Moe v Mirboo North
The visitors won the toss and batted. The Tigers had promoted a number of players (Cheatley, Anders, Snell) to A’s due to availability issues but still had a dangerous top 4 for the Lions to contend with. 4 of the 5 opening bowlers Moe’s B’s have used this season (Blunt, Johnstone, Farmer & Pickering) were unavailable or playing in other grades, so it was Ash Savige who was promoted up the order to open with Haydn Edwards who opened for the third time this season.
Mirboo North Innings
Steve Rogers (34) & Clinton Wise (40) set the early tone with a 79 run opening stand in just 15 overs. A nice stumping from Brodyn Blandford off Jarryd Atkinson got the breakthrough (Wise) the Lions desperately needed. Atkinson (2/25) struck again to dismiss Rogers to make it 2/86. The batting slowed a little but not much as Logan Anders & Brad Aitken added 70 from the next 18 overs. Mark Whitney (0/31) didn’t have the same success as last week with the ball but broke the 3rd wicket stand, running out Aitken (32). Anders (63*) did the majority of the damage for the remainder of the innings as the Tigers posted 6/216 from their 45 overs. Atkinson was the best bowler whilst Ash Savige (2/39) took a couple of late wickets. The Tigers experienced heads got ahold of youngsters McCartney (1/38 off 7) & Edwards (0/57 off 9). 23 wides among the extras didn’t help matters for the hosts.
Moe Innings
After some early season lineup shortfalls, the B Grade batting lineup looked strong for the second week in a row. The Lions chased down 151 with ease last week but 217 to win would need to go to another level. After 12 overs, Mirboo were 0/61 and Moe were travelling just as well. Josh Keyhoe & Randy Straughair posted 0/59 from the same opening period. Keyhoe (33) was first out to Rogers. Jarryd Atkinson (4) & Ash Savige (7) had less than desirable innings before both fell lbw to reduce Moe to 3/86. Straughair (49) was next to fall, just short of a half century to end a 33 run stand with Michael Johnstone. After Edwards’ (7) dismissal, Moe were 5/130 off 33 overs, needing 87 off 72 balls. Wickets fell regularly (McCartney 0, Finn 7, Whitney 12, Blandford 11, Glibanovic 5*) in an attempt to get the flourish of runs required. The Lions managed 52 runs from the next 61 deliveries, but ultimately fell 35 short. Rogers, Hughes & Basarke all took 3 wickets each for the Tigers in an accurate bowling attack, with 8 scalps coming from straight deliveries (5x lbw, 3x bowled).
