FIRST took on fourth at Swan Hill Recreation Reserve in the semi-final between
Swan Hill and Tooleybuc Manangatang.
Swan Hill won the toss and sent
Tooleybuc into bat, immediately capitalising on the move as Jonathan Hirst
bowled the aggressive opener Thomas Lister before he could trouble the
scorers.
Craig McNab and Simon Craig consolidated for the visitors as they
saw off Swan Hill’s onslaught with the new ball in a vital stand that protected
their middle order from the home team’s potent pace attack.
After succeeding
in this, both the opener and number three batsmen fell to the first change
bowler, Jordan Griffiths as both were caught for 8 and 34 respectively.
Leigh
Kentish had short company from Josh Domaille(12) and Braden Hender(4) who were
both victims to off spinner Harry Clewett who bowled a mammoth 30 overs with an
economy rate just above two runs an over.
Adrian Gordon came to the crease at
number 7 and together with Kentish re-erected the travelling team’s
innings.
Together the pair compiled a massive 111 run partnership that Swan
Hill had no response to.
Kentish reached his third century for the season
with Gordon’s support as the two experienced campaigners dragged Tooleybuc back
into the game.
Both were dismissed close to the end of the day’s play as they
looked to advance the run rate with Kentish (100) holding out to Bradley
Cockfield off Jordan Griffiths bowling while Gordon fell four short of the half
century on 46 to Kane Griffiths.
The Tooleybuc tail made a small contribution
with Tom Mattarazzo being run out for two, while Stuart Dixon was bowled by
Jordan Griffiths for zero.
Sam Grant (9) and Grant Mannix(2) finished not
out.
Tooleybuc managed to set a very competitive total of 227, which Swan
Hill needs to bat well to chase.
For more of this story, see Monday’s Guardian (March 18).
