With the Roos’ A Grade and B Grade sides having the weekend off the focus was on the minor and junior grades with mixed results. At home on a perfect Ball Park wicket the C Grade Division 2 side scored a commanding win over North Albury with a special bat and ball effort from Jack Williamson in his first game back for the season.
C Grade
C Grade suffer their first loss for the season going down by 128 runs to the reigning premiers in East Albury.
Winning the toss Corowa sent the opposition in, and with Caleb Kuschert on fire reduced East Albury to 3 for 13 early. And when Andrew Clark picked up three wickets Corowa was on top with East Albury 7 for 68.
But the strong lower order of East Albury came to the fore as they batted out their 40 overs to amass 9 for 223.
In reply, Corowa couldn’t get going with Ollie Collins (16) and Dan Osborne (16) top scoring as Corowa was bowled out for 95 in the 28th over.
C Grade Div 2
On Saturday the Corowa C2 hosted North Albury at Ball Park with North Albury winning the toss and electing to bat.
With the solitary boundary in their 40 overs the North Albury team never threatened the Corowa attack finishing their overs all out for 78.
The wicket takers for Corowa were Jack Williamson with 4/8 from 8 overs, Nathan Anic 2/9 from 6 overs, Sam Burdon 1/12 from 8 overs, Rylee Barber 1/8 from 6 and Billy Raggett 1/2 from his one over.
With a small total of 79 runs to chase down, the Corowa boys wasted no time and ran down the total in 51 balls finishing 1/84.
Corey Smith on his return to the side after a few years away was the chief destroyer dispatching the North Albury bowlers all over Ball Park and surrounds finishing on 56 not out off 26 balls and was well supported by Billy Raggett finishing 18 not out from his 14 balls faced.
With another big win on the board, another challenge follows this week against East Albury who look like being one of the stronger sides in the competition.
Under 16s
After not getting a start last week the Under 16s travelled to Emerald Oval to take on Wodonga Raiders in a 20/20.
Winning the toss Corowa elected to bowl and captain Jack Torney made the perfect start with a wicket first ball.
Eli Lavis backed up in the second over to have them 2 for 4.
Wickets to Toby Hanrahan and Harry Norman reduced the Raider to 4 for 31 after 10 overs.
In the last 10 overs Raiders lifted the scoring on the lightning quick outfield to finish their 20 overs at 7 for 90 with Archie Bedford and Rustin Collins collecting a wicket each.
In reply, Corowa lost Austin Ross-Anderson early but with Eli Lavis striking the ball well quickly reeled in the total.
Lavis made 53 retired with 11 boundaries while Rhylee Barber made 17 retired as the team finished the game after 12 overs with 2 for 91.
Under 14s Div 1
With 164 runs on the board against North Albury last week, now it was the Roos turn with the ball.
In his first match for the season after a nasty injury, Jake Witherden took right up from where he left off last season and took the new ball. It was like he hadn’t missed a game as they came out on the right line and frustrated the North Albury openers with his tight line and length.
Jagger Doody partnered with Jake to keep the runs down in the opening overs. A sharp chance in the third over saw Jagger throw down the stumps in a direct hit from cover to remove one of their openers.
The next partnership got their score to 28 before a nice ball from Archie Rhodes removed the off stump to break the partnership in the 12th over.
Again, North Albury started to get a partnership happening before this time Abe crashed their party with Harry taking a running catch to remove their batsman.
It was to be the story of North Albury’s day as their new batsmen got a start, but the tight bowling was forcing them into playing more shots and the wickets came at regular intervals.
Next to claim a wicket was Harry Norman as he claimed his first LBW of the season with the batsman plum. We then had a mix up between the batsmen with Abe taking advantage and completing the runout to have them 5/56 off 25 overs.
Their opening batsman was still at the crease and batting well, so the game wasn’t done and dusted just yet.
Ollie McLellan then bowled the best ball of the day to peg the batsmen off stump and have North Albury at 6/63 after 30 overs.
Requiring 99 of the last 10 overs with 4 wickets in hand it was a tough ask, especially when the bowling remained tight.
Next to contribute was Cal Corcoran with a very sharp chance of Abe’s bowling at mid-on. Down low and to his left Cal managed to scoop it up just before it went into the deck taking catch of the day.
Another plum LBW to Harry had North Albury at 8/88 and the game was pretty much done. Not able to claim the last wicket the boys ended up with a 62-run win.
Under 14s Div 2
In an impressive display of bowling, the Corowa Under 14 Boys cricket team successfully restricted North Albury to a score of 8 for 148 in their recent match, demonstrating both skill and teamwork on the field.
The standout performance came from Lucas Tait, who made an early breakthrough for Corowa. Tait’s exceptional bowling saw him claim 3 wickets for just 15 runs, making a significant impact in the early stages of the innings and setting the tone for the rest of the bowling unit.
Nathias Price also contributed to the team's success, taking 1 wicket for only 6 runs, effectively stifling North Albury's scoring opportunities.
Jackson Barber showcased his talent with the ball, claiming 1 wicket for 13 runs, while Albie Wood and Jaxon Collins kept the pressure on with figures of 1 for 18 and 1 for 21, respectively.
The team have plenty to work on at training but a commendable effort from the young boys at this early stage of the season.
Under 12s Div 1
The Corowa Under 12 Div 1 boys have come away with a brilliant first win for the season.
They should be all proud of the team’s effort and take some confidence from the match into the coming weeks.
With the team’s on-field captain George Smith stuck in traffic the toss captain Billy Witherden won the toss and made the correct call in having a bowl first.
Lavington’s opening batsmen started well but our bowlers managed to pull them up and hold them at a reachable target of 79.
Bowling well was Jack Timms 3 for 1, Jake Rhodes 2 for 5 and an impressive 3 overs for Max Tull with 1 for 7.
Coming into bat the openers George 34 not out and Jack 16 not out set us up for the remaining overs. Jake 31 not out and Austin 11 with his first bat for the season both showed some impressive batting.
Bailey Hicks showed great defensive skills and Billy Smith was looking well but unfortunately both were run out.
Benji Casey was fantastic as wicket keeper and Ollie Beford had a few well-fielded balls. We look forward to next week.
Under 12s Div 2
The Div 2 boys were up against Wodonga at the high school this week with Wodonga winning the toss and batting.
Another excellent all-round display with the ball keeping Wodonga to a score of 36.
Hugh Hicks with figures of 2/2 from 3 overs was impressive along with five individual wicket takers really shows how good the boys are going.
With the bat Corowa had no problems chasing down the total ending their innings on 99 after 20.
Hugh Hicks hitting a massive 6 and 4 boundaries on his way to 24 was highlight, while Jobe Ollington 15 and Kobe Raggett 14 batted well.
Thanks to the scorer this week, Brooke Ollington and the mums who organised afternoon tea.
Thank you
The club would like to acknowledge our sponsors for this season, A & A Auto, Davidson White Accountants, John Rhodes Bricklaying, Waldrons Fresh on River, Kilara Group, Rivalea, Terry White Chemist, O’Connors, Balldale Hotel, Federation Steel, Collins Transport, BJ Hanrahan Family Trust, Thrifty, Corowa Furnishing and Floors & Corowa RSL Club.