DISTRICT
A MIDDLE order revival has seen Seaford Tigers go from being in trouble to holding the upper hand in its MPCA District clash against Heatherhill.
The Tigers won the toss and batted first on their home deck but looked to be in all sorts of trouble early when it lost its opening three batsmen for just 11 runs.
Skipper David James was out for four, Dave Roach for two and Anthony Joel for three, all courtesy of Hill’s opening quick Jake Theobald, who was on fire early.
The Tigers needed some intervention and it came in the form of Mackenzie Gardner and Ash Mills.
Gardner hit 48 and Mills 56 to help the Tigers move on from 3/11 to 4/89.
Jack Brooking then played one of his finest First XI innings with 50 and Jon Plakourakis added 36 to help the Tigers to a more than respectable 8/262 – a long way from 3/11.
Theobald finished with 3/53 from 21 overs for the Hills, while Jon Powell and Luke Whitmore picked up two wickets each.
Tigers’ neighbour, Seaford, didn’t fare as well against Rosebud at Olympic Park.
Seaford batted first and were restricted to just 138 in 75 overs.
Jason Nagel was at his absolute vintage best, toiling for 28 overs for a sensational return of 5/62.
Chip off the ol’ block Pat Nagel was equally as impressive, bowling 19 overs and finishing with 3/31, including eight overs.
Billy Quigley bowled 10 overs and went for just nine runs, while Nathan O’Sullivan snared 1/9 from seven overs.
The Buds were simply superb with the ball.
In reply, the home side is 0/3.
Mt Martha has placed itself in a strong position against Rye, scoring 226 on the opening day of their clash.
Rye faced the final five overs of the day and lost opener Coen Packer for a duck, leaving the Demons at 1/8 at stumps.
Earlier, Reds’ opener Ryan Godwin top scored with 69 while a number of batsmen got starts before going out in their 20’s.
Todd Harnett was the pick of the Rye bowlers with 4/49 from 20.3 overs while Zac Stephenson picked up 2/55.
The match between Hastings and Baden Powell will go down to the wire after a staggering 14 wickets fell on the opening day.
Hastings batted first and once again failed dismally, rolled for just 119. Rob Hearn top scored with 23 and Isuru Dias hit 20. Sean Hewitt made 19.
However, Baden Powell wasn’t much better with the bat, losing 4/23 in the final 11 overs of the day.
Ryan McNamara and Dias picked up two wickets each.
First published in the Mornington News – 14 November 2017
