Dynamic allrounder Colombera stars for YOBS

DYNAMIC Yallingup-Oddbods allrounder Haig Colombera was at his spectacular best at Barnard Park on Saturday when he carved up the St Marys attack by smashing 95 runs off 50 balls, including 7 fours and 8 sixes, in the individual highlight of A-Grade cricket in the Busselton-Margaret River Association.

Colombera opened the innings because he had an appointment to be elsewhere, and was chiefly responsible for YOBS passing the St Marys target of 174 in just the 30th over for the loss of four wickets.

It could have been a different story had St Marys not dropped 10 catches. Earlier Zoraiz Saeed (40) helped Saints get away to a great start of 1-59 after just 10 overs.

Nick Barr (33) was the best of the rest as Saints finished on 173 all out, with Max Byrne (3-16) the pick of the YOBS bowlers.

At Bovell Park, Margaret River Hawks defeated Vasse in a low-scoring encounter to ensure Hawks would win the Yates Shield in its centenary year, and earn the right to host the second semi-final on March 16. Vasse looked to be on top early when they had Hawks 3-20.

Top scorer Tom Miller hit 30 before striking a rank long hop from Murphy to midwicket, proving you do not necessarily need to bowl a good ball in A-Grade to get a wicket.

Hawks’ total of 110 all out in 41 overs looked gettable, but the Vasse lineup proved no match for an accurate Hawks attack which included Mat Kent (2-5), an injured Rumesh Silva (2-11) and a well controlled spell of offspin from Danny Weston (4-15 off 9.3 overs).

Eventually Vasse were bundled out for just 50 in 34 overs with only Tye Denton (17) reaching double figures.

At Dunsborough, the home side had the better of Cowaramup in the closest game of the round.

Dunsborough’s total of 136 in 41 overs included 30 from Alex Cooke and an invaluable 24 from Seb Watts down the order. Archer Coates with 2-15 off 10 overs was the best of the bowlers for the Bulls.

The very first two balls of the Cowaramup chase were action packed. The opening ball saw an unsuccessful lbw appeal against Jude Bowler-Wright with the ball ballooning to second slip.

Dunsborough skipper Chris Reagan then noticed the batsman out of his crease and threw the stumps down. Bowler-Wright had been run out for a golden duck.

Very next ball, new batsman Fraser Oates snicked to the keeper, who dropped it, and Reagan at slip tore his calf muscle in a half-appeal and had to be chaired from the field.

Oates (31) and Ben Cox (27) kept Cowaramup in the chase before a great spell by offspinner Elijah Truscott (4-25) had the final say as the Bulls were dismissed for 111 to lose by 25 runs.

In B-Grade cricket, St Marys notched 8-149 against Yallingup-Oddbods at Barnard Park with Kye Barrow playing a heroic knock of 85 not out, while James Trewren took 5-30 for YOBS.

YOBS got off to a great start with an 81-run stand between Simon Godridge (46) and Tom Payne (34) and went on to win by four wickets with six overs to spare.

At Vasse, Margaret River Hawks struck 150 (Michael Earl 62, Shane Bromilow 5-16) before Vasse bolted home by seven wickets in just 30 overs with Dennis Amour (74 not out) leading the way.

In C-Grade at Dunsborough, Cowaramup hit 141 and then bowled out Dunsborough for 89, with Josh Fry grabbing 4-10 for the Bulls.

At Bovell Park, Yallingup-Oddbods scored 140 before being massively outplayed by Nannup in an excellent response of 1-141 in 30 overs with skipper Leigh Guthridge (60 not out) and Nick Mills (64 not out) adding an unbroken 128 for the second wicket.

At Churchill Park, YOBS Academy’s total of 150 all out featured a sterling 90 runs from skipper Jamie Liston, not to mention Matt Snaddon’s four catches and one run out and Bernie Zahra’s 4-41 for Saints. St Marys snuck home by three wickets with only seven balls to spare.