A-grade debut and father-son moment headline Bushies weekend action

Getting sent into bat first, Red was stoic at the crease only losing four wickets for the game. Archer Pickering was the batter of the night with 18 runs in his allocated 15 balls.

Setting the target of 71 for Yarrawonga, Red was able to restrict all but two of the batters to reasonably low scores.

Jimmy Humphrey led the bowling charge with 1-3 off two overs, Archer Pickering and Bill Bourke also nabbing wickets of their own.

Final score: Red 4-71 to Yarrawonga Bulls 4-85

Under-14 Girls

The Benalla girls played at home on a lovely sunny Sunday morning.

The girls won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Everyone bowled really well and the improvement is becoming more evident each week.

Bella Hazell was unlucky not to get a hat-trick, finishing with 2-23.

When Benalla came out to bat the girls all showed determination and great improvement facing their 15 balls each and only losing one wicket for the game.

The team also welcomed Evie, who was playing her first game of cricket.

Final score: Benalla 1-71 to City Colts 4-147

The under-12 Blue and Green, under-14 Blue and under-16 games were abandoned either due to the weather on Friday night or pitch conditions on Saturday.

Seniors

A-grade

There was a bit of excitement around the A-grade side this week with under-16 youngster Josh Hart making his debut in the side.

Going out to bat first, Benalla was keen to get a few runs on the board and set a decent total.

Brayden Stepien’s time at the crease was cut short on 19, but he still managed to ignite the crowd with his shots.

James Carboon, in his 100th club game, was eager to impact the scorecard and did so with clever shot selection and impeccable timing.

He unfortunately fell short of a half-century by the narrowest of margins.

Jonty Priest showed experience above his age and was able to contribute 39 runs to the score and combined with debutant Josh Hart (15) for a partnership of 53 runs.

Setting a final target of 164 for Wangaratta Magpies, the Bushies switched their focus to their bowling attack.

Mitch Wheelens got the first breakthrough wicket and Brayden Stepien followed shortly after with another.

The number three bat for Wangaratta was looking dangerous and with 72 runs to his name the Bushies needed something special.

Josh Hart was thrown the ball and thanks to a great catch at mid-on by Ross Cavill, the wicket was taken.

All the players got around Hart and it gave the Bushies the much-needed lift they were looking for.

Cooper Binion and Sameera Witharana ended up with two wickets each, but Wangaratta Magpies were polished and took on our bowlers, finding gaps and easy singles to chase down the runs.

Final score: Bushies 6-164 to Wangaratta Magpies 8-200

A-reserve – Did not play

B-grade

Our B-grade side hosted Yarrawonga at the showgrounds on a steamy Saturday afternoon and took to the field first for a bowl.

Some tight bowling ensured that the Yarrawonga batters weren’t given a lot of chances to make runs.

Brendan Duncombe had a great day with the ball in hand taking 4-16 off 4.4 overs.

Stewart McLeod (2-18) and Brady Purcell (2-17) were also consistent and causing headaches for the visitors.

At the end of innings the Bushies would need 119.

Michael Honman got things off to a great start, posting 20 runs, but, unfortunately, the next few that came in weren’t able to make a big enough impact on the scoreboard.

Steve Pickering (13) and Nathan Delaney (14) made healthy contributions, but it wasn’t quite enough to keep the B-grade winning streak alive.

Final score: Bushies 10-77 (31) to Yarrawonga 10-118 (33.4)

C-grade Red

Our Red C-grade team travelled to Yarrawonga and was sent out to bowl by the home team.

Paul Ivery doing some damage with 3-32 off eight overs and Ian Costello, Bryce Cooney and Udaykiran Kommidi taking a wicket each.

After 36 overs Yarrawonga had set the target of 156 for our Bushies team to beat.

Trevor Byers (12) and Bryce Cooney (12) got the score ticking over, but Murray Parton was looking unstoppable on 46 no and was ready to get the boys over the line.

Vaughan Carter (16) and Ian Costello (13) were there to assist, but in the end all the wickets fell with the Bushies 10 runs shy of the target.

Final score: Bushies 10-146 (33.1) to Yarrawonga 6/156 (36)

C-grade Blue

Another father-son duo was welcomed in the Blue team this week with Cam and Hugh Ross joining the team.

They travelled up to Stanley to take on ladder leader Beechworth in what was always going to be a difficult task.

Losing the toss the Bushies were asked to bowl first up.

The young kids handled themselves well under pressure with Josh Montgomery and Tom Osborne taking the share of the wickets.

It wasn’t a great day with the bat for Blue, but the effort was definitely still made to have a crack.

It was simply great to see more dads given the opportunity to play with their sons.

Final score: Bushies 9-51 (23.4) to Beechworth 5-159 (36)