A Reserve Delatite 7/165 lost to Benalla 8/191 AFTER winning the toss and electing to bat, Delatite were off to an inauspicious start with opener Mitch Copey losing his wicket on the first ball of the innings. Fellow opener Nathan Goodes (35) put on a solid partnership of 60 with Mark O'Loughlan (74) to get the innings back on track, with boundaries aplenty and good running between the wickets. Things stalled somewhat when these two were dismissed, but important contributions were made in the middle order by Nick Hoskin (13), Lochie Pymer (12 no) and Richie Philip (10) to post a competitive total of 165. Benalla's innings started off very steadily, with Nick Hoskin getting the Delatite team rolling by taking the first wicket with the score on 36. A century partnership then made life difficult for Delatite as the Benalla batsmen punished anything short. The game was beginning to get away from the visitors, but Richie Philip and skipper Joe Kelleher took two wickets each in pretty quick succession to give the boys a sniff. Kane Hoskin then came on to take another two wickets from consecutive balls to really give the opposition a scare with only a couple of runs to get, but it was a little too late as they passed the target score with four overs to spare. Another close loss, but the team is improving each week with a few wins just around the corner. U16 Delatite 8/143 lost to Beechworth 7/244 CHASING a big score was always going to be tough for the young and undermanned Delatite side, but the boys put in a fantastic effort to make Beechworth work really hard for the win. Openers Koby Middleton (27) and Max O'Loughlan (24) set the standard for the rest of the team, defending good balls and dispatching the loose ones. They both played positively, running well between the wickets. Their opening stand of 57 was more than the whole team has scored in the first couple of games, showing some impressive resolve. Nick Hoskin (31) and Will Benton (15) picked up where the openers left off, maintaining the aggressive attitude while still batting in control. Darcy McSweeney also contributed a handy 11 runs in his first game for the season. There were clear signs of improvement from all of the boys again this week, and hopefully we can take this form into next week's game against Benalla.
