MANSFIELD’S U12 cricketers showed some excellent promise for the future last weekend, but both sides were ultimately undone by some poor shot selection, occasional wayward bowling and an exceptional performance by an opposing opener. Delatite Blue welcomed Wangaratta Magpies White to College Park, and got off to an amazing start thanks to the laser-focused bowling of Jack Pollard, taking two wickets for one run off his first over. Pollard finished on the excellent figures of 2/2 off three overs, and while his miserliness and accuracy was nearly matched by the three overs of Roy Mercieca (2/8) and Max Strong (1/1), the remaining overs were wayward and handed Wangaratta the bulk of their 54 run total in extras. Despite their promising batting lineup, when opener Alex Manning was bowled for five in the second over a collapse of the top order followed with three ducks. Solid rearguard innings from the remainder of the lineup, most notably from Alex Anstee with four from 37 balls, ensured a total rout did not occur and Blue batted out their twenty overs. However their score of 7/27 was still well short of the target. Delatite Gold fared better with the bat against Yarrawonga Mulwala Lakers, making it to 8/59 thanks primarily to local run-machine Noah Heaysman (18 off 26 balls) and Jay Kancherla (10 from 30) who was promoted up the list after his recent good form. Despite an excellent bowling spell from captain Jack Jacob that included a pearler of an inswinger that bowled opener Will Cruikshank behind his legs, Yarrawonga Mulwala’s soon passed the required total due mostly to the exceptional innings of fellow opener Isaac McLarty, who retired initially on 30 from 20 balls then returned to club a further 44 from some of Gold’s best bowlers. Their final score of 3/163 did not accurately reflect the recent improvement seen in most of the team’s bowling. Blue will have an opportunity to even the score against Magpies White in a return match in Wangarratta on Saturday, while Gold will face Wangaratta Magpies Black in Mansfield.
