Second hat-trick for Silva

TALENTED TRIO: Club veteran Marc Ford, centre, shares a moment with brothers Sean Zahra and Kieran Zahra, after Kieran took his first A-Grade wickets for St Marys at Bovell Park on Saturday. Photo by Allan Miller.
HAT-TRICKS in A-Grade cricket are rare enough, but left-arm spinner Rumesh Silva joined a select group when he took his second hat-trick of the season for Margaret River Hawks at the weekend.
Rumesh extended his lead in the A-Grade bowling aggregate stakes with another 5-15 in Hawks’ seven-wicket win over Yallingup-Oddbods at Barnard Park, raising his tally to 39 wickets at an average of just 6.4. Batting first in challenging conditions, YOBS totalled 100 all out in 35 overs, with opener Luke Wedderburn striking a steady knock of 44 and skipper Nayton Colombera scoring 26.
Rumesh was well supported by Aaron Thomas and Grant Garstone with two wickets each. Hawks took only 15 overs to overhaul the target with teenager Sam Joyce (34 not out) impressing once again. In the process, Hawks ensured themselves of qualifying in top spot this season and winning the coveted Yates Shield.
At Bovell Park, St Marys’ battle with Vasse looked like being a short one when skipper Zoraiz Saeed, his team’s key batsman, was caught at point off the second ball of the game.
A slow and seaming turf wicket with tennis-ball bounce proved exceptionally hard to bat on for both sides.
The young Saints lineup chiselled out 93 runs with Marc Ford (27) doing best with the bat and allrounder Simon Harkness (3-13 off 10 overs) taking advantage of the absence of Scott Young and Chris Dendle from the Vasse lineup. Chasing 94 to win, Vasse made exceptionally hard work of it, losing eight wickets before crawling across the line.
15-year-old left-arm spinner Kieran Zahra made a huge impression for Saints, repeatedly beating the bat and finishing with 3-23 – his first wickets in A-Grade.
Down at Cowaramup, a depleted Dunsborough was thoroughly outplayed by Cowaramup, whose winning display included a great effort in the field, with no fewer than four Dunsborough batsmen dismissed caught-and-bowled. Dan Williams, a 55-year-old veteran, provided the stunning highlight of the day with a diving catch off his own bowling to account for Dunsborough’s Cain Reynolds.
Batting first, Cowaramup’s tally of 182 featured an accomplished 74 from Fraser Oates and useful support from Ben Shepherd and Aayush Patel.
Debutant Ashton McCarthy captured 3-28 from 10 overs in a rewarding A-Grade introduction for Dunsborough, whose attack was so inexperienced that regular wicketkeeper A.J. Rajapaksha was called upon to deliver nine overs. The visitors never threatened in the chase, falling to 86 all out with Tom Coulson taking a tidy 3-4 off four overs for the Bulls and Connor Oates, Dan Williams and Ben Shepherd taking two wickets each.
The highlight of B-Grade was a one-wicket win by Vasse against St Marys at Bovell Park. After losing Mitch Barrow to the first ball of the game, St Marys knuckled down in the late order and totalled 145, Tye Denton and Dennis Amour taking identical figures of 3-21 for Vasse. An in-form Matt Kammann with 55 off 64 balls was chiefly responsible for Vasse scoring a last-gasp victory.
At Barnard Park, Yallingup-Oddbods batted their full 45 overs against Hawks and scored 8-171 (Tom Payne 61), which the visitors chased down in 33 overs for the loss of five wickets, with Blake Gillam (45 off 53 balls) and Thomas Joyce (67 not out off 66 balls) scoring breezily.
In C-Grade both Dunsborough sides scored overwhelming wins, further vindicating the club’s decision to enter two C-Grade teams for the first time. Dunsborough Blue scored a massive 4-236 off 40 overs against St Marys at Churchill Park, with openers Ben Cadd (70) and Ian Purcell (46 retired hurt) getting the team off to a big start. Saints responded with 145, Allen Christie and Ben Mattock both hitting 38 and Paul McCarthy bagging 5-20 for Dunsborough Blue.
At Dunsborough Playing Fields, Dunsborough White dismissed Hawks for 69 and lost only one wicket in the winning chase.
The other C-Grade games saw Cowaramup defeat Yallingup-Oddbods by seven wickets, with Anthony Lunt (106no) hitting his maiden ton and sharing an unbroken stand of 189 with Ben Kirkham (84no), and YOBS Academy scoring an important eight-wicket win over Vasse with Will Jasper (47 not out) getting his team home with six overs to spare.