CRICKET - Delatite CC under 12s

MANSFIELD'S two Under 12 teams both hit the road last weekend, Blue returning to the familiar Arundel Street ovals in Benalla on Friday evening, while Gold made the trip down the freeway to Wangaratta on Saturday.

Blue faced off against their similarly coloured counterparts Benalla Bushrangers Blue, and after another successful coin toss captain Nixen Martin chose to send the home team in.

Some excellent hitting from the Bushrangers’ openers was backed up by even more runs from Benalla’s numbers four and five, Tom Lambert top scoring with 26 off only 20 balls.

Two wickets to Levi Seaton and one each to Martin and Flynn Samuel put something of a dent in the run tally, and Extras were kept to a season low, but the Bushrangers' final total of 4/115 always looked like a difficult mountain to climb.

Martin and fellow opener Billy Briggs however were not daunted at the start of the run chase, reaching 25 in just the fourth over before Briggs was caught out.

Innings from Roy Mercieca and Jack Jacob started promisingly but both were cut short when bowled, and a quartet of ducks then put the brakes on scoring entirely. Delatite Blue finished on 8/59.

GOLD made the longest trip on the fixture to face Wangaratta Magpies White on Saturday and although they made one less run than their Blue counterparts, the end result was nail-biting and not likely to be repeated any time soon.

Gold won the toss and sent in the Magpies, and while opener Ava Penny batted excellently to reach 13 her counterparts struggled to find the middle of the bat.

First blood went to Xavier Heaysman when he bowled the Magpies’ other opener for a duck, followed by a mini-collapse when three wickets fell for two runs.

A short partnership of 12 runs was then broken up and wickets fell regularly, the Magpies being bowled out in the 14th over for a total of 58.

Wickets were shared amongst many of the bowlers, Beau Anstee (2/2) and Heaysman (2/4) claiming the best figures.

Heaysman opened the batting innings with captain Callum Logan-Williams, who fell in the third over without troubling the scorers.

After a quick-fire six, Heaysman joined him in the sheds, and another quick wicket saw Gold teetering at 3/10.

Noah Heaysman did his best to hold the innings together, continuing his recent good form and making eight before retiring.

Unfortunately wickets tumbled around him, a trio of ducks putting Gold at a precarious 6/23.

Some excellent defensive batting from Anstee brothers Beau and Axel prevented the wheels from falling off, until Axel fell with score on 7/44.

When Beau retired Heaysman returned to the crease and looked to be the match-winning difference after adding a further seven runs, but dramatically fell on the fourth-last ball of the innings with seven runs still needed to win - and with only one wicket to spare.

After his hat-trick heroics with the ball a few weeks ago, Beau Anstee returned to the middle and was tasked with bringing Gold home alongside Jay Kancherla, who had been solid while still making runs.

Three extras in two balls meant Anstee was set the dream task of a six to win off the final ball, or a boundary to tie.

Facing a ball pitched on leg stump Anstee swung freely and timed a perfect on-drive and split the field, scoring a four, tying the game and ensuring he again got his name in the paper for his cricketing exploits.

Next game Blue will welcome the same Magpies team to College Park on Saturday, while Gold will host Yarrawonga-Mulwala in Benalla on Friday evening.