FOUR quick wickets to North opening bowler Austin Wilson has helped set up a comfortable 61-run victory against West in round 4 of the men’s Barrier District Cricket League.
Wilson tore through the top order to leave Wests in deep trouble at 5-19.
Peter Christos and Callum Rosewarn did offer some resistance but West (101) were never a realistic hope of reeling in North’s imposing total of 8/162.
Played on a hot, muggy day at the Alma Oval, North and West met for a second consecutive week.
After playing off for the T20 final last week, it was a return to the traditional 40-over format and a chance for the players to adjust to the ‘real stuff’ for the first time this season.
The teams were a little different to those from last week with North welcoming back Tobias Hack and Codie Howard, as well as West making a swag of changes for the weekend’s clash.
Captain Hack had no hesitation in choosing to bat first as he opened the batting with Michael Maalste and they walked out to the middle to face the West attack.
Maalste wasted no time in getting the innings underway, taking Laurence Hebbard for 12 from the first over with three powerful boundaries. Hack began to join in the fun also as the lightning fast outfield left no prisoners.
It would take until the introduction of Callum Rosewarn (3/16) into the attack in the seventh over before Maalste knicked one to the keeper, and he was on his way for 17.
A daunting partnership of Hack and Jamin Jurd then began and both looked settled at the wicket.
Unfortunately Hack (24) managed to pick out the fieldsman at short cover a short time later. North were now 2/51 and then 3/51 with the very next ball as Austin Wilson was on his way for a golden duck after an absolute peach from Rosewarn who now had three wickets.
Veteran Howard managed to (just) see out the hat-trick ball and set about consolidating the North innings.
Their partnership moved along to 33 before Howard tried to hit Adam Perry (2/18) over the South Football Club rooms and was caught by Hebbard off a leading edge. Jordan Vella (1) came and went and North were a little wobbly at 5/87.
Jurd and Connor McLean managed to guide the Dogs through to the drinks break, with some great running between the wickets and several classy boundaries from Jurd keeping the score ticking along at a nice pace.
It would however be Jurd who was the next man to go directly after the drinks break, caught behind off the bowling of Hebbard for an innings-high 43 from 59 balls.
With the total at 6/118, Hack was still chasing a few more runs for his bowlers to work with. McLean (15) and Ben Victory (4) managed to knock a few around, tiring the West bowlers out as the score crept along to 130, before they both lost their wickets.
This bought the combination of Luke Hall and young Rhys Pitt together with three overs remaining. Hall took a role which would be strange for him in this team as the more experienced player, hitting boundaries when he could and working singles towards the end of the over to keep the strike.
Pitt was lightning between the wickets and gritted out a very valuable zero not out while Hall managed to pile on an entertaining 31 not out at the other end.
A whirlwind 32-run partnership to end the innings had seen North sneak up to a great total of 8/162 from the 40 overs.
Opening bowlers Jaxon Cain and Wilson set out to take full advantage of the work done by their batsmen.
It took until just the third over for Cain (1/15) to have an impact, clipping the top of Lachlan Harvey’s off peg after he didn’t offer a shot to a ball that swung back a mile.
Wilson then entered the equation with plenty of fire in his belly after his golden duck earlier in the day.
The fact that he was well rested and ready to bowl would prove to be a defining factor in the afternoons proceedings.
He began by having a tricky chance from West captain Attard (1) caught well at square leg by Pitt, much to the joy of his teammates.
Following this, Wilson (4/16) then took the wickets of Rohan Bhatnager (0), Lachlan Kaye (1) and Jordan Meehan (0) in quick succession to have West on the ropes at 5/19.
It was an inspired spell of bowling which really set up the rest of the innings for the Dogs.
Some resistance came from Peter Christos (23) before he fell to the wily veteran in Victory (2/20), who managed to sneak one past his defences.
The dangerous Matthew Handberg was another victim, caught well at gully by McLean.
Rosewarn (32) was proving to be a thorn in the North side after his three wickets earlier in the day, now playing a lovely innings to push the West total along.
He eventually ran out of partners as Howard (1/9) and Jurd (2/10) picked up wickets at regular intervals, Rosewarn the last man out as West were bowled out for 101.
This week sees a new challenge for the A Grade boys, taking on Central on the synthetic wicket at the Norm Fox Oval due to the ongoing unavailability of the Jubilee Oval.
This will be quite the change for many of the team who have played exclusively on turf in recent memory, but the boys are looking forward to something a little different as they try to continue their unbeaten start to the 2024/25 season.
Result: North 8/162 (Jurd 43, Hall 31*, Rosewarn 3/16) defeated West 101 (Rosewarn 32, Wilson 4/16, Jurd 2/10, Victory 2/20) by 61 runs.
