A HALF-century to Coro opener Tim Rand has laid the platform for the Cougars’ first win of the Griffith first grade season, as they triumphed against Exies by 37 runs on Saturday.
Despite battling less than ideal batting conditions, Rand crafted a well-made 60, as the rest of the Cougars’ top-order put their side into the box seat.
Coro captain Haydn Pascoe, who played his first game in more than a year after a knee reconstruction, paid tribute to his side’s top-order.
“We got off to a good start with Timmy (Rand) and Pete (Taprell), they had the scoreboard ticking over pretty well, so that was handy for us,” Pascoe said.
“We lost a couple of wickets but then we rebuilt with Timmy and young Fletcher (Josling), they put on close to a 70 which got us back into the game.
“They looked to dominate the attack on what was a pretty hard wicket to bat on, it was popping a bit, you’d get one on a good length and it would fly up.”
Rand and Taprell added 41 for the first wicket before Chris Mansell showed he will again be a bowler to fear in claiming Taprell (22) and Pascoe (0).
Josling then celebrated his call-up to the Riverina under 17s side with a handy 40, before Tom Valeri combined with Mansell to remove him.
From there Valeri turned destroyer for Exies as he wrapped up the tail to finish with figures of 4-12 off 12 overs with Exies set 156 for the win.
Coro opening bowler Satvir Chahal used the blustery conditions to his advantage, with his right-arm out-swing allowing Pascoe to turn the screws with his field placements.
“He was bowling beautifully, I had three slips in for him the whole time and they were playing and missing, he’s a good bowler for a captain to have,” Pascoe said.
Chahal (5-29 off nine) and youngster Alex Flood combined well with the new ball to send Exies crashing to be 5-34 and a real chance for being bowled out for less than 100.
“He’s only about 15 or 16 and he had to bowl into that breeze on the weekend, and the batters on the other side had no idea what was going on, so that was great to see him bowl so well for us,” Pascoe said of Flood.
A handy innings from Alex Tucker (31) was the last hope of Exies as they looked to piece together a rear-guard action, but their poor start caught up with them as they fell short of their target.
