BENDIGO has opened its Bendigo District Cricket Association season with a remarkable get-out-of-jail win against Huntly-North Epsom thanks to Alex Pearson on Saturday.
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With the Goers needing 13 off the last three balls to pull off an unlikely victory, Pearson launched two sixes off the Power’s Jarrod Hodoras, and then hit the final delivery to point for the match-winning single.
The Goers finished at 8-194 in reply to the Power’s 7-193 at Axis Employment Oval in what was a one-day game reduced to 42 overs a side after a brief rain delay.
Pearson’s last-over heroics helped him to an unbeaten 56 off just 29 balls (five fours, three sixes) after coming in with the Goers at a dicey 5-113, which soon became 6-113 when Nathan Fitzpatrick (43 off 63) was dismissed.
Young guns Pearson and Fitzpatrick were the only players to make more than 20 for the Goers.
In what was a gut-wrenching finish for the Power, Hodoras (3-61) was their leading wicket-taker, but he was expensive, with his 61 runs coming off eight overs.
Earlier, Daniel Cruickshank set the Power alight with a blistering 80 in his first knock for the club.
Coming in with the score at 2-19, Cruickshank pummelled 80 off just 75 balls, blasting 11 boundaries and one six.
He put on 96 for the third wicket with new skipper Elliott Massina (24 off 71), while the Power also had former captain Michael Hanson make a quickfire 38 off 29.
Fitzpatrick led the Goers’ attack with the fine figures of 3-20 off eight overs in what was a solid all-round start to the season.
• Eaglehawk upstaged reigning premier Strathdale-Maristians in the grand final rematch at Canterbury Park.
An even bowling performance in which Richard Tibbett, Aaron Monro and new skipper Cory Jacobs all took three wickets helped the Hawks to a 32-run win.
Chasing the Hawks’ 7-168, the Suns lost their last eight wickets for 66 runs to be all out for 136.
Tibbett (3-15), Monro (3-36) and Jacobs (3-21) combined to take 9-72 off 23 overs for the Hawks, who beat the Suns for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
Jayden Hicks (48 off 69) and Ben DeAraugo (32 off 63) batted the Suns into a solid position at 2-70.
However, the dismissal of DeAraugo by Cam McGlashan (1-32) when caught by Tibbett signaled the beginning of the end for the Suns.
Earlier after they won the toss and batted first, Zac East made a dashing return to the Hawks’ line-up with an unbeaten 71.
East helped steer the Hawks through a dangerous period in which they at one stage lost 5-20 as they fell from 0-52 to 5-72.
He cracked three sixes and four boundaries during his 91-ball knock.
Veteran Andrew Smith looked threatening opening the batting in making 34 off 35 (five fours) before his innings ended when Hicks and Linton Jacobs combined to run him out.
The Suns used eight bowlers for their 41 overs, with Dylan Bailie (2-22 off nine) the only multiple wicket-taker.
• A Ben Gunn century wasn’t enough for Bendigo United as the Redbacks fell six runs short against Golden Square at Harry Trott Oval.
The Redbacks could muster just 9-180 in reply to Square’s 5-186.
Gunn played a lone hand with the bat for the Redbacks in cracking the season’s first century with 111.
In what was his 11th BDCA century, Gunn scored at better than a run-a-ball.
The reigning Cricketer of the Year’s 111 came off just 105 balls and was laced with 10 fours and three sixes.
However, he was dismissed with the Redbacks still 29 runs from victory when caught by Zane Keighran off Liam Smith.
Behind Gunn’s 111, the next best score for the Redbacks was an unbeaten 19 from recruit Jake Thrum.
Mark Di Fede (14) was the only other player to score in double figures for the Redbacks, who got just three runs out of three of their key batsmen in skipper Leigh McDermott (3), Heath Behrens (0) and Riley Treloar (0).
Luke Baird (2-37), Smith (2-30) and Grant Connelly (2-32), back in the first XI, claimed two wickets apiece for Golden Square.
Square’s 5-186 after winning the toss and batting was headed by a half-century from skipper Tim Wood.
Coming in at 2-44, Wood looked in good touch in making 61 off 65, crunching three sixes and four boundaries during his 84-minute stay at the crease.
The other key contributions for the Redbacks were an unbeaten 38 off 36 from the hard-hitting Scott Trollope, and a patient 35 off 89 to opener Jake Higgins, who batted until he was the third wicket to fall with the score on 120.
The Redbacks had five players take one wicket each.
• Kangaroo Flat fought back brilliantly with the ball to inflict an 11-run loss on White Hills, which capitulated after a superb start in its run chase.
In reply to Kangaroo Flat’s 8-166 at Glen Loddon Homes Oval, the Demons looked to be cruising to victory when openers Ryan Grundy and Gavin Bowles had steered the home side to 106 without loss.
But when they both fell with the score on 106, it sparked a flurry of wickets as the Demons lost 10-49 to be all out for 155.
Bowles picked up from where he left off last season when he was the BDCA’s leading run-scorer with a classy 68 off 61 (10 fours, two sixes), while Grundy scored 36 off 61.
The only other player to reach double figures for the Demons was No.3 Sam Stagg (23 off 37).
The other eight Demons’ players combined to make just 17 runs off 82 balls as captain Brent Hamblin (3-24), leg-spinner Chris Barber (3-30), Dylan Gibson (2-30) and Adam Burns (1-23) applied the screws for the Roos.
The Roos had earlier been sent in and fought their way to 8-166, recovering from a mid-innings slump when they crashed from 2-122 to 7-138.
New keeper-opening batsman Nathan Stubbings made a solid debut for the Roos with their top score of 41 off 77.
Stubbings was involved in partnerships of 52 for the first wicket with Daniel Barber (26) and 50 for the second with Jake Klemm (19).
As well as top-scoring with the bat, Bowles was also the best of the Demons’ bowlers with 3-29 off nine overs, while skipper Mitch Winter-Irving chimed in with 2-23.
• Sandhurst bolted to a comfortable eight-wicket win over Strathfieldsaye at Flight Centre Park.
Having been sent into bat, the Jets were on the back foot early at 2-13 before clawing their way to 8-141.
The best partnership was the 56 Mitchell Cheesman (32 n.o. off 34) and Jack Stubbs (25 off 28) put on for the eighth wicket after the Jets had been 7-80.
The top-scorer of the innings was captain Ben Devanny with 37 off 87, with his knock following the early dismissals of openers Steve Brown (6) and Greg Lyon (7).
The sixth bowler used by the Dragons, new leg-spinner Sam Sperling had an immediate impact by taking 3-19, with his wickets all top-five batsmen.
The Dragons mowed their target down with 41 balls to spare, answering with 2-142 on the back of an unbeaten 74 from opener Brett Tory.
Tory’s 74 off 108 featured five fours and two sixes, with he and recruit Zen Malik (43 n.o. off 66) finishing the job for the Dragons with an unbeaten 105-run partnership for the third wicket after the score had been 2-37.
Brown (1-33) and recruit Michael Curtis (1-36) took the Jets’ only two wickets.