TALLAROOK produced the upset of the Seymour District Cricket Association, SDCA, A Grade season so far, downing the previously unbeaten Eastern Hill by nine runs in an entertaining match at Bennett Oval in Seymour.
The ‘Rook elected to bat after winning the toss, with opener Josh Rudge batting steadily for 33 runs despite the early loss of fellow opener Dan Fisher for three.
Skipper Lachie Watts suffered a rare misfire, bowled for a duck by the Eagles’ Fraser Lewis, but Leigh Irving, 23, and Ben Tarran, 37 not out, built upon Rudge’s early work to steer Tallarook to 7/143.
Eastern Hill openers Dallas Bergowicz, 6, and Brayden Speechley, 1, each fell quickly, Bergowicz bowled by Xavier Arandt and Speechley run out, to put the Eagles on the back foot at 2/8.
Ben Bryant and skipper Seamus Feery seemed to put the reigning premiers back on a path to victory however, with Bryant scoring 33 runs from 67 balls and Feery producing an unbeaten 50.
But the innings started to fall apart when Bryant fell leg before wicket to Tallarook’s Shane Topham – the first of his match-winning five wicket-haul.
Topham struck twice more to have Oliver Bryant and Brayden Avola out for ducks, with Matthew Collard and Tim Potts, two runs apiece, soon joining them in the sheds, also dismissed by Topham.
Feery continued batting patiently as partners fell around him, but when Fraser Lewis was run out for eight runs, the Eagles were down to their final wicket.
Jake Sutherland joined Feery at the crease and gave the home side hope of a remarkable victory with 18 runs from just 12 balls, but he was brought undone by Tarran’s bowling to end the Eagles’ undefeated streak.
Eastern Hill remains atop the ladder despite the loss, with Tallarook moving into second place ahead of Broadford.
In the weekend’s other match Seymour downed Yea Tigers to earn its first victory of the season.
Playing on the road, Seymour won the toss and batted, overcoming the early loss of openers Jason Brown, two, and Daniel McLarty, duck, thanks to 29 runs apiece to Hayden Gawne and James Voogt and a match-turning 49 from Taylor Thornton.
Seymour finished its 45 overs at 9/174, a total that included 46 sundries.
It proved too much for the Tigers to chase, with Yea unable to keep pace despite batting out its 45 overs with only seven wickets down.
A more disciplined Seymour bowling attack yielded only 12 extras and McLarty bowled well to take 2/26 from his nine overs, restricting the home side to 7/156.
Yea Tigers will be at home again this weekend against Tallarook, while Broadford will return from a bye to take on Eastern Hill at Bennett Oval. Seymour has a bye in round 14.
