FLANELLED FOOLS: 31 JANUARY 2017

Cricket Round-Up By GREG PRINGLE*

Country Continue to Cruise

Country and Magpies recorded wins on the weekend in Round 10 of the Oilsplus competition in very hot and humid conditions in Molong.

At the Molong Rec Ground, Cudal batted first and struggled early, losing their top three batsmen for low scores, thanks to a good opening spell by Damien Hayes, who removed both openers.

Cudal relied on seasoned veterans Lee Cornish (43), who is great form, and Steve Fairley (30) to dig them out of a big hole.

The rest of the Cudal batsmen came and went, offering little to the scoreboard, and only a late innings of 29 not out from Grant Williams allowed Cudal to post a respectable total of 7/161 at the completion of their 40 overs.

Damien Hayes (2/24) and Stu Brisbane (2/22) were the best bowlers for Country.

Chasing the total, Country, despite only fielding 10 players, had little trouble.

When the big crowd that had come to watch Andrew Heath in action asked where the gun batsman was, his Country team mates were heard to say, “Who?”

When most of the crowd left Trent Frazer (66 not out) led the way for Country as they cruised past Cudal’s total in the 34th over with only three wickets down.

Nigel Brazier (58) and man-of-the-match Damien Hayes (33) also batted well.

For Cudal, only Jock Gordon (2/38) caused any trouble to the batsman, the third wicket being a run out.

Country continue to cruise through the competition to date with their only real opposition being Joe Clayton’s over-cooked lobster.

It remains to be seen if Country can go through the regular season undefeated.

With only five rounds remaining they are well on track to do so.

It remains to be seen if Heath will play this week against Magpies, as he has been double booked as a guest speaker at the Bradman Museum.

At Hunter Caldwell, Jacob Evans won his first toss for the year and elected to bat.

All of Magpies top order batsmen got starts but only Greg Thomas (59 not out) and Jim Gavin (35) went on to post reasonable scores.

However Magpies managed to amass 225 at the end of their 40 overs.

Telegraph gifted 55 sundries to Magpies total, which is a record for this competition.

Scott Twiss, with his cheeky off-spin, was the best of the Telegraphs bowlers with 2/30.

New mid-season signing Ellis Johnson also bowled well, taking the wicket of his older brother in his handy figures of 1/14 from six overs.

Magpies’ defence got off to a great start. with in-form batsmen Ed Twiss (4) and Andrew Drady (7) going cheaply.

Further drama ensued for Telegraph when Travis Cornelisens retired hurt on 13.

Travis was batting well, but after hitting a six his left knee gave way, causing some major ligament issues.

It appears at this stage that Travis’s cricket season is over — another blow to the hapless Telegraph team.

It appeared all downhill from there when another couple of quick wickets fell, but a good partnership from Ben Brown (40 not out) and Glenn Miller (42) put some respectability into the Telegraph scorecard.

However, they we bowled out in the 29th over for 128, almost 100 short of Magpies total.

All of Magpies’ bowlers chipped in by taking wickets, with the Osborn brothers, Luke (2/34) and Adam (1/20), bowling well and with Brett Johnson (1/10 off five overs) consistent as usual.

Bohdie Johnson also bowled well, taking 2/11 of five overs.

It was a much better effort from Magpies although dropped catches are still on the menu.

This coming Saturday Country and Magpies clash at the Molong Rec and Telegraph host Cudal at Hunter Caldwell. Games commence at 1pm.

*Greg Pringle is Secretary/Treasurer of Molong District Cricket. He plays for Molong Magpies but swears he is as hard, if not harder, on his own guys as the opposition.