BROADFORD Cricket Club has continued its chase for the top spot of the Seymour and District Cricket Association, SDCA, A grade ladder after securing a convincing win against Tallarook.
In other A grade matches, Kilmore scored a solid win over Seymour, and Eastern Hill suffered a batting collapse to give Yea Tigers an easy win.
Playing at Broadford’s Harley Hammond Reserve, Tallarook’s opening batsmen Cameron and Travis Muir contributing 26 and 24 runs respectively, Cameron’s total off only 18 balls.
Broadford’s captain Taylor Shell said once his bowlers were able to break the partnership, the game started going his side’s way, with the bowlers putting in a whole-team performance.
“A couple of wickets fell our way, then shortly after that, we bowled to our plan and applied the ball pressure and restricted them to a pretty low score, which is what we thought was on par for that ground,” Shell said.
“Breaking that opening partnership, we knew we could put in some good strides especially through that middle order then work our way through. As long as we stuck to our plan everything else should have fallen into place.”
James Jones was Broadford’s best bowler for the afternoon, taking 3/23 while Shell and Jeremy Bradshaw contributed with a further two wickets each.
Shell made note of the efforts of Cody Ball, whose appearance at the weekend was only his second A grade match for Broadford.
“James took three wickets through the middle part of that game and he bowled nine straight and did an exceptional job taking wickets and being economical,” Shell said.
“Jeremy did the same thing, came in the middle order and did the job for us and took a couple wickets as well, while everyone else chipped in with one or two wickets, it was an all-round performance by our bowlers.
“Cody Ball played his second game of A grade and it was probably the best spell of bowling I’ve ever seen him bowl. I was really proud of his efforts and positivity he gave throughout the game.”
The performance by the Broadford bowlers saw Tallarook all out for 115 in its final over, a total that Broadford was able to reach at the conclusion of its 34th over.
Gareth Sharp and Cooper Mason opened the batting for the home side, and made 20 and three respectively before the side dropped some wickets.
Ash Wood entered the crease at number four and led the charge for Broadford, finishing with 52 not out while Bradshaw supported Wood to finish the innings with 20 not out.
“We got off to a good start, then we lost a few wickets early and found ourselves in a bit of trouble on 5/40 but then Jeremy and Ash came in and sealed the deal, a great combination from those two,” Shell said.
Broadford travel to face the reigning premier Yea Tigers on Saturday, in a match Shell said despite where its opponent sits on the ladder, fifth, it would be a tough match.
“Yea Tigers are quite a good side, quite a tough side and no matter what we’ll go into that game thinking we have a tough job and have to bring our best performance to get away with the points,” he said.
Despite Eastern Hill’s dismal performance on Saturday, it hangs onto top spot, three points ahead of Broadford.
Kilmore, Tallarook and Yea Tigers will fight it out for third and fourth spot, making each game left of the season crucial to make the finals.
In other A grade games this weekend, Seymour will host Eastern Hill at Chittick Park, while Tallarook and Kilmore will face off at Tallarook Recreation reserve.
