B-grade team maintains top two spot

The home side won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch with a bit of grass on it.

Dalyellup got off to a shaky start with a lot of shots in the air landing just out of the reach of Collie fieldsmen.

A good piece of fielding on the boundary line resulted in a run out with Connor Mumme catching Dalyellup’s captain short of his ground.

This started a steady stream of wickets with Jason Borrett and Gagan Sidhu taking the next four wickets between them.

Mark Williams, Josh Armstrong and John Shepherd kept the pressure on with some good bowling and were unlucky not to get any wickets.

Matt Tanner came into the attack and took the next four wickets, and when Jason Borrett came back and took the last one, Dalyellup were all out for 158.

Best of the Collie bowlers were Tanner with 4/33, Sidhu with 3/40 and Borrett with 2/31.

Collie’s chase could not have got off to a worse start with captain Bailey Moloney (one), Mark Williams (four), Connor Mumme (one), Gagan Sidhu (11), Brayden Kent (19) and Billy Bebbington (duck) all dismissed before the 14th over leaving Collie at 6/46.

Liam Reuben and Matt Tanner set themselves to chase the runs down and put on a 72 run partnership, before Tanner was out for 33.

Jamie Graham was next in and he and Reuben chased down the remaining 40 runs to give Collie a lucky win.

Reuban eventually finished on 56 not out and Graham on 11 not out.

The win leaves Collie in second-place on the Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association ladder, eight points behind leader Donnybrook and three points clear of Harvey-Benger.

The win also continued Collie’s form from the previous week where it claimed a five-wicket win over Capel at home.

With Capel winning the toss and choosing to bat, Collie needed to start strongly and it did just that with Borrett and Ryan Loxton dismissing both Capel openers within the first two overs.

When Capel’s Jarrod Withers was knocked over by Borrett for just 13, Collie looked in control of the game with the score at 3/35.

However Blair Hutton and Ben Tognolini were able to steady the ship with scores of 33 and 50 respectively before they were both back in the sheds.

The Capel lower order showed little resistance with just one batter Jamie Robertson (20 not out) making it past 12 runs as Capel was all out for 166 from 47.3 overs.

Borrett was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/29 with three maidens from his 10 overs, while Matthew Tanner cleaned up the tail to finish with 2/22 from 8.3 overs.

With a reasonable target to chase, Collie would have been confident in its batting line-up, but the team got off to a horror start with Tanner and Williams back in the sheds with Collie having scored just seven runs.

Williams’ wicket saw Reuben walk to the crease to join Bailey Moloney, and the two were able to form a strong partnership.

Reuben hit four fours in his 19 runs, before he was caught behind the wicket with Collie’s score falling to 3/53.

However captain Greg Tomasini and Moloney were able to steady the ship and kept the run rate ticking over, with the pair hitting 12 fours and four sixes between themselves.

Moloney was the next to fall on 43 with the score at 4/118, before Matthew Reuben (15) fell with just 21 runs left to win.

Tomasini continued his fine form and finished with 70 not out as Collie chased down the target of 167 with more than eight overs remaining.

Collie will be hoping to continue its form into the new year, with just one game remaining in 2018.

Next week will see the team rest up with a bye before the team looks to shore up its spot in the top two with a T20 against Marist at Forrest Park on December 22.

Collie lost the toss at home and were sent to bowl against Marist.

Luke McCormick and Steven Ireland opened the bowling and both kept a tight line.

Ireland was unlucky all day as Marist batsman kept french-cutting, missing the stumps by millimeters.

McCormick bowled seven overs straight, picking up one wicket (LBW).

Steve Fraser and Dale Elvin took over from the pair and continued with the pressure.

Elvin saw the bails go flying and Fraser got the edge to Matthew Reuben in slips to see Marist 3/75.

Just as drinks were about to be taken, Fraser ripped through another.

After drinks Fraser got Marist’s opener, who was on 67, with a great diving catch by keeper Jarved Dallywater.

Ireland came back on to receive a well-deserved wicket (LBW).

With Matthew Thompson taking one wicket, Elvin taking another and Reuben taking two, Marist were all out for 197. 

Bowling: McCormick nine overs 1/32, Ireland nine overs 1/27, Elvin eight overs 2/27, S. Fraser nine overs 3/31, J. Fraser three overs 0/16, A. Johnson three overs 0/18, Thompson one over 1/17, Reuben 3.1 overs 2/23. 

Reuben and Ayden Parkin opened for Collie.

Parkin hit a nice four but was then caught on five.

Ryan Chappell was given out, caught behind, for six which brought Dallywater in.

Dallywater and Reuben ran hard between wickets and were scoring nicely together until Dallywater edged to second slip (17).

Ireland (nine) was unlucky as Reuben smacked one straight back to the bowler, where the ball ricocheted off the bowler’s foot to hit the stumps and Ireland was short of his crease.

Rhett Sutherland (duck) fell shortly after (LBW).

Joshua Fraser joined Reuben and the pair put on 44 runs together.

Fraser managed 32 of the 44-run partnership, hitting one six and five fours before he was stumped.

Thompson (duck) and Adam Johnson (three) didn’t hang around long but Steve Fraser did.

Reuben brought up his 50 as Collie was getting closer to the target.

Fraser was then bowled which brought in Elvin, Collie’s last batsmen.

With 35 runs needed, the boys knuckled down, turning ones into twos, they pushed on hard.

It came down the last over where they needed eight runs.

Unfortunately Elvin was caught and finished with 14, leaving Collie all out 191.

Reuben stood tall all day and finished 65 not out.