DISTRICT
By Mr & Mrs IT Gully
BADEN Powell flexed its muscles at the right time leading into the MPCA District semi-final, recording a seven-wicket victory over Rye.
Baden Powell batted first at the beautiful RJ Rowley Reserve and set Rye 183 for victory after scoring 182 for the loss of three wickets. Craig Entwistle hit 85 off 109 balls while Tom Kellerman hit 30 runs off 46 balls. In the chase Matt Whelan top scored with 44 for Rye while Dean Collins scored 35 and Andrew Dunn 29. No other Rye player hit double figures and consequently, they were bowled out for 128.
The Brave’s Ryan Barnett was the best of their bowlers with 4/35.
Unbelievably, despite Rye being in the four a handful of rounds ago, the bottom finish means they will be relegated to Sub-District next season.
Mt Martha slotted into fourth place on the ladder after beating Rosebud in a thriller by three runs.
The Buds batted first and made 102 with three batsmen scoring double figures. Peter Doughty top scored with 37, Matt Williams hit 22 and Jason Mathers 17. Curtis Stone bowled eight overs and finished with 4/13 for the Reds.
Mt Martha was in a world of pain early in the chase, scrambling at 4/8, they were then 8/51 and in real trouble. However, an unbeaten 49 from Brad Wilkinson, 14 Brad Schreuder and an unbeaten nine from Curtis Stone, saw the Reds scramble to 9/105 and record an unlikely victory.
Rosebud’s Pat Nagle and Billy Quigley each took 3/22.
Heatherhill will meet Seaford in this weekend’s semi-final after smashing Hastings by seven wickets on Saturday.
The Blues batted first in the one-dayer and at one stage were 4/18, however, the middle order, led by Nathan Hunt with 28 and Sean Hewitt with 25 helped the Blues to a defensible 145.
What was thought to be defensible proved to be far from the case, Heatherhill reeling in the runs in 19.2 overs. This was largely due to Steve O’Donnell who spanked 96 while Matty Meagher hit an unbeaten 22. O’Donnell has now hit almost 300 runs in his last two hits after almost scoring 200 in his last innings.
Seaford is nicely primed for the finals after winning a tight one against old foe Seaford Tigers.
Seaford Tigers batted first and made 9/176, Mackenzie Gardener top scoring with 78 and Anthony Joel hitting 30.
In reply, Seaford chased down the runs with 5 wickets and four overs in hand. Faisal Payenda top scored for Seaford with 41 and skipper Ryan McQueen hit 39.
First published in the Mornington News – 13 March 2018
