Early upsets for start of summer play

BOTH grand finalists from last season were defeated, and a bowler took a hat-trick on debut, in an eventful launch of the Busselton-Margaret River A-Grade cricket season on Saturday.

At Cricket HQ, Barnard Cup holders Yallingup-Oddbods were edged out by Vasse under new skipper Scott Young, while down at Gloucester Park, last year’s runners-up Cowaramup were overcome by a rejuvenated Margaret River Hawks.

In the third A-Grade game, St Marys were no match for Dunsborough at Dunsborough in a mismatch which was all over shortly after 2pm.

At the beachfront, Vasse gained excellent value from their UK imports Lewis Smith and Jacques Allen when they upset reigning premiers YOBS.

Smith captured 5-20, Allen held two catches and Chris Dendle took 3-37 as YOBS, batting first, collapsed from 4-136 to be all out for 149 in 35 overs.

Smith, 25, is a left-handed batsman and right-arm offspinner from Morcombe Cricket Club in England’s north-west, while Allen, 24, is a bowling allrounder from Bilton Cricket Club in Yorkshire.

“Lewis and Jack are both Level 2 coaches and will be a great help to our juniors,” Vasse president David Abel said. “It’s a great boost for the club to have these overseas players, after we were unsuccessful in getting imports last season in our first year in A-Grade.”

The only batsman to come to terms with the low and slow conditions at Barnard Park on Saturday was YOBS import Fida Hussain, whose 61 included two sixes off his first three balls.

Vasse were in trouble in their chase at 6-91 before steadying through Young (24 not out) and Dendle (21 not out), eventually scrambling home to win by three wickets. Shanaka Fernando took 3-13 on his debut for YOBS.

At Dunsborough, St Marys new import Zos Saeed failed to survive the first ball of the season, snicking Seb Watts’ opening delivery into the safe gloves of keeper Ajith Rajapaksha. Saints crumbled to 54 all out in 17 overs, with veteran Marc Ford’s contribution of 31 runs being a standout effort.

A cricket rarity happened when Dunsborough’s Harrison Sutherland completed a hat-trick in his debut A-Grade appearance, finishing with an unplayable delivery to dismiss Matt Miller with his hat-trick delivery. Watts (6-22) and Sutherland (4-32) were the only two bowlers called on by Dunsborough. Alex Cooke (33 not out) led the charge as Dunsborough raced home by nine wickets in 14 overs in reply.

At Margaret River, allrounder Grant Garstone was the difference between Hawks and Cowaramup. Batting first, Cowaramup’s total stood at a dismal 6-28 before they recovered to reach 102 thanks to a bold 49 off 53 balls from Matthew Burgess.

A freak dismissal occurred early in the day when a throw by Mat Kent from long-on deflected off batsman Ben Kirkham’s hip and on to the stumps, with Kirkham still short of his ground.

Left-armer Garstone took 4-22, spinner Rumesh Silva grabbed 3-18 and a fit-looking Kent finished with 2-1 for Hawks. Chasing 104 to win, Garstone smashed 56 off 43 balls as Hawks lost five wickets on the way to overtaking the Bulls’ total.

Spinner Finn Barrett-Lennard and young paceman Ben Cook claimed two wickets each in a bright note for the visitors, while the safe hands of Bill Cawley pouched three catches at mid-on.

In B-Grade, Yallingup-Oddbods totalled 200 on the Barnard synthetic, with Peter Vrankovich hitting 56 and Dion Horncastle taking 2-24 from nine overs for Vasse. Vasse started with a 69-run opening stand between Shaun Scaddan (54) and Nathan Whitfield (27) before being bowled out for 114. Spinner Robbie Lorrimar starred with the ball for YOBS, taking 5-11.