Kyabram Redbacks will be relying on its top order batters to return to the Cricket Shepparton under-14 A-grade winners list after three successive defeats.
The team hasn’t won since scoring 0-191 in round three, when it had a 128-run win against Karramomus Trevaskis.
Since then they have suffered a 68-run Twenty20 loss to the competition’s top team, lost by 45 runs to the second-ranked Old Students team and lost by 51 run runs to the ladder-leader again in a two-day format game a fortnight ago.
The Redbacks’ under-14 A-grade team has a 3-3 record from their six games, but have a big run chase ahead against third-ranked Karramomous Keady, which scored 8-196 from 45 overs on day one of the two-day game.
Despite Riley Nicholson taking a wicket with the last ball of the first over, it took the Redbacks until the second ball of the 16th over to claim a second wicket.
Nicholson will be equally important with the bat, having scored a 59-ball 62 in his last innings, along with three other unbeaten knocks this season.
Thomas Barnard was the most successful bowler, taking 3-20 from six overs and had support from Georgia Leonard – 2-29 from six overs.
Leonard was a round three star when she took 3-10 from two overs, but last week’s star – Rhys Parsons – failed to take a wicket from his seven-over spell after collecting three a week earlier.
- A 54-run partnership between Hudson Boylan and Ashton Depasquale was not enough to earn Fire Brigade its first win of the Goulburn Murray Cricket under-13 competition.
The pair came together after their team had lost two wickets in three balls in the second over, Boylan eventually out in the 14th over for 15. Lachlan Young was out very next ball and despite Depasquale finishing not out 16 the team finished on 9-98 from 25 overs.
Bamawm Lockington United’s run chase started slowly, but a 49-run second wicket stand got things back on track. Fire Brigade bowlers Max Gould, Lachlan Young and Benjamin O’Dwyer then rallied and BLU lost five wickets for nine runs before another strong partnership guided them to victory.
BLU finished with 8-112 from 25 overs.
- A 30-run second wicket stand by Stanhope under-13 pair Hunter Gebbie and Cooper Fisher put their team in the driver’s seat against Rushworth after they won the toss and batted.
Gebbie made 13 not out from 27 deliveries and Fisher was not out 20 at the end of the 25 overs when the team finished on 6-92.
William West made a late contribution with the bat, then Rushworth was four runs shy of victory with an over remaining. The winning runs came from the third ball of the over.
- Lower-order Tongala batters Jordan Reid and Bryce Kay helped their team to a 200-run plus score in a big improvement for the team in a two day game against Nondies Cohuna.
Before the Brose Reserve contest on Thursday Tongala had scored only 60, 72 and 108. In those games they had relied heavily on all-rounder Hugo Monnich Vo.
Monnich Vo was again strong with his 38 (from 35 deliveries), but was out when the bowler touched the ball onto the stumps when he was backing up too far at the non striker’s end.
Tyler Robinson (237 from 52 deliveries) then held the innings together until Jordan Reid arrived to strike three boundaries and a six in his 37 ball-43 run total.
At the other end Kay finished 34 not out, from 33 balls, with Tongala posting 9-201 from 39.1 overs.