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CRICKET
Who’d be a bowler?
Batsmen ruled the roost to the tune of 435 runs in 59.2 overs of the Bollywood Stars-versus-Auto Tyre Eagles T30 cricket clash at Nelson Park on Saturday morning.
The Liam Spring-led Stars drummed up 235-4 batting first and bowled the Eagles out for 200 in 29.2 overs to claim victory by 35 runs.
First-drop Spring hit two sixes and seven fours in his 35-ball knock of 56. No.5 Liam Barbier (52 from 30 retired, with nine boundaries) and Matthew Foster (42 off 38 ret, one six, five fours) at No.4 also signed off 2018 in grand form.
Off-spinner Daniel Stewart (1-17 off five overs) and seamers Dylan O’Rourke (1-28 off four) and Jarrod Ormiston (1-30 off four) were the pick of the Eagles bowlers.
DJ Penfold — batting at No.6 — top-scored in the match with 63 from 51 balls for the Eagles. He crunched a six and 12 boundaries.
Stewart (27 off 29, one six, four fours) and powerful all-rounder Travis O’Rourke (28 off 39, one six, five fours) played well too. Travis, Dylan’s elder brother, has spent quality time in the middle this season and the standard of batsmanship has risen across across all four T30 teams.
Stars medium-pacer Henry Watson then stole the show with 4-27 off four overs and was at one stage on a hat-trick. He bowled three of his victims — Travis O’Rourke, Brayden Sycamore and Dylan O’Rourke. He and teammate Jonty Fenn (1-19) are dedicated young cricketers. Fenn took the last wicket to fall, that of Stewart, caught behind by Spring.
You’d want to win the toss if you were playing the High School Old Boys Pups, otherwise you could be chasing a large total.
Pups captain and opening batsman Blake Marshall — the only century-maker in either of the Saturday or Wednesday Junior Colts leagues — won the toss against the Eastland Broncos, electing to bat. The Pups were bowled out for 165 in 21.4 overs of the last nine-a-side 30-over game before Christmas.
Although opener Marshall made 40 with the support of Campbell Steele (35) at No.5 and first-drop Ben Phelps (30), the Broncos bowlers did an excellent job of containing the batsmen.
Medium-pacer Sam Briant (1-8 off three overs) and leg-spinner David Gray (1-19 off three) were among the Broncos’ best.
In response, the Broncos were dismissed for 120 in 20.4 overs. Opening batsman Te-Reimana Gray and No.7 Alex Shanks fell prey to whippet Marshall’s sure hands at cover. Trowell (30) and Te-Reimana Gray (21) worked hard at the crease, although the Pups won by 45 runs.
Seamer Cory Thomson, a promising Year 7 cricketer, took 2-27 off three overs.