A WHIRLWIND knock by Central captain Sheldon Hall at better than a run a ball has delivered Central a comfortable win against North in their one-day encounter in the Barrier District Cricket League.
After North struggled when they won the toss and decided to bat reaching only 95, Central were always in cruise control losing just two wickets as they ran down the disappointing total.
It was a nostalgic return to the Norm Fox Oval for the A Grade side on Saturday, with many players playing their first game on the No.1 wicket since their junior cricket days.
With the canteen up and firing it was certainly a throwback to days gone by at the ground.
North skipper Tobias Hack won the toss, and after a couple of milliseconds decided to have a bat on the concrete. The left-handed pair of he and Michael Maalste opened the innings in the usual way with a number of early boundaries getting the innings off to a nice start.
In the third over of the day Maalste (6) was caught in the gully by Ayden Pettitt, and was on his way. Two overs later Hack missed a straight one from Brett Hannon, and was gone for 13.
North in a little trouble early at 2/25.
This then bought North’s two in form batsmen in Ben Jurd & Austin Wilson to the crease, and the runs began to tick over nicely again. Jurd was dropped by the keeper before hitting the next three balls for boundaries.
With the score at 2/56 after 8 overs, things were looking up for the Blue & White. Unfortunately, continuing on with the throwback theme for the day, a middle order collapse was on the cards as North lost Wilson (6), Jurd (27) and Jordan Vella (5) in quick succession to see the score now 5/65.
Luke Hall and Brendon Martin mounted the recovery mission as Centrals bowlers went on the attack, looking to break into the North tail. Hall played a number of lovely shots through the leg side as his impressive start to the season continues. He was eventually bowled around his legs by Riley Jennings as his innings came to a close with a well made 22.
Brendon Martin (3) and Jaxon Cain (0) fell a short time later, before the pups tried to add a few extra runs to the tally for the bowlers to work with.
The three juniors in Pitt (1), Jacob Muscat (0) and Campbell Day (4*) did their best to get through the following overs, with a beautiful cover drive for four by debutant Day the highlight.
North eventually all out for a measly 95.
It would take a huge effort from the bowlers to defend such a small total on the synthetic wicket, and Cain (1/15) got the innings off to a perfect start, taking a wicket with the second ball of the innings.
Things got a little trickier from here when a passing shower went through, with plenty of the bowlers struggling to find any grip when running in to bowl. Centrals batters in Joel Delaney (30*) and Zac Robards (17) dug in and batted well through a tricky period in the game.
Wilson had Robards caught in the gully, as Day added another memory to his debut game with a juggled catch having the boys up and about, Central now 2/45.
Central captain Sheldon Hall then came to the wicket and batted like he had places to be. Taking risks that paid off with a number of boundaries on his way to an unbeaten 32. The Pies chased down the total in just 18.1 overs to secure a bonus point win.
With both sides going in equally undermanned, it was always going to be a matter of who adapted to the conditions the best and this was certainly Central on this occasion. The Dogs, losing their first game since round 15 last year, is a gentle reminder of how close the competition is this season.
We break next weekend for the best weekend of the year (the Adelaide Test match) before returning for one more game before Christmas, back at the Fox against South to finish off the year.
Result: North 95 (Jurd 27, L.Hall 22, S.Hall 3/20) defeated by Central 2/96 (S.Hall 32*, Delaney 30*, Cain 1/15) by 8 wickets.
