Only a year after conceding the highest total in the history of Busselton-Margaret River A-Grade cricket in the corresponding fixture, Margaret River Hawks have turned the tables by defeating Dunsborough in a great team performance at Gloucester Park.
Dunsborough seemed to be on track for victory after they dismissed Hawks for 147 in 40 overs on Saturday.
Nathan Whitney continued his excellent form with the ball for Dunsborough when he achieved the rare feat of three wickets in four balls, and would have had four wickets in six balls had a catch not gone down off his bowling.
Whitney dismissed Paul Farmer and Rhys Willmott with successive balls, then bowled a no-ball, and then dismissed Hawks skipper Paul Tognolini with his next delivery.
Sri Lankan import Rumesh Silva was the difference for Hawks with a remarkable performance with the ball.
The left-arm spinner conceded only seven runs in 10 overs – including six runs off his first two balls – and achieved eight maidens, as well as the wickets of Aaron Mott, Nick Ritchie and Matt Jamieson.
Matt Kent with 2-15, Chris McLean with great figures of 1-13 off 10 overs and Kade Dittmar with 1-10 also contributed strongly for Hawks.
Dittmar, only 14, had earlier top-scored for Hawks with 28 and completed his all-round performance with a direct hit in the field to run out Danny Hatton.
Remarkably, only one catch was held in the innings, Nathan Whitney caught on the boundary, as Dunsborough collapsed to 92 all out in 42 overs.
One of the bright notes for Dunsborough was the performance of Mark Natale, who topscored with 25 on his A grade debut for the club.
Meanwhile, Cowaramup Cricket Club hosted the opening rounds of the A Grade T20 competition with two fixtures.
Cowaramup easily had the better of St Marys in the first game, before YOBS scored an equally comfortable win over Saints in the second fixture.
Cowaramup’s tight attack held Saints to 4-92 off 20 overs in the first game, a total which was never likely to be enough thanks to the experience of Mike Hibberd (28) and Kavy de Silva (26).
The most encouraging performer for Saints was 16-year-old Lewis Milligan, who bowled three batsmen in his four-over spell.
In the second game Saints gained an early breakthrough in the YOBS innings when WA Country XI batsman Ben Clarke was caught at deep fine leg in the opening over.
But YOBS number three Troyden Thorp (62 not out) and ex-captain Nayton Colombera (65 not out) took the game away from Saints with a powerful unbroken stand of 136 for the third wicket as YOBS posted an imposing 2-189 from their 20 overs.
Saints were held to 8-82 in reply, with Marc Ford (31) easily topscoring and Colombera taking 3-7 to complete an impressive all-round performance.
B grade
In B Grade cricket, Cowaramup captain Aaron Holben achieved the rare feat of five catches in an innings by a fielder in his team’s loss to Margaret River Hawks at Gloucester Park.
Dunsborough’s Ben Christmas batted throughout 45 overs for an unbeaten 107, while his team-mate Adrian Graham captured 6-15 in the same game against Vasse, which saw Dunsborough win overwhelmingly.
YOBS snuck home over St Marys in the remaining game.
Results – YOBS 9-148 (45 overs) (J. Kemp 23, A. Logan 21, M. Walsh 21no, M. Snaddon 3-17, J. Hand 2-19) b St Marys 8-134 (45 overs) (D. La Motte 32, T. Hartnett 28, N. Zessin 26, J. O’Malley 3-32, M. Braid 2-17) at Barnard Park Turf.
Marg River Hawks 9-195 (45 overs) (C. Baker 66, G. Stewart 20, M. Rajaguru 5-26, H. Biddulph 2-40) b Cowaramup 9-160 (45 overs) (B. Biddle 35no, A. Holben 31, S. Gill 24no, M. Earl 4-21, M. Broun 2-28) at Margaret River Synthetic.
Dunsborough 6-207 (45 overs) (B. Christmas 107no, C. Dudley 26, D. Ebert 3-33, M. Gould 2-33) b Vasse 57 (29.3 overs) (D. Abel 16, A. Graham 6-15) at Dunsborough Turf.
C grade
An innings of 95 on debut by 20-year-old Jake Hiscock for St Marys at Cowaramup Oval was the highlight of C Grade cricket on Saturday. St Marys posted 9-246 from 40 overs and restricted Cowaramup to 97 in reply.
St Marys posted 9-246 from their 40 overs and restricted Cowaramup to 97 in reply, of which veteran Rob Menzies hit more than 50 per cent of the score, at 51.
Augusta easily accounted for YOBS at Barnard Park. Bernie Feenan (four wickets) and Braden Warnke and Blake Gillam (threes each) were the destroyers for Augusta when they routed YOBS for just 46.
In the other games Vasse scored an encouraging win over Margaret River Hawks, with Dennis Armour contributing with both bat and ball for the winners, while Dunsborough defeated Nannup.
Results - Dunsborough 2-93 (22 overs) (B. Danaher 45no, J. Gautrey 39, L. Smith 2-9) b Nannup 7-92 (40 overs) (P. Bresser 19, T. Rasmussen 19, A. Lyon 2-15, A. Pantelias 2-20).
St Marys 9-246 (40 overs) (J. Hiscock 95, D. Mistilis 53, K. Clively 21, D. Bradshaw 3-24, R. Menzies 2-38) b Cowaramup 97 (27 overs) (R. Menzies 51, P. Mason 3-6, M. Penfold 2-21).
Augusta 2-48 (9 overs) (T. Warnke 22no, I Mutnica 22no, Dave Cameron 2-14) b YOBS 46 (R. Griffiths 24, B. Feenan 4-19, B. Warnke 3-6, B. Gillam 3-10) at Barnard Synthetic.
Vasse 1-90 (16.5 overs) (S. Price 44no, D. Amour 22no) b Marg River Hawks 83 (22 overs) (D. Amour 4-42, S. Price 3-7, W. Howell 2-26) at Marg River Nippers Oval.
- Alan Miller
