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CARLTON handed reigning Premier Cricket champion Footscray Edgewater its second-consecutive loss after beating the Dogs by three wickets in their Bush Bash at the Queen Elizabeth Oval on Saturday.
The Blues gained the momentum late in their run-chase to successfully mow down their target of 209, winning with seven balls to spare.
Dogs’ captain Dean Russ was superb for his side in making an unbeaten century after winning the toss and batting.
Opener Russ batted through the innings in making 110 not out in the Dogs’ 6-208 off their 50 overs.
It was a ton of class from the left-hander, who didn’t give a chance.
He faced 134 balls and struck 11 boundaries, which included one period of his innings where he went from 22 to 46 with six fours.
Russ also worked the ball well into the gaps, with 44 of his runs coming in singles.
His innings included a 100-run stand for the third wicket with keeper-batsman Dylan Kight.
The Dogs had been 2-62 in the 16th over when Kight joined Russ at the crease.
They batted together into the 42nd over in taking the score to 162.
Kight made 39 off 93 (three fours) before skying a catch to Thomas Smyth at cover off spinner Donovan Pell (1-12).
Earlier, No.3 Travis Dean (15 off 37) put on 49 for the second wicket with Russ, while No.5 Benjamin Green chipped in with 17 off 20.
Victorian-contracted paceman Ryan Sidebottom (2-38) and Cameron Stevenson (2-50) were the multiple wicket-takers for the Blues, who bowled just three maidens in their 50 overs.
Carlton skipper Tim Welsford - originally from Kangaroo Flat - finished with 0-33 off 10 overs, while also taking a catch to dismiss Hamish Winter-Irving (7 off 7).
The Carlton innings started with an action-packed first over from the Dogs’ Victorian-contracted quick Jake Haberfield.
The Blues were 2-9 after Haberfield’s first over.
Following a leg-side wide first ball, Blues’ opener Trent McCormick - an ex-Strathdale-Maristians’ junior - was caught at slip by Russ off the first legal ball of the innings.
New batsman Mark Phelan then hit Haberfield for two fours over the next four balls.
However, Haberfield claimed a second wicket off the final ball of the over when Phelan (8 off 5) was caught behind by Kight.
And the Blues were lucky not to lose a third early wicket when No.4 Nathan Pilon was dropped on one off the bowling of spinner Michael Nalesnyik, who opened from the Barnard Street end.
It proved to be a costly drop for the Dogs, with Pilon going on to top score for Carlton with 67.
The Blues were later 4-108 after 35 overs - 22 runs and two wickets behind where the Dogs had been at the same stage of their innings.
But after scoring just 108 runs in the first 35 overs, the Blues added 101 over the next 13.5 as they finished at 7-209 and joined Footscray Edgewater with a 3-2 record after five rounds.
After 46 overs the Blues had been 7-184 with Jayden Borg and Cameron Stevenson at the crease, with 25 needed off 24 to win.
But the 47th over of the innings, bowled by Haberfield, proved decisive in the Blues’ win.
The Blues scored 16 off the Haberfield over, which included two boundaries to Stevenson, plus four leg-side wides, which reduced the target to just nine needed off the last three overs.
Borg was superb in closing out the innings for the Blues.
Batting at No.8 and coming in with the score 6-150 in the 42nd over, keeper-batsman Borg scored 35 of the Blues’ last 59 runs.
Borg’s unbeaten 35 off 31 balls was his highest first XI score for the Blues, but like Pilon, he also had some luck when he was dropped early in his innings at mid-off.
Stevenson finished 13 not out off eight balls.
Earlier, Pilon’s 67 came off 103 balls and included seven boundaries - one of which ended up in the swimming pool changerooms.
Coming in at 2-9, Pilon batted until he was the fifth wicket to fall when caught at cover by Travis Dean with the score on 125 in the 38th over.
Lachlan McKenna - no stranger to the QEO having played football on it with Gisborne - chipped in with 35 batting at No.6.
Left-hander McKenna struck three boundaries in his knock before he fell victim to a superb one-handed diving catch by keeper Kight.
McKenna was one of three wickets for Hamish Winter-Irving, who claimed the game’s best figures of 3-32 off nine overs bowling first-change.
Winter-Irving also dismissed opener Donovan Pell (14 off 44) with a superb yorker and Welsford (11 off 10), also bowled.
Haberfield claimed 2-58 off 9.5 overs.
Haberfield’s first seven overs went for 29 runs, before he conceded another 29 off his last 2.5 overs, while the Blues - who with 10 overs to go still needed 69 runs - also took the attack to Lucas Dredge (0-21 off two) late in the innings.
Spinner Michael Kelly’s 2-43 off 10 overs included the wicket of Pilon, while the move to open the bowling with the spin of Nalesnyik tied the Blues down early.
While he didn’t take a wicket, Nalesnyik finished with a tidy 0-22 off 10 overs.
“Footscray was 3-1 heading into today and we were 2-2, so it was nice to pull one back on them,” Welsford said.
“We had to bat well to chase that score down and the boys got the job done, so it was a good result.
“We were lucky we had some good cameos throughout the innings.
“Pilon was good at the top, McKenna was good in the middle and Borg and Stevenson were fantastic at the end for us.
“We know that we bat deep, and that’s why we probably got behind in terms of the run-rate because we had to consolidate, but we were always confident we’d have enough hitting power.
“Bendigo’s a great place to play cricket... the facilities are fantastic and we’ve certainly enjoyed it.”
For the Dogs, it was one that got away after they had seemingly been in control with the ball for much of the Carlton innings.
“I thought our 210 was just on par, but we probably should have got to 220 or 230,” Dogs skipper Russ said.
“We got their run-rate required up to seven, but they took it to us and we didn’t respond quickly enough, so it probably was the one that got away, but well done to Carlton.”
As for his unbeaten century: “It wasn’t an easy wicket to play a free-flowing innings on,” Russ said.
“But it was also one of those wickets that once you got yourself in, it was hard to get out. It was nice to get a hundred personally, but obviously, we came here to win.”
FOOTSCRAY EDGEWATER V CARLTON
at Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo
Footscray Edgewater won toss and batted
Footscray Edgewater innings
D. Russ not out 110
J. Crosthwaite c M. Phelan b R. Sidebottom 9
T. Dean c T. Smyth b C. Salm 15
D. Kight c T. Smyth b R. Sidebottom 39
B. Green c T. McCormick b D. Pell 17
H. Winter-Irving c T. Welsford b C. Stevenson 7
M. Nalesnyik b C. Stevenson 0
Extras (1nb, 4w, 4b, 2lb) 11 Six wickets for 208
Fall: 3 (J. Crosthwaite) 62 (T. Dean) 162 (D. Kight) 188 (B. Green) 207 (H. Winter-Irving) 208 (M. Nalesnyik)
Bowling: T. Welsford 10-0-0-33, R. Sidebottom 10-1-2-38, C. Salm 10-2-1-35, C. Stevenson 8-0-2-50, T. Smyth 10-0-0-34, D. Pell 2-1-1-12.
Carlton innings
T. McCormick c D. Russ b J. Haberfield 0
D. Pell b H. Winter-Irving 14
M. Phelan c D. Kight b J. Haberfield 8
N. Pilon c T. Dean b M. Kelly 67
T. Smyth b M. Kelly 13
L. McKenna c D. Kight b H. Winter-Irving 35
T. Welsford b H. Winter-Irving 11
J. Borg not out 35
C. Stevenson not out 13
Extras (11w, 1b, 1lb) 13 Seven wickets for 209
Fall: 1 (T. McCormick) 9 (M. Phelan) 46 (D. Pell) 80 (T. Smyth) 125 (N. Pilon) 150 (T. Welsford) 182 (L. McKenna)
Bowling: J. Haberfield 9.5-1-2-58, M. Nalesnyik 10-3-0-22, H. Winter-Irving 9-1-3-22, T. Dean 8-1-0-31, M. Kelly 10-2-2-43, L. Dredge 2-0-0-21.
Carlton won by three wickets.
SCORE COMPARISON:
FOOTSCRAY EDGEWATER
5th over: 1-16
10: 1-36
15: 1-62
20: 2-86
25: 2-93
30: 2-115
35: 2-130
40: 2-154
45: 3-178
50: 6-208
CARLTON:
5th over: 2-22
10: 2-34
15: 3-46
20: 3-64
25: 3-80
30: 4-92
35: 4-108
40: 5-140
45: 6-181
48.5: 7-209