defeated
South 9/107 (Sebastian 22, Hall 3/23, Maalste 2/6, McLean 2/12) by 65 runs.
ON a sweltering day at the Jubilee Oval where the mercury reached heights of 41 degrees, North took another step towards securing top spot with a comfortable victory over South.
North skipper Tobias Hack called correctly and chose to bat first and McLean and Maalste headed out to the middle, while some of their teammates sheltered in the changerooms hiding from the heat.
A slower start than usual for a T20 then took place, before a very confident caught behind appeal was turned down by the umpire.
Maalste then deposited the next three balls to the boundary, which didn’t improve the mood of the South side.
Chestnut (1/17) would have his revenge a short time later, bowling Maalste (13) who was given plenty of advice on his way to the changerooms.
Three overs later, McLean missed a sweep shot from the bowling of Sebastian (1/42) to be adjudged LBW and heading back to the rooms for 6.
North now 2/31 and not looking extremely comfortable on what looked to be a very spongy Jubilee Oval deck.
Unfortunately for South, this would bring together the partnership of Hack and Jurd. The next hour or so saw a number of large sixes deposited to all parts of the Jube. Jurd was eventually on his way for a quickfire 38 from 25 balls after skying one to be caught and bowled.
The score was now 3/106 with 8 overs still remaining, and Hack was beginning to move through the gears on his way to yet another big score.
The skippers partners came and went as Wilson (0), Tidball (8) and Hall (0) all looked for quick runs towards the end of the innings.
Hack meanwhile was cruising past 50 at around a run a ball. This then changed very quickly as he proceeded to take 38 from the final 2 overs to finish on a brilliant 86* from just 59 balls. Vella was the not out batsman on 1* as the Dogs finished with 6/172 from their 20 overs.
South’s batsmen had a large challenge in front of them and after some early resistance it would be Wilson (1/7) who rattled the stumps to claim his 100th A Grade wicket for the club – not a bad record at 22 years of age.
The spinners came into the attack earlier than usual as Hack protected his seamers from the searing heat, taking advantage of a pitch offering plenty for the tweakers. Tidball bowled a tidy spell to finish with 1/12 from his 4 overs.
Wickets fell at a regular intervals as Hack tossed the ball to a few names not usually seen on the bowlers list to have a trundle. McLean (2/12) and Hall (3/23) were the chief beneficiaries as they chewed their way through the South line up.
Maalste (2/6) came on for an over late in the innings to return some advice he received earlier in the day, finishing with a couple of wickets for his troubles.
B.L Martin (0/6), in the hunt for his first A Grade wicket, unable to break the shackles of the South batsmen in the final over as they finished at 9/107.
