By Jackson Russell
Yea Tigers remain one of two undefeated teams left in the Seymour District Cricket Association’s A Grade competition following a six-wicket away win over Kilmore on Saturday.
The visitors won the toss and sent Kilmore into bat, holding the hosts to 8/113 from 45 overs.
It was slow going for Kilmore and runs were hard to come by.
Kilmore captain Matt Rose top scored with 29 from 55 balls with five boundaries before he was caught and bowled by Will Dalton (1/21) at 2/48.
Ash Lovick (14) tried to get a partnership moving but was dismissed shortly after, triggering a middle-order collapse as Kilmore fell to 7/68.
Kilmore’s tail tried to pick up the pace, but ran out of overs at 8/113.
Kilmore struck early in Yea’s run chase as Ben Dawson dismissed Andrew Butterworth for a duck at 1/0.
The visitors were able to build a foundation with a 63-run second wicket partnership between Damon Malcolm (30 not out) and Cameron Armstrong (47).
After Armstrong was caught off the bowling of Josh Buttler (1/29), Darcy Pell (25) put together a 35-run partnership with Malcolm to guide the Tigers to 3/98.
It was academic at that point as Yea completed the run chase at 4/121 from 31 overs.
Cameron Armstrong dominated Kilmore’s middle order, taking 6/17 from nine overs with four maidens.
Kilmore captain Matt Rose said despite good conditions, his batsmen weren’t able to execute well enough through the middle and back end of the innings.
“Yea bowled pretty well and fielded really well but we weren’t good enough at absorbing pressure and getting through the tough periods,” he said.
“I actually think our effort with the ball was pretty reasonable but we were probably 60 or 70 runs short of what would be a good total in those conditions.
“It’s a couple weeks in a row that our batting has let us down so it’s something we’ll be working on this week to try and rectify.”
Tallarook is also undefeated after their 104-run win over Seymour at Chittick Park.
After a shaky start left the reigning premiers 2/11, Jac Smith-Williams (82) and Lachlan Watts (62) put together a 130-run third wicket partnership which helped guide Tallarook to a total of 172 from 44 overs.
Seymour was in trouble right away at 1/5 before a middle-order collapse had the hosts 8/49.
Mitchell Itter tore through Seymour’s batsmen, taking 4/22 from nine overs with three maidens.
A strong total guided Broadford to a 96-run win over Eastern Hill at Kings Park.
At 3/58, Liam Collier (86) and Evan Mills (70) combined for a 136-run partnership to lead Broadford to 5/220 from 45 overs.
Eastern Hill chipped away at the target but lost wickets consistently and wasn’t able to build any large partnerships before being bowled out for 124 from 40.3 overs.
