Coro opener Brad Saunders smacked a match-winning 93 against the Yenda Jets in Saturday’s second grade clash at West End Oval.
Cricket
CORO Cougars opener Brad Saunders showed zero mercy to the hapless Yenda Jets in a crushing 124-run second-grade win at West End Oval on Saturday.
After his side won the toss and asked the visitors to bowl first, an unstoppable Saunders (93) fell heartbreakingly short of a century, but still defined the match by his own bat.
His opening partnership with regular first-grader Paul Josling was worth 155 runs and made a Coro victory a foregone conclusion.
Saunders and Josling (43) both holed out off the bowling of Zac Rudiger, who took three wickets, but the Cougars went onto post an imposing 7-184 after 40 overs.
Yenda could only muster 60 runs in reply before they were razed by a rampant Coro attack.
At one stage, the Jets lost four wickets for zero runs as John Witherspoon (3-25) and Kieran Hume (3-14) dined out.
Over at the showground, the Diggers also finished with a monster score of 175 that put them in the box seat for an easy 96-run win over the Spitfires. Nathan Ceccato top-scored with a 40-run knock that included four boundaries and a six, while Kris Duncan (28) and Mark Favell (31) also chipped in.
Only four Spitfires batsmen made it into double figures in a run chase that ended with a Greg Collins-led cleanup.
Collins took 5-25 as Diggers bowled out the opposition for just 79.
At Collina, it was an easy nine-wicket triumph for Exies against a Hanwood outfit that struggled with the bat. Anmol Kaurah (11) and Nick Withespoon (11) were joint-top scorers as the side was knocked over for 60.
Cameron Harrison (3-17), Glenn Bock (3-10) and Dave Hennesey (2-7) did the brunt of the damage before the latter two helped Exies reached the target required on a canter.
Manoj Beri (26) was the only man to lose his wicket, with Hennesey (16 not out) and Bock (10 not out) delivering the winning runs in just under 12 overs.
BIG KNOCK: Coro opener Brad Saunders smacked a match-winning 93 against the Yenda Jets in Saturday's second grade clash at West End Oval.