A last wicket partnership by Coro’s Alex Flood and Angus Kennedy proved the difference in the Cougars’ win over Exies in the Griffith District Cricket Association first grade competition on Saturday at Wade Park.
Getting to 100 – compared to 60 without that partnership – makes a big difference.
- Tim Rand
Early on in the piece, Haydn Pascoe provided the highest score of Coro’s top seven batsmen with 11 runs next to his name.
The Coro captain became Jamie Winkler’s (2/18) first victim of the day after Duane Ashcroft (4/16) and Marc Tucker (4/9) had dismantled the top order.
At 7/27, the Cougars’ tail needed to wag and wag it did.
Sam Bryant (9) and Mitchell Williams-Hedges (19) led the fightback with a partnership of 29.
Both batsmen fell in quick succession but Alex Flood (27*) and Angus Kennedy (9) picked up the slack.
The last two batsmen put on 40 together to progress the score to a score of 99 which senior player Tim Rand was happy with after the horrid start.
“It [the pitch] was actual a bit damp, we won the toss and batted but we didn't realise how damp and green it was,” Rand said.
“It started playing better the longer we batted for.
“Getting to 100 – compared to 60 without that partnership – makes a big difference.
“I actually thought it was pretty good score, we were pretty confident with that.”
In the second innings, the pitch continued to provide plenty for the bowlers.
Exies suffered a similarly horrific start as the side was quickly reduced to 3/10 as Flood (2/10) and Chris Mansell (2/7) moved the ball around.
Exies captain Phil Burge (10) started to mount a fightback before he was removed – caught and bowled – by his opposing captain.
Jamie Winkler (14) and Duane Ashcroft (15) toiled away to give Exies a chance.
However, Winkler fell to Williams-Hedges with the score 40 and Jacob Breed was then removed without troubling the scorers to see Exies at 7/40.
Exies were in a better position than Coro with seven wickets down but a tail-wagging effort would be needed.
It wasn’t to be. Tim Rand chimed in with two wickets to help clean up the tail alongside Flood.
“We shared the wickets around a bit but Floody got us off to a perfect start,” Rand said.
“We got a couple early wickets which swung the match in our favour.”
The 37-run win gives Coro the outright lead on the first grade ladder for the first time this year.
The Cougars sit nine points clear of Exies in second position with Leagues Club in third.
