Lakers in boxseat as Azam debuts

Smart launched an enormous 6 into the wind but was caught on the boundary trying to replicate the same shot shortly after with the score on 36.

Ben Welsh and Clarke put on 30 runs for the third wicket, before Welsh was unlucky to be caught down the leg side, looking to glance, dismissed for 12.

Coming in at four, Brock McCabe continued his batting form from his first ball, smacking a drive through cover to get his innings started.

The partnership was looking solid as the pair put on 23 in quick time, but Clarke was soon out stumped for a well compiled 45 runs.

Angus Heslin was elevated to number five in the order; he and McCabe were patient in the session before the lunch break, putting on 40 runs.

Looking to be positive after the break, Heslin was dismissed caught behind, bringing Sam Lidgerwood to the crease.

Lidgerwood’s short stay at the crease was highlighted by a huge six and two boundaries, before he copped a dubious LBW decision, out for 15 off 12 deliveries.

McCabe was joined by his brother Matt, who was back into the A grade side after battling injury at the start of the season.

The brothers batted brilliantly together, manipulating the field with wristy shots and hard running between the wickets.

Brock brought up his second consecutive fifty, while Matt punished anything short at the other end, hitting four boundaries off their spinners.

With 7 overs to go, Brock holed out to mid-on looking to up the run rate even further, falling for 58 off 119 balls.

Matt followed soon after for a brilliant cameo of 36 off 49 deliveries – his highest score in A grade cricket.

Skipper Kyle Archibald and Matt Wollington both fell soon after chasing quick runs, which brought debutant Aneeque Azam to the crease.

Azam lofted his first ball in A grade over cover, much to the delight of his teammates and the crowd.

He and Van Kreeck finished as the not out batsmen, on 6 and 1 respectively.

A Res face challenge

As round 6 commences, the Yarrawonga Mulwala Cricket Club A Reserve team had a difficult task of facing an in-form team of Benalla Bushrangers at Benalla Showgrounds, who won their game last week against Delatite.

The Lakers saw 3 changes into the side with Ollie Connell being unavailable due to testing positive for Covid, Matt McCabe being brought back into A grade due to the many spots open for selection in the A grade team and in form player Aneeque Azam being promoted to an A grade debut.

In return, the A Res gain Will Murphy for his first A reserve game for the season, Xavier Mitchell who has performed well in the A Grade side for the past couple of weeks and a debut for John ‘JT’ Taylor for A reserve as he has been performing well throughout the past few weeks in B grade.

As Benalla won the toss and sent Yarrawonga into bat, knowing the extreme heat that is meant to be present later throughout the day, had a good start with getting an early wicket of Justin ‘Juggy’ O’Brien.

As Ollie Cope and Luke ‘Alk’ Buerckner face the early pressure of the opening bowlers with runs starting to tick over, at drinks Yarrawonga were at 1-64.

As the day continued, the heat had caused the Benalla players to feel fatigued as late runs had occurred but also taking wickets frequently as Ollie Cope made a very well made 22 and John Taylor made a quick fire 28 off 27 balls to take Yarrawonga to 7-177. But the highlight of the innings was Luke Buerckner’s spectacular 94 runs as he made quick runs and did not look like getting out all day til a miss hit to short cover.

Once afternoon tea had finished, the Yarrawonga side knew they were up for the fight as the short boundaries and the suddenly quick outfield had runs quick to get. Furthermore, opening bowlers Andrew Dishot and Xavier Mitchell took the new ball and started well as Xavier Mitchell claimed the first wicket.

After the wicket, runs flowed for Benalla as a partnership of 90 from both their batters had put Yarrawonga in a tight situation. At drinks Benalla were 1-86 off 20 overs.

As many bowling changes had occurred, Tom Lovell struck with the ball as Juggy took a vital stumping dismissing a Benalla player for a well-made 48.

Benalla's next batsman came out firing with 2 boundaries off his first 2 balls.

As runs continued to motor along, Luke Buerckner had to leave early for his Mother’s 70th birthday which brought George Hill out into the field as he stopped the ball half a dozen times and performed well with the hard hitting Benalla team.

As many bowling changes occurred Ollie Cope took a vital wicket of a hard-hitting batsman which was caught by Tom Lovell out in the deep.

Furthermore, the Benalla’s team number 3 was still out in the middle making runs until the captain Brendan Hill took the ball and claimed a vital wicket which was also caught by Tom Lovell as he had to dive forward towards the ball.

After the wicket, Benalla needed the following 28 runs from 58 balls which had made Yarrawonga to field perfectly to restrict loose runs.

After the wicket taking spell from Ollie Cope and Brendan Hill, the debutant John Taylor had been handed the ball and took his first wicket for A reserve but by the time the wicket had occurred Benalla only needed 2 runs to win.

As Benalla defeated Yarrawonga, Benalla 5-181 and Yarrawonga 7-177.

At this point Yarrawonga A reserve side remain 3rd on the ladder needing to face City Colts next week who are 2nd at Bill O’Callaghan Oval.

B Grade’s big win

Yarrawonga Mulwala 8/189 def Greta 10/35

This week the boys hosted Greta at Mulwala in a rematch of the semi-final last year. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Hudson Gillies and Charlie Jamieson opened up getting away to a fast start putting on 41 for the first partnership before Charlie was caught for “12”.

This brought Geoff Montgomery to the crease and he and Hudson continued to score quickly punishing the Greta bowlers before Hudson was caught in the deep for “79” and Geoff out for a well made “33”.

After a middle order collapse Lach Phillips “26”, Alex Kealy “15” and Ethan Thorpe “10” smashed them around the park getting the score up to 189.

After the break Jyda House and Hunter Fraunfelder opened up once again bowling in a great partnership ripping through the Greta batting lineup with Jyda taking 5/8 of his 8 overs and Hunter taking 2/19 off his 8, the boys had Greta in all sorts at 7-25.

The ball was then thrown to Gary Browning and Alex Kealy who finished off the game, with Gary taking 1/2 and Alex taking 2/5 in his debut to bowl Greta out for 35.

Next week B grade travel to Beechworth and start a string of away games.

C Grade

Yarrawonga Mulwala 10/78 def by Beechworth Wanderers 7/180

Report not submitted before Chronicle went to print.

Under 14s Bulls

Beechworth Wanderers v Yarrawonga Mulwala Bulls 10/112

Skipper Darcy Hargreaves won the toss and had no hesitation batting first on the hard wicket at the Mayday Hills cricket ground.

Darcy wanted to set the tone for his side so he opened along with Levi (Robert) Purtle.

Skipper Darcy came up against some great bowling and spooned one to mid-off having the Yarra boys on the back foot early.

Jacko Smith strode to the crease and hit a great short ball first up and fended it straight to gully. Yarra reeling at 2/1.

Byron Dodd joined his great mate Purtle at the crease. These young boys put on a great partnership keeping some good bowling out and also hitting some nice boundaries when needed.

Dodd fell for a well-made 20 looking to go over the top of mid-off. Purtle was still digging in.

Blair Livingstone - Laing came to the crease and his shot making was something to watch.

Using all of the field and placing the ball to the gaps to hit the boundary a few times. Purtle fell for a solid 5 runs and soon after Blair was unluckily run out for a nice 18 runs. Mitchell Smith came and hit some nice runs but missed a straight one that seen him back in the sheds for 4 runs Jack (JB) Browning looked to score fast and was swinging wildly before been caught behind for 6.

Micheal Smith again hung around and put in some valuable runs getting in behind the ball and beeping the fast bowlers out.

He and Tyce Woodhead together put on 20 runs which saw Tyces’ stand and deliver approach work effectively. Timing the ball off his bat at ease. Tyce was out for a solid 11 runs.

Trey Doric came and joined Micheal which saw Trey make 3 runs after some nice shots. Micheal was the last one out for a handy 8 runs off 55 balls. This left Blake Brain stranded at the other end who was confident he was going to make a quick 50.

Lucky for Blake there’s always next week, Yarra all out for 112 runs in 30 overs.

The boys are still learning how to bat out the full 40 overs and if they can produce some good two-day cricket it may help them post more competitive totals.

Beechworth batted and faced the last 5 overs of the day. Beechworth’s opener took to the bowlers hitting 4 sixes and several fours.

Before Levi got the breakthrough. Beechworth are currently 1 /40 with next week to bat. This will see the Bulls bowlers having to get some early wickets to remain in the game.

U12s Bulls charge through the swooping Magpies

Yarrawonga Mulwala Bulls 7/139 def Wangaratta Magpies Black 6/72

On the home deck of Vic Park on a Friday night, the Bulls were sent out to bowl by the Magpies.

Finn O’Brien started the team off well with figures of 0/2 off 2 overs and younger brother Ned bowled a good line and length getting 1/3 off 1 over.

Milla Wollington got her first wicket of her career bowling a Magpies batter out middle stump.

The Bulls finished off really well with the ball restricting the Magpies to a gettable target of 72. With the bat the Bulls had a middle order collapse giving the Magpies some hope of victory but it was the big effort from Finn O’Brien and Benji Wollington getting a combined total of 83 runs between them with Benji marking 46 not out and Finn 37 not out giving the Bulls a big win of 67 runs.

Rams return to the winners list

Yarrawonga Mulwala Rams 6/110 def Benalla Bushrangers Red 8/60.

The Under 12 Rams played a great all-round game to come away with a convincing win against Benalla Bushrangers Red.

Winning the toss the young Rams elected to bowl first in warm conditions at the immaculate Vic Park No 2 oval.

Lachlan Brown got the first breakthrough with a sharp caught and bowled. The Rams continued to take wickets at regular intervals, with Murphy Doyle, George Hill, Ned O’Brien, Layken Saunders all claiming a wicket.

The ever-reliable Paddy Doyle was a standout with 2 for 8 off his two overs. Charlie Carlyle supported his bowlers with 3 fine catches during the Bushrangers’ innings, with their total reaching 60.

After the loss of an early wicket, the Rams batsmen started to play some fine shots. Lachie Brown led the way, finding the boundary three times during his knock of 20.

He was well supported by Layken Saunders (12 retired) and Hugo Bott (14 retired).

Finn O’Brien was the top scorer for the match, finding the rope on four occasions on his way to 33 not out.

The Rams completed their innings with a score of 6 for 110.

The Rams will be looking to continue their good form when they come up against the top of the table Benalla Bushrangers Blue at home next Saturday.

Under 12s Lakers record first loss

Benalla Bushrangers Green 2/128 def Yarrawonga Mulwala Lakers 7/58.

The young lakers travelled to Benalla Arundle St Oval to try to continue their unbeaten start to the season, however it didn’t really go to script as the youngsters received a lesson on what a tough day of cricket looks like.

Issac and Kirsty have both been in red-hot form with the bat and decided to open the innings after being sent into bat by the bushies.

Issac was unluckily run out second ball by a magnificent piece of fielding and a direct hit caught the skipper short.

Eamon came to the crease and steadily went about building a partnership with Kirsty. The bushies were bowling tight, but Kirsty managed to get a couple of pull shots away and quickly raced to 12 retired.

Eamon lost his off stump, and suddenly the Lakers were under pressure. Blake hit one back to the bowler, then Rosie was caught in a mix up with Finn and was run out.

Newcomer to the team Finn McDonald really dug in with Will and the pair saw off 33 balls between them to both retire on 2 and 8 respectively.

Rory and Billy then entered the fray, and Rory who was searching for his first runs of the year hit a beautiful cut shot to get off the mark, much to the delight of the crowd.

Billy continued his great form to retire on 9 and Rory also retired on 2. Ollie who was playing his first game misjudged one, and Darcy batted patiently again for his 1 off 12 balls.

Kirsty, Will and Finn all came back in to try to get some quick runs before the 20 overs were up, with Will and Finn finishing not out, Will still hasn’t been out all year!

The Lakers knew they would need to bowl and field well, however the bushies batted really sensibly and prayed on the loose ball.

It wasn’t until Issac bought himself on and scattered the stumps everywhere with his first ball that the Lakers could break through.

After this the wickets dried up, and everyone had a go but couldn’t buy a wicket. Billy got the only other wicket, from a nice catch by new wicketkeeper Blake.

A tough day, but plenty of lessons can be learned.

Another trip to Benalla to play Delatite awaits next week.