Lizards are on the board after Round 5

DAY two of the Sale-Maffra Cricket Association’s fifth round couldn’t have been more different to the first.

Where the first weekend of action had players under mostly-clear skies, the second day’s play had them in overcast conditions with sunshine only seldom poking through the clouds, plus some humidity and a sporadic breeze.

Furthermore, a heavy downpour the evening prior had left grounds sodden for the umpteenth week in a row, much to the chagrin of batsmen and curators.

All four matches were decided on a first-innings basis, yet one proved more enthralling than others.

Longford v Boisdale-Briagolong

FOR the first time this season, and only the second in three seasons, Longford won a first-grade match.

It was a classic fairy-tale victory not only for the club, but for newcomer Jordan Price, who proved ruthless against his former teammates in the Boisdale-Briagolong camp.

The Lizards were 6/79 as the day began, trailing Boisdale-Briagolong by 39.

Jayden Taylor went out early, leaving Jake Heywood and unbeaten captain Lachlan Floyd to close the gap, which they did with aplomb.

In their eighth-wicket stand, the duo made 64 runs to surpass the Saints’ first-innings score of 118, hitting the front in the 43rd over.

Heywood fell in 48th, with the remaining two wickets lost in the over that followed, leaving Longford on a total of 147 and a slim 29-run advantage.

Boisdale-Briagolong now had the chance to snatch that lead back.

Their second-innings began with Stephen Noble and Connor Hughes as openers, who faced the bowling of ex-comrade Price.

Price made his impact felt almost immediately, scalping Hughes for a nought after three balls.

Fifteen overs passed and 46 runs scored before the next wicket fell, that being Toby Leeds – who didn’t bat last weekend.

Noble was the next victim 10 overs later, who had added 23 runs with Dylan Bolton as his back-up.

Noble’s departure triggered a minor collapse, with Ryan Marshall and Bolton both dismissed without adding to the total – the former for a duck off the bowling of Jake Wynd.

10 overs after that, Liam Hurst went on 6/87 off the bowling of Price, who struck again exactly 10 overs after that with the wicket of Ned Sutton.

The very next ball, he claimed another casualty when Mathew Freeman was given out.

Freeman’s wicket came on the sixth ball of the 47th over, with Price having to watch Mick Murphy bowl his over before attempting the hat-trick.

Complete it he did, dismissing Jonathon Outhart very first ball.

The Saints’ Matt Murphy and Tom Harms added 12 more runs before the latter was bowled by Wynd in the 54th over.

Boisdale-Briagolong was all out for 119, scoring only one run more than their first-innings total; but they at least had a lead of 90 runs to defend.

It was now Longford’s turn to bat again; their start was far from promising, with star-player Wynd bowled first ball for a golden duck by Hughes.

Andrew Tyson also fell to Hughes in the first over with a zero to his name.

In their third-wicket partnership, Price and Walt Sutton made 63 off just five overs – that’s a run-rate of 12 per over in case you were wondering.

This included 21 runs in the fourth over of the innings, in which Price hit three sixes off Bolton, his former captain.

Hughes was the bowler to bring about Price’s downfall, coming in the seventh over with the scoreboard reading 3/67.

Longford was now within 23 runs of an outright victory.

A quick-scoring cameo from Ash Vogt in the next two overs narrowed the margin to 13 runs, before he too was dismissed by Hughes.

Following the ninth over, with the Lizards just 10 runs shy of their target and having five wickets in-hand, umpires called stumps.

There’s no doubt in this reporter’s mind that Longford would have chased down that total had they been allowed to; he is just as assured that the Lizards’ celebrations continued at Stephenson Park well into the night.

Sale v Rosedale-Kilmany

RUNS were not forthcoming at Sale Oval, owing to a combination of masterful fielding from the home side, a moist surface and dried turf strewn over the outfield.

Resultingly, Rosedale-Kilmany was trounced by Sale.

Openers Brandon McDonald and Ashton Wright both struggled in the conditions, making just 28 runs in the day’s first 25 overs.

Ben Jones got the breakthrough for Sale, trapping Wright on the pads for 13.

Next to depart was Rohan Diamond for six, chopping the ball onto the stumps while attempting a late cut.

Two balls later, youngster Harper Fox was out after edging the ball into the slips.

Another wicket tumbled in the over that followed, with McDonald out lbw to the bowling of Coenie Nel.

Nel repeated that effort four overs later, with Nathan Hangan also given his lbw marching orders by the umpire.

A 33-run partnership between Jay Diamond and Cameron Freshwater followed, before the latter was also sent back to the pavilion by Nel.

Jay Diamond fell in the following over to Tyson Dobson; Dylan Rowley fell in the over after that due to a run out.

Warriors’ captain Isaac Love and Spencer Fox made a valiant ninth-wicket stand before their wickets fell too.

Rosedale-Kilmany fell 99 runs short of Sale’s first-innings total.

Nel was the best of the bowlers with 5/31, with fellow South African Garreth Wolmarans taking 2/33.

Bundalaguah v Maffra

CRICKETERS had more than a chase to worry about in their return to Bundalaguah.

Drainage issues were again a problem at the Bulls’ home, the south-east pocket of the ground having been cordoned-off due to excess water; a makeshift barrier of rolled-up pitch covers and a fire hose ensured that players, stray balls and photographers all avoided the area.

This rudimentary measure meant that several square-metres of playing surfaces was lost, leaving the Colin Wrigglesworth Oval looking more like a rhombus.

None of the players appeared perturbed by the abnormal shape of the field, carrying on as if it was a game like any other.

Bundalaguah continued their innings at 0/11, with Maffra’s Dylan Freitag making a breakthrough with just the second ball of the day – Hayden Wrigglesworth out for three.

Fellow opener Jason Langshaw followed four overs later on nine.

Kshitiz Sharma and Steve Spoljaric added 47 runs before the latter departed on 16; that was followed by a 49-run stand between Sharma and Toby O’Reilly, who was caught for 18.

Lachlan Wrigglesworth came and went without scoring, his departure bringing to the middle Brad Smith.

He contributed to an innings-best partnership of 51, with Sharma making a century in the process – his first as part of the Sale-Maffra competition.

Additionally, Sharma’s ton was the second of the match (Maffra’s Lee Hopkins also reached the milestone on day one) and the fifth of the first-grade season overall.

Andrew McKenzie was the man to eventually bring Sharma undone, caught behind on 112.

With the score now 6/171, the Bulls were just 31 runs shy of beating the Eagles’ total; but that was not to be.

In the overs that followed, Eranda Aponso was run out on three, Connor Lay caught on six, and wicket-keeper Jos Dimarco caught by his Eagles counterpart on zero, all in the space of 11 runs.

Smith and tail-ender Gayashan Munasinghe made another 10 runs before losing the 10th and final wicket in the 74th over on 192.

Having posted a higher first-innings total, the Eagles were deemed winners.

Collegians v Stratford

WHAT was envisaged as the match of the round came to an underwhelming conclusion.

Collegians continued their innings from the previous Saturday and began confidently – just four overs into the day, captain Zac Hurley hit two consecutive sixes of the bowling of Stratford’s Bohdi Walker.

But with plenty of green coverage on the pitch, Stratford would soon make their mark with the ball.

Nineteen runs were added to the previous week’s total before opener Tom Morrison was bowled by Jack Tatterson.

Tatterson struck again two overs later, with Hurley lobbing the ball into the hands of Ethan Albrecht.

Hurley’s score of 35 would be the highest of the innings.

Walker dismissed Charlie Morrison for a single run in the over that followed; Tatterson continued his streak in the over after that with two wickets in succession – his victims being Adrian Burgiel and Henry Anderson.

Four overs and four runs later, Tatterson garnered his fifth wicket of the innings, with Stuart Anderson out lbw for one.

The collapse was stymied by Tim Dessent and the younger Hurley, Noah, who emulated his older namesake across two different partnerships.

After Dessent was shown the door on on 12, Noah partnered with Jed Malone for a 36-run stand before departing on 8/113.

Nathan Whitford then left at 9/115, followed by Malone with the score at 125.

With three hours left in the day, the Redbacks were (rather pointlessly) sent out to bat again, despite possessing a clear 41-run lead over their rivals.

Lewis Bolton opened the batting with Ben Dinning, who was immediately met with the formidable pace of Noah Hurley and Nathan Whitford.

Whitford looked especially fearsome, his opening spell evoking Mitchell Johnson’s fiery performance against England in the 2013/14 Ashes.

Bolton was lost on two, replaced in the middle by Jack Tatterson, who was in turn caught five overs later on 13.

The Redbacks batted for 20 overs all up, Dinning unbeaten on four and Jack Rietschel not out on 12.

With that, Collegians had their first loss of the season, relegating them to second on the SMCA First XI ladder and leaving Stratford firmly on-top.