FAST BOWLER Mat Kent brought up a rare milestone in Busselton-Margaret River cricket when he took his 500th career wicket for his club side Margaret River Hawks in their A-grade win over Cowaramup on Saturday.
Kent took 4-19 in a starring role while Peter Crimp captured 3-23 as Hawks overcame a depleted but determined Bulls outfit to score an exciting two-wicket win at Gloucester Park.
Tom Bradshaw (38), Will Dawson (20) and skipper Ben Shepherd (22) helped Cowaramup total 120 all out in the 49th over, a total which Hawks nearly failed to overtake, thanks to some exceptional fielding from the Bulls.
Eventually it was Kade Dittmar (27) and a hard-hitting Rumesh Silva (28) who played the lead roles as Hawks scraped home with eight wickets down to win in the 30th over.
Kent took 4-19 in a starring role while Peter Crimp captured 3-23 as Hawks overcame a depleted but determined Bulls outfit to score an exciting two-wicket win at Gloucester Park [over Cowaramup]
- Allan Miller
At Barnard Park St Marys were led to victory over Dunsborough thanks to former cricketer of the year Ben Lloyd, who hit 80 before falling to the final ball of the innings, as Saints tallied 6-213 from their 50 overs.
Left-hander Nick Barr (54) was again impressive for Saints, who built on a solid 47-run opening stand between Jono Lloyd and Joe Lowe.
Dunsborough fought hard in reply before falling comfortably short at 9-174 from 50 overs, with James Courtney-Bennett (47) and opener Mick Walker (39) leading the charge.
Injuries were a regrettable feature of the contest, with Dunsborough’s import Ricky Small-Boyce breaking down after bowling four overs and young St Marys speedster Lewis Milligan also being unable to complete his opening over due to injury.
On Sunday at Barnard Park, Busselton-Margaret River scored a narrow loss to Bunbury in a close-fought Country Cup contest.
Contributions from Ben Clarke (67) and the consistent Nick Barr (44) led Busselton-Margaret River to a defendable total of 204 all out in 49.4 overs.
Bunbury got off to a great start in reply with a 51-run stand and kept the scoring ticking over with singles as they whittled the target down. Eventually they needed 5 runs off the final over, and won the game with just two balls to spare thanks to an outstanding knock of 83 not out off 122 balls from Tom Buchanan.
The game was the first inter-association contest to be held at the Barnard Park headquarters and proved a great success for all involved.
This Sunday Busselton-Margaret River will meet Albany in the second round of the Country Cup at Bunbury.
B-GRADE RESULTS:
St Marys 8-190 (42 overs) (J. La Motte 47no, D. La Motte 34, B. Hinkley 31, K. Smith 3-42, A. Coultas 2-22, B. Glasspool 2-27) b Dunsborough 9-186 (45 overs) (W. Perna 44no, I. Purcell 30, T. Schofield 29, C. King 21, B. Crain 3-23, B. Hinkley 2-37).
Vasse 6-243 (45 overs) (A. Eades 89no, J. Blow 35, D. Horncastle 30, T. Thomas 2-32) b MR Hawks 146 (35.5 overs) (D. Weston 31no, J. Shinnick 30, S. Young 5-21, S. Shepherd 2-28, D. Horncastle 2-33).
