McMahon and Saunders push Moama to the cusp of 300 against BLU

By Oliver Shedden

Dec 8, 2024

Moama captain Anthony McMahon posted an impressive 78 in the Mowers’ enormous first innings total against BLU. Photo: Aidan Briggs. Photo by Aidan Briggs

Moama captain Anthony McMahon and Matt Saunders led from the front on Saturday to power their side to the biggest innings total of the season to date against Bamawam-Lockington United.

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The Lions won the toss and elected to send the home team in to bat, unaware of the firestorm of runs heading its way.

Yet, the opening overs were not indicative of a substantial total, as opening bowlers Noah Turner and Simon Van Duinen kept Michael Hill and Fraser Buchanan in check.

The batsmen were able to rotate the strike well and began to put the foot down as the innings neared the 10-over mark, but a stray shot brought Buchanan undone, being caught by Cameron Laird for 17.

As is often the case, one brings two and in this instance it was fellow opener Michael Hill heading back to the sheds just an over after his teammate, caught by Jake Toll for eight.

Captain McMahon and young gun Archie Teasdale were the next men in and saw off Van Duinen as both got their eyes in.

The duo developed a nice partnership through the following 10 overs, finding gaps in the field to put pressure back on the bowlers.

Teasdale in particular was looking dangerous early, having hit four boundaries in his 32-ball innings, but was caught at the crease and edged behind to Regis Chakabva off Shannon Bish for 24.

The dismissal of Moama’s number four made way for the Mowers’ in-form player Matt Saunders, who was coming off a gritty half-century against L-G.

The combination of McMahon and Saunders took the game away from BLU in the middle overs, with Saunders providing a steady contrast as McMahon began moving up the gears.

The pair cruised past the midway mark of the innings unfazed as maiden overs became a rarity. If they couldn’t deal in boundaries, they were happy knocking the ball around.

As their partnership approached 100, a false shot by McMahon saw his innings brought to a close on 78 with Jeremy Felmingham creating the breakthrough.

Regular opener Russell Stockdale was in at number six and looked positive early, hitting a boundary off his first ball face and blasting a maximum four balls later.

However, this freewheeling attitude came to a swift end as he was caught and bowled trying to take on Luke Thompson for 10.

New man Rhys Drennan and Saunders picked up where they left off against L-G and kept the foot on the gas against BLU.

The pair put on 32 in quick succession before Saunders was trapped lbw by Thompson, his vital innings coming to an end on 57.

Despite now batting in the tail, Drennan and Liam Stephens are no strangers to scoring runs and gave no reprieve to the Lions’ bowlers.

Shannon Bish was able to break open the handy 30-run partnership by beating Drennan all ends up, sending him packing for 25.

Stephens and Kirk Teasdale continued to battle up until the 77th over when the latter was caught trying to take on Van Duinen, contributing 15 to his side’s total.

On the verge of stumps, Moama refused to let up and looked to scrounge every run it could to build an almost insurmountable chase for the Lions.

This led to an ambitious second run in the last over by Mitchell Stephens who was run out for eight, leaving Liam Stephens (37 not out) and Rishabh Kothari (two not out) to finish the job.

Having seen out the whole 80 overs with a wicket still in hand, Moama tallied the biggest total of the competition so far, just shy of 300 with a win looking unlikely for the visitors on day two.