Lowly ranked Nerrena shows’em how in A2

A Grade, Division 2

THE only batting side in A Grade Division Two to post a competitive total, on the return to two-day games last Saturday, was the lowly-ranked Nerrena.

Playing at home against a side one place above them on the ladder, in second-last spot, Meeniyan Dumbalk United, they took the initiative and batted first, then defied their form to get a contribution from every batsman on the list, finishing with a virtually unassailable 5/299 off 75 overs.

No one went on to make a ton, but Nerrena got solid support from Zack Trease 38, James Kelly 46, Tadgh Gannon 85, Joel Renden 71 and, pressed for time, Mitchell Croatto took 38 (not out) off 25 balls, with three 4s and two 6s, to round out a very satisfying day for the Redcaps.

Elsewhere in A2, Wonthaggi Club had the next best total of 132 against Glen Alvie at Dalyston but it should have been much better. Each time Club looked to be finally getting on top of the bowling, after taking a cautious approach, Ben McRae would strike from the highway end of the ground and put them back to square one.

With good support coming from Ryan Sinclair, taking 3/31 off 11 overs at the other end, McRae kept taking wickets throughout the Club innings to finish with a bag of five, a very miserly 5/38 off 15.4 overs.

The hope of the side for Club had been Harry West, who struck five boundaries on the exceptionally lush surface at Dalyston but ultimately holed out to Matt Donohue, going the aerial route again, off the bowling of McRae.

Glen Alvie looked to be in total control at the changeover of the innings, but Club’s opening bowler Jai Williamson struck three times in his nine overs to take a game-changing 3/6 to have Glen Alvie on the ropes at the close of play – 3/28 chasing 132 has the game very evenly poised.

In the other matches, Nyora has already wiped off Foster’s paltry target of 71 which featured four ‘ducks’ but it looked anything but certain as the wickets tumbled early in the Nyora response, finally eking out 7/90 off 48 overs at close of play. There may yet be a few twists and turns in this one.

In the other A2 game, at the Bass Recreation Reserve, Killy-Bass took most of the day to get to 85 runs, off 65.2 overs, with only three players reaching double figures. The Koonwarra Leongatha/RSL bowlers shared the wickets around and the team was in good shape at stumps, at 1/20, in a match result that effectively represents double points between the fourth and fifth-placed sides.