It was an impressive day out for Tallarook bowlers against Alexandra in the Seymour District Cricket Association, SDCA, A Grade round five match.
Alexandra won the toss and elected to bat with Michael Mawson and Benjamin Geldart opening.
Tallarook bowlers made quick work of the batsmen with Blake Munari-O’Dwyer sending Mawson out for two runs before Xavier Arandt claimed the wickets of Levi Ronalds, also for two, and Geldart for a duck.
The pace was set, and the batting continued much the same way with not a single Redback batsman making double digit runs.
Munari-O’Dwyer impressed for Tallarook taking 6/24 – also the biggest A Grade wicket total this week – and contributed to have Alexandra all out for 52, off 27 overs.
Tallarook’s batting lineup made short work of the run chase, making 2/54 off just eight overs.
Dan Fisher and Shane Topham opened for the batting.
Fisher made eight runs before being bowled by Justin Leary, while Topham continued for 17 before Leary struck again.
Captain Lachlan Watts ended the day with 25 alongside Arandt who was on two not out when Tallarook won the match.
Watts said it was great for Tallarook to get the win.
“It’s great to be back on the winner’s lists after a disappointing result last week,” he said.
“Xav [Arandt] and Blake [Munari-O’Dwyer] set the tone early with a couple of wickets each.
“Blake finished up with four in his first spell and six all up, which is a massive achievement for someone so young and just beginning his A Grade career.
“We didn’t really let up at all in the field, which gave us a small total to chase. [I’m] really pleased with the way we got the job done with the bat.”
Tallarook has a bye this weekend.
“It’s nice to head into a bye only having dropped one game and we’ll be looking to really pick up from there heading into Christmas,” Watts said.
“We’ve also got the Kookaburra Cup T20 competition coming up this weekend in Bendigo so it’s nice to head into that with a bit of momentum.”
At Pyalong, Seymour defeated the home side 5/227 to 10/169.
Winning the toss, Seymour elected to bat with Jason Brown and Hayden Gawne putting on a partnership of 117.
Brown had 49 runs, including eight fours, before being caught by Mitchell Ryan, off the bowling of Jason Ryan.
Gawne remained at the crease to make 83 – with nine fours and one six – before being caught by Ryan, off the bowling of Pyalong captain Jamie Pryor.
Seymour finished 5/227 off 45 overs, with captain Brodey Pointon 26 not out and Jonty Mann three not out.
Pyalong lost opener Paul Dugard early in the chase but Mitchell Ryan and Sean Walsh got the side to 1/91 at drinks.
A small collapse after the break saw Pyalong lose 3/1 in the space of a couple of overs and although the middle and late order fought hard to get back into the game, they were all out for 169.
Pryor said it was a tough day out.
“Seymour batted well. Gawney played a nice knock up the top and they punished the bad balls – the problem was we bowled a fair few of them,” he said.
“Over 10 to 20 in the field wasn’t our best cricket. We dropped catches, leaked runs and lost a couple bowlers to injuries – I think [Seymour] made 80 to 90 in that period. [If we held] onto our catches … the game [would have]looked different.
“We did well to slow them down to an extent but we were probably playing catch up most of the day.
“Walshy and Mitch did a good job getting us to drinks only one down. We felt we were right in it with the wickets in hand but it wasn’t meant to be.”
In the other SDCA A Grade game, Avenel defeated Yea Tigers 9/81 (29.5) to 10/63 (24.4).
Pyalong play Eastern Hill at Seymour this Saturday, while Seymour plays at Avenel.
