Dunsborough Cricket Club Secures Second Place

DUNSBOROUGH Cricket Club gained its most important 12 points of the season when it defeated Yallingup-Oddbods to secure second place on the ladder – and the double chance for the semi-finals – in the last qualifying round of local A-Grade cricket on Saturday.

Dunsborough’s 168 runs to 123 runs victory with two bonus points at Barnard Park put it just ahead of Vasse, who defeated Cowaramup 150 runs to 124 runs at Cowaramup to finish third on the ladder.

Meanwhile down at Margaret River, minor premiers Hawks staged the biggest get out of jail achievement since Alcatraz 1962 when they came back from 7-23, batting first, to somehow defeat St Marys.

Hawks recovered from their disastrous start to post 99 all out, with Rumesh Silva (25) getting invaluable assistance from Bailey Kelly and Mathew Cocivera in the late order.

Young St Marys left-armer Ryley Barrow was in brilliant form, taking 5-12 off 10 overs to dominate the bowling.

Chasing 100 to win, the young Saints team lost key batsman Zoraiz Saeed to the very first ball of the innings, pulling an innocuous half-tracker to mid-on, and made it as far as 67 before running out of fuel.

Grant Garstone (3-15 off 10 overs) and Mathew Kent (4-9 off 7 overs) did most of the damage for Hawks, who will now meet Dunsborough in the major semi-final at Margaret River this Saturday for a berth in the grand final.

At Barnard Park, brothers Phil Watts (39) and Seb Watts (22) defied the YOBS attack for long enough to get Dunsborough to 9-168 from 50 overs batting first on a good track.

Fida Hussain with 2-16 off 10 overs impressed most with the ball for YOBS, who lost opener Chris Brook to the second ball of their chase and were 9-84 at one stage before a tail wag saw them finish on 123 all out in 38 overs.

Offspinner Elijah Truscott continued his excellent late season form with 5-18 for Dunsborough.

At Cowaramup, Lewis Smith (23) and Tye Denton (32) were chiefly responsible for Vasse posting a defendable score of 150 all out.

Young quick Connor Oates took 3-24 to impress most for the Bulls, who were never really in the hunt after Brad Kearney (3-14) and skipper Scott Young (3-21) skittled the top order.

Young’s dismissal of Jude Bowler-Wright was spectacular with the ball hitting middle stump halfway up and breaking the stump with the top half cartwheeling back a couple of times.

A late stand between Ben Shepherd (28) and Connor Oates (36) did enough to deny maximum points for Vasse.

Vasse will play Yallingup-Oddbods in the sudden-death A-Grade first semi-final.

In B-Grade, minor premiers Yallingup-Oddbods succumbed to Dunsborough at Barnard Park, after Dunsborough totalled 7-193 (Darby Tas 64) and restricted YOBS to 124 all out (Zachary Willmott 4-14).

At Margaret River, St Marys scored a spectacularly convincing win when they kept Hawks to 6-177 and then responded with 1-178, with Marley McLeod (65 not out) and Bailey Ford (85) almost getting the team home without the loss of a wicket.

The B-Grade semi-finals this weekend will see YOBS meet Dunsborough again in the second semi, while Vasse play St Marys in the first semi at Bovell Park.

In C-Grade games on Saturday, Vasse (7-200 with Nathan Whitfield 63 runs) outplayed St Marys (109 all out with Dennis Amour taking 3-9) at Vasse, while YOBS Academy (87 all out, Dan Williams taking 4-14) were overtaken by Cowaramup in 18 overs for the loss of four wickets (Ben Kirkham hitting 40 runs).

In the closest game of the round, Nannup scored 6-173 (Nick Mills hitting 86 runs, Owen Murphy 4-21) before Dunsborough scraped home by two wickets with two overs to spare, hitting 8-174 with skipper Darcy Carroll hitting 60.

Royce Guthridge took 4-33 for the Tigers.

The C-Grade semi-finals this Saturday will see YOBS play Nannup at Churchill Park in the second semi, while Dunsborough host Vasse in the first semi.