IN A SEASON where runs have been hard to come by, Dunsborough’s Matt Jamieson had the honour of crafting the first A-Grade century of the Busselton-Margaret River season on Saturday.
Jamieson pulled and drove with style, and barely gave a chance, on his way to an even 100 against St Marys at the Dunsborough Playing Fields.
He scored the lion’s share of Dunsborough’s total of 225 all out, setting up a comfortable win in the battle of the top two sides to date.
That the match took place at all was a testament to the dedication of Dunsborough’s players, who covered the wicket on Friday night and protected it from the overnight rain that would otherwise have washed the game out.
Aside from Jamieson, only Danny Hatton (25) scored over 15 for Dunsborough against a hard-working St Marys attack.
Opening bowler Ben Mattock (2-35) finally found success in round six, while English import Jon Fenton impressed with 4-35.
Set 226 in just 48 overs, Marc Ford (49) and Jono Lloyd (38) got Saints off to a great start with an opening stand of 73 in 19 overs.
It was a particularly impressive start against a quality new-ball Dunsborough attack of Riccardo Small-Boyce from the West Indies and newcomer Richie Banham, a former Sydney first-grader.
But the sting rapidly went out of the game after drinks when wickets started to tumble, and Hatton repeated his miserly performance of the previous weekend when he returned great figures of 3-7 off nine overs.
Skipper Chris Reagan also contributed with 2-28 off his full 10 overs.
St Marys needed to reach 181 to deny Dunsborough the bonus points, but never threatened to get close as the game came to a drizzly finish.
At Cowaramup, where the rain failed to arrive before, during or after the game, an outstanding solo performance by Sri Lankan Rumesh Silva led Hawks to victory over the Bulls in a low-scoring encounter.
Silva, bowling slow left-arm, opened the attack and had perfect figures of 2-0 after five overs, clean bowling both Mike Hibberd and Fraser Oates to set Cowaramup on the back foot at the start.
Kavy de Silva (33) led a fightback but the Bulls were dismissed for just 91, with the spin attack of Silva (2-4), leggie Peter Crimp (4-38) and Chris McLean (2-9 off six overs) all making major contributions.
Then it was the turn of award-winning quick Buddhika Sanjeewa to give the Bulls hope, as he and de Silva routed the top order to reduce the Hawks to 3-1.
In a game dominated by the three Sri Lankans, Silva smashed 60 out of 80 while he was at the wicket, as the Hawks snuck home by three wickets inside 30 overs.
Sanjeewa (4-12) and de Silva (2-19) were outstanding for the Bulls in a losing cause.
In B-Grade cricket, an outstanding performance by YOBS captain Jamie Trewren dominated the weekend.
Trewren took an amazing 8-18, which included the first seven wickets to fall, as YOBS dismissed Vasse for 59 and then went on to win by 10 wickets. Trewren’s analysis is the fourth-best in the history of YOBS Cricket Club.
St Marys had the better of Cowaramup, while Dunsborough easily overpowered Hawks in the other two games.
B-grade results: St Marys 188 (44.1 overs) (C. Roberts 38, J. La Motte 26, J. Bennison 25, M. Miller 24, C. Barrett-Lennard 3-29, O. Herbst 2-15, H. Biddulph 2-28) b Cowaramup 8-119 (45 overs) (R. Bramston 34, A. Coates 26no, T. Campbell 3-29, C. Roberts 2-13, A. Balkin 2-27) at Barnard Park.
Dunsborough 1-101 (14 overs) (N. Whitney 72no) b Marg River Hawks 100 (32.2 overs) (C. Knudson 26, J. Shinnick 25, C. Dudley 4-6, J. Bennett 3-31) at Marg River.
YOBS 0-65 (6.3 overs) (J. Gilbert 31no, H. Colombera 27no) b Vasse 59 (19 overs) (J. Trewren 8-18, H. Colombera 2-5) at Bovell Park 4.
