COLLIE took on Leschenault Cricket Club at Roche Park in the A-grade competition on the weekend. It is almost always a competitive game between these two teams.
Collie lost the toss and were sent into the field with Leschenault wanting to make early use of a Collie pitch that has a habit of deteriorating as the day goes on.
Leschenault got off to a great start with Collie opening bowlers Jason Borrett and young speedster Ayden Parkin being unable to contain the openers early on. Borrett managed to deservedly take the key wicket of Tom Buchanan with the help of Steve Irelend who managed to make an easy catch look hard after falling over in the attempt to catch it. Leschenault were 1 for 46 at the fall of the first wicket in the 8th over and had a solid foundation set. The introduction of the reliable Steve Ireland and Brayden Kent helped to tie down the batsmen and applied pressure back on Leschenault.
The pressure allowed veteran swing bowler Mark Williams to take some cheap wickets off some very bad bowling including a full toss, a half track ball and a full wide ball. Williams assessed the previous bowlers performance well, realising they were simply bowling too well to take wickets. Matt Tanner joined in the action and took a couple of wickets to get Collie in a position where bowling Leschenault out for less than 170 was a real possibility with them at 7 for 138
However, Leschenault fought back with a little of some benefit of the doubt from the umpires and Leschenault managed to get their score to 205.
Collie’s Best Bowlers: M Williams 3 for 43 from 10, J Borrett 2 for 26 from 8, B Kent 2 for 28 from 6, M Tanner 2 for 35 from 10.
The run chase started with Brayden Kent and Tom Plummer with Plummer getting away to a nice start, dispatching the Leschenault openers to all parts. Brayden’s innings wasn’t as dynamic with him heading back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. Williams and Plummer kept the momentum going until Plummer was dismissed for 28. Young Austin Kent who has been batting well walked to the crease to join Williams. The pair lasted a few overs until Williams was caught at cover. With the score at 3 for 44, 205 seemed a long way off.
Captain Tomasini joined Austin and their partnership began slowly with both batsmen making sure they kept their wicket. The partnership and Collie total slowly grew, and Collie came back into the game as the pair got the total to 100 with 20 overs left to play. Austin Kent fell with the score on 103 but with some big hitters still in the shed Collie were now a chance. Connor Mumme held up an end to add another 15 to the score. Tomasini was also dismissed not long after trying to pick up the pace for a well-made 34. The tail end chanced their arm and attempted to chase the total down with some aggressive shots however the last 4 wickets fell for 0 runs and Collie’s innings finished at 120, 86 short of the total required.
Collie’s Best Batsmen: G. Tomasini 34, T. Plummer 28, A. Kent 24, M. Williams 14.
Pine Hauliers first grade Man of the Match: Mark Williams – 74 points.
