Mixed bag for local cricket

A Grade By Earl Ree-Goodings Delatite Devils 188 defeated by Wangaratta Magpies 3/279. Delatite A Grade faced Wangaratta Magpies on a blustery day at Norm Minns Oval, with the pitch hard and the outfield rapid, creating great conditions for batting. After Wangaratta won the toss and elected to bat, the early overs were a fascinating tussle, with good bowling and aggressive running between the wickets from Wangaratta. Unfortunately, after an evenly poised beginning, a series of simple dropped catches allowed Wangaratta to gain the ascendancy. Runs flowed, more catches were dropped, and this allowed Jack Davies and Chris Oates to put on an incredible 195-run partnership. The pair ended Wangaratta’s innings unbeaten on 105 and 103 respectively. Wangaratta finished its innings at 3/279, an enormous target for Delatite to chase. Despite the huge total, Delatite’s young bowling attack had some strong individual performances. Fifteen-year-old Cooper Martin led from the front with an impressive 2/28 off nine overs, and Conor Reeves put together his best A Grade bowling performance yet, taking a wicket and maintaining an economy rate of 4.77 off nine overs – a fantastic result from a young off-spinner on a day which heavily favoured batting. Despite the enormity of the task, Delatite’s run chase got off to a positive start. After the first wicket, captain Trent Berry and Earl Ree-Goodings batted positively, and after putting on a 50-run partnership, Delatite were actually ahead of where Wangaratta had been at the same point in their innings. Unfortunately, Earl was run out, and when Adam Storer also fell for a quick-fire 21 off 20 balls, the chase was faltering at 3/103. One run later, coach Nathan Goodes was bowled by a ball which was allegedly going about a foot down leg side. Legend has it that the ball was well on its way to fine leg before somehow changing course and clipping the leg stump, with even the Wangaratta players seeming pleasantly perplexed. When Trent Berry fell for 38 just after drinks, it seemed clear that the run chase was doomed to fall short, with the score at 5/119. Patrick Smith, Nicholas Hoskin, Cooper Martin and Sam Bell all made starts to keep the score ticking along, but eventually the innings ended at 188 after 38.3 overs. There were some great starts, but no one was able to go on to make a big score. There were plenty of positive signs, but when you drop four to five catches and none of the top-order batsmen are able to convert good starts into big innings, you can’t expect to win too many A Grade matches. B Grade By Mark O’Loughlan Delatite Devils 9/168 defeated Merton 166. Delatite’s B Grade Devils claimed a thrilling two-run victory over local rivals Merton on Saturday in a match that went right down to the wire. Winning the toss and electing to bat, Delatite made a positive start through father-and-son opening combination Mark and Max O’Loughlan. The pair put on 44 for the first wicket, with Mark contributing 30 and Max adding a valuable 15. The Devils then suffered a middle-order collapse, losing 4/15 and threatening to let the innings slip away. However, Ben Martin had other ideas, producing an outstanding unbeaten 70 to steer Delatite to a competitive total of 9/168. Martin batted with confidence and aggression, striking four boundaries and two sixes and looking in complete control throughout his innings. Merton began their reply strongly, keeping up with the required run rate while holding plenty of wickets in hand. Joel Middleton produced a tremendous effort, bowling eight overs straight to finish with 1/24 despite carrying an injured quad. Young gun Nixen Martin also impressed, bowling in tandem with his father Ben, with both picking up wickets and making scoring difficult for the visitors. Despite the pressure from the Devils’ bowlers, Merton looked well on track to claim victory at 6/157 with plenty of overs remaining. However, the Delatite boys refused to give in, producing a remarkable late fightback to take 4/9 and snatch the win. Harry Sessions played a crucial role with two late wickets, while Nixen Martin added another wicket and produced a direct-hit run-out to seal the result. Merton were left just short, with Delatite claiming an exciting two-run victory. Nixen finished the match with excellent figures of 4/36. It was a fantastic team effort, with the Devils showing tremendous fight and determination to turn a game that looked beyond them into a memorable local derby win. C Grade By Andrew Cook Delatite Devils 78 defeated by Greta 8/79. The Delatite C Grade team has been blessed with a home-ground-heavy draw for the first half of the season and welcomed a visitor to Bonnie Doon for the third time in four rounds on Saturday. Greta’s team had a similar composition to the locals, with an even mix of youth and experience. While the afternoon’s weather was not as chilly or damp as the juniors had struggled through earlier in the day, the few who had brought cricket jumpers were certainly the envy of those less well prepared. Greta sent Delatite in to bat and surprised the locals by choosing to open the bowling with swing and spin, prompting a shuffle of the batting order for Delatite and elevating Fabian Hemantraj to the number three spot to make best use of his big hitting. Hemantraj did not disappoint, coming to the crease in the seventh over and proceeding to make a quick-fire 21 from 26 balls. For the second innings in a row, he was the only Delatite batter to find the boundary at Bonnie Doon, on what is an expansive and lush outfield. Andrew Cook took Hemantraj’s place after he fell and continued pushing for runs, while Delatite’s version of Rahul Dravid, Mitch Clarke, resolutely held up his end. However, when both fell after reaching double figures, Samuel Ritchie stepped up for Greta and cleared out Delatite’s middle order with a fine hat-trick. Rearguard batting by Andrew Raftery and Lucas de Vent saw the tally reach a somewhat defendable 78, but all knew that Greta likely only needed one solid partnership to overcome the locals. Early wickets to Michael Heaysman and Cook, and two from Charlie Watts and his energetic pace, meant Greta’s top order would not be the ones building that winning partnership. Two in a row from Heaysman, along with a wicket from Clarke’s first delivery, also removed Greta’s middle order. Veterans Michael Hurley and John Salafia, however, kept their heads and faced 78 balls between them, grinding out ones and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking over. When Salafia fell with Greta eight down and still 20 runs shy of the target, Delatite remained in the chase, but despite some excellent bowling all round, the final two wickets could not be found and Greta reached its target of 79 with four overs to spare. Delatite travel to Benalla next week to play at the Showgrounds, one of four away games in the coming five rounds.