Women cricketers invited to Perth Country Week

GIRLS and women from the Busselton Margaret River region are being encouraged to attend Women’s Country Week cricket in Perth next month.

Three local players, Emma Bresser, Hannah Bredenkamp and Imogen King, recently played exceptionally well in a high-level cricket match against Kent Street School in Perth. These women, along with others from our BMRCA, will attend Women’s Country Week during the long weekend on January 25, 26 and 27, said BMRCA women’s cricket coordinator Pieter Bresser.

“We are still looking for players to help complete our team. Our goal is to bring the BMRCA team to Perth to play and enjoy Country Week together,” he said.

Interested players and supporters can contact Pieter at petebress@gmail.com or phone 0427 447 173.

FORD ARCHIEVES RARE FEAT

SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD part-time bowler Bailey Ford caused a sensation at the weekend when he achieved the rare feat of taking four wickets in four consecutive balls in the Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association.

Brought on to bowl in the late stages of St Marys’ game against Yallingup-Oddbods at Barnard Park, Ford bowled Peter Vrankovich and Max Byrne with the second and third balls of his fourth over, then trapped Jordan Tarbotton lbw with the fourth ball to complete his hat-trick, and bowled Finn Olney with the fifth ball to finish the game.

Since the amalgamation of the Busselton and Augusta-Margaret River Cricket Associations in 1975 only one other bowler, Neville Mincherton for Abba River-Newtown in 1984-85, is known to have taken four wickets in four balls in a BMRCA A-Grade match.

St Marys won a well-contested game in good conditions after scoring 9-173 from 50 overs (Marc Ford 42 runs and Aaron Mattock 36 runs) and dismissing YOBS for 153 in 39 overs in reply.

YOBS skipper Nayton Colombera took excellent figures of 5-22 off 10 overs while Ethan Piggott claimed 3-19 off 10 overs in the St Marys innings.

YOBS were well in the game with a century stand for their fifth wicket between Haig Colombera (70 off 72 balls) and Ben Payne (48 not out) before collapsing to the young St Marys attack in the late stages.

At Dunsborough Playing Fields the closest game of the season to date resulted in a thrilling one-wicket win for Margaret River Hawks over ladder leaders Dunsborough. It looked like a good toss to win for Dunsborough, who batted first on a dry deck and totalled 148 all out, with Ajith Rajapaksha (37) and Mark Natale (38) scoring the bulk of the runs in the middle order.

Leigh Westcott with 3-26 off 10 and Rumesh Silva with 1-14 off 9.1 overs were the pick of the bowlers for Hawks, with Rumesh also holding a brilliant catch at short cover to dismiss Cain Reynolds early in the game.

Hawks got away to a flyer in response with Shane Joyce and Chris McLean putting on 44 for the first wicket, before Elijah Truscott equalled Rumesh’s effort in the field with a sensational diving catch at mid-off to dismiss Joyce.

Tight 10-over spells from Anthony Quinn (2-14), Natale (1-19) and Truscott (4-16) then swung the game in Dunsborough’s favour and at 8-118 it looked like Hawks – still needing another 31 runs to win – were going down.

It was left to Nos. 10 and 11 Danny Weston and Peter Crimp, who survived 37 and 26 balls respectively, to finally get Hawks home with five balls to spare in the 50th over.

At Cowaramup the topsy-turvy season continued when Vasse scored an unexpectedly easy win over the Bulls on their home turf, reversing their first-round result.

Choosing to bat first on a good track, Cowaramup were routed for 77 all out with Matthew Burgess (15) their top scorer.

Jacques Allen (4-22) and skipper Scott Young (2-10 off 10 overs) led the attack for Vasse, who lost three wickets in 23 overs in securing victory with Simon Harkness powering a fine unbeaten 50 off only 61 balls.

In B-Grade games on Saturday, St Marys (161 with Trevor Ayers hitting 42 runs) were overtaken by Yallingup-Oddbods, who won by four wickets at Barnard Park with Mitchell Carpenter smacking 75 off 56 balls.

The first B-Grade game played at the new Dunsborough Lakes Sporting Precinct resulted in a 27-run win for Dunsborough (178) over Margaret River Hawks (151, including 68 from Tyson Warnke).

The closest of the four C-Grade fixtures saw Cowaramup (8-144 off 30 overs, Laurence York taking 4-20) scrape home to a two-wicket win over St Marys (8-143 off 40 overs, Graeme Sly 42) at Churchill Park.

The derby at Dunsborough resulted in a win for Dunsborough Blue (178) over Dunsborough White (81 all out), with Michael Byrne hitting 51 for the victors. All 12 players had a bowl for Dunsborough White.

At Vasse, Vasse (7-197) were too strong for Nannup (86), with Matt Enright (43) and Tye Denton (66) sharing a century stand for the victors.

Meanwhile at Bovell Park, Yallingup-Oddbods skittled Margaret River Hawks for 43, Thomas Corker taking an outstanding 5-11 for YOBS, and went on to win by nine wickets.