B-Grade Cricket results

The game began for the home side in a winning fashion with captain Seth White winning the toss and electing to bowl to have first use of the overcast conditions which seemed perfect for swing bowlers.

The choice proved to be a good one with left arm opener Jason Borrett using the breeze well and taking early wickets to have the visitors 4 for 15 quickly.

His opening bowling partner, the ever reliable Steve Ireland was economical in holding up the other end and was unlucky not to find the edge numerous times.

With a Leschenault partnership building it was Ireland who struck off an undeserving short and wide delivery. The ball was top edged and looked destined for four over the slips until an unusually agile Tom Plummer rose to pluck a one-handed catch out of nothing.

With the partnership broken and Leschenault at 5 for 37 it was now up to the other bowlers to build on the great start by Borrett and Ireland. Matt Tanner bowled well from on end, always hurrying the batsmen up with his lack of flight and spin.

The few that were off target were fielded well by the team with Bailey Moloney doing some great leg work on the on-side. Brayden Kent took the ball from the other end and couldn’t get his line right, going for eight off his first over.

The arrival of his brother Austin onto the field from Juniors brought out the competitive brotherly streak and Brayden took wickets off his next two overs.

With Leschenault on the ropes at 7 for 58, Borrett returned to the attack at Tanner’s end and took two wickets in his return over. Fraser Hislop was thrown the ball to finish off the last wicket which he did second ball.

Borrett starred with 6 for 22 off eight overs but it was a great team effort with all bowlers doing their job and clean hands in the field. With a low total to chase the opportunity was given to the out of form Blair Malatesta to open the batting and spend some time in the middle with the hard hitting and inform Tom Plummer.

Plummer edged to the keeper first over from the Leschenault opener Bowles for none which brought Bailey Moloney to the crease. Bowles next over put Collie under all sorts of pressure with Bowles taking the wickets of Malatesta for 1 and Ayden Parkin for 0.

With the score at 3 for 5, Leschenault had their tails up and were looking for more. Fraser Hislop and Moloney managed to see out the next three overs well with some staunch defence until one got through to Hislop’s stumps and Austin Kent edged first ball.

With the score at 5 for 8 Collie looked in serious trouble and the required 64 runs seemed a long way away. Tomasini faced the hat-trick ball which was edged to fine leg for one.

Moloney dug in well, keeping out the good balls confidently and putting away the loose ones when required.

Tomasini took a while to find the middle of the willow, a lot of the early runs were edges through the packed slips cordon.

The partnership slowly built, getting the team to double figures and then ticking the runs off 10 at a time. The pair saw off the opening bowlers and kept building with the initially talkative Leschenault fielders going quieter and quieter as the score got closer to the total of 64.

Moloney got better as the innings went on, adding shots to his solid defence. Tomasini managed to take the pressure off with a big over off the Leschenault spinner to get Collie to within a few runs of the total.

Leschenault rolled the dice and brought back the opening bowlers that did the damage early and managed to get Moloney with the score on 61.

It was a great innings by the young batsman who weathered the storm of wickets around him to score crucial runs and more importantly bat for time for his team.

Brayden Kent joined the cool headed Tomasini in the middle and helped get the team over the line to secure a bonus point win over the second placed team to go nine points clear at the top of the ladder.

Tomasini top scored with 35 not out with Maloney batting well for his 16 valuable runs.

Pine Hauliers B-grade Man of the Match: Jason Borrett – 120 points.