen.
Thomson said Irymple tried to slow down Gol Gol’s middle order by changing the bowling rotation, covering the boundaries and cutting off easy singles.
The plan to build pressure eventually worked.
“As they got in, they did start to take a few more risks and hit a few more boundaries,” Thomson said.
“And so, we thought there could be an opportunity for us to take a wicket.”
After picking up Hancock’s wicket for 64, Billy Phelan was able to bowl Nick Jensen (50) six runs later.
“It just gave us a bit of belief. Cricket is a funny game, and strange things can happen quickly.”
Picking up the wicket of Shacaya Thomas, who fell for five runs soon after Jensen’s wicket, was a “positive”. Although, Thomson said the star batsman, who came in the late middle order, may have been under an injury cloud after consecutive centuries and 208 runs without dismissal.
Thomson, who picked up 4/24 from a long bowling stint, said his side would have to bat for longer periods if they wanted to control their fortunes more comfortably.
“It all comes back to our batting out our overs to get a bigger total, so it doesn’t have to come down to a crunch.”
Coomealla Wentworth’s Bevan Wade responded to a disappointing first innings against Mildura Settlers by hitting his first century in Australia.
Wade, who said he had hit a couple of centuries while playing in England in 2019, scored 101 not out in just over two hours of batting.
While he would have preferred it to have occurred in the first innings, Wade said he had felt good during the week at training and when Saturday came, “it just happened”.
Although he hit 11 ours and two sixes, Wade said his innings was characterised by “a lot of dot balls” as he and the side worked to play out the day at the crease.
Coomealla Wentworth had resolved to not lose their wickets after Mildura Settlers had taken first-innings points and declared on 3/132.
“We needed to dig deep and bat long enough so that they could not secure an outright victory,” Wade said.
A strong batting performance from Hamim Miah, who hit 84 off 128 balls, had Merbein South take the first-innings points at Chaffey Park.
Chasing Mildura West’s 161, the Saints took just under 55 overs to reach 176.
Chris Williams backed up his 38 runs in the first innings by picking up 4/60 for Mildura West. Locke Thornton’s 3/47, including Miah’s wicket, and Brandon Dixon 2/28, kept West in the hunt for points.
Joseph Fleri moved up from the middle order to open Mildura West’s second innings, scoring 85 off 115 balls in just over two hours. He was well supported by Brayden Pitt (21) and Davison Mbindi (26 not out), helping take Mildura West’s total to 3/155 at the close of play.
In response to Mildura East’s first innings of 172, Nichols Point struggled to build partnerships to give themselves a chance of challenging their opponent’s total at Brian Weightman Oval.
The Pointers were bowled out for 118, and while three batsmen reached double figures, only one, Bradley Thomas, scored 20 or higher, finishing with 33 runs.
Andrew Ross picked up 3/15, including the opening Pointers’ wicket, and was supported by Mukesh Muki Sharma (2/23) and Jayden Hunt (2/36).
Returning to bat, Mildura East’s Connor Robinson scored 26 and was backed up by Sharma who, after a disappointing first innings, picked up 17.
