EAGLEHAWK and Huntly-North Epsom played out the first tie of the Bendigo District Cricket Association season on Saturday.
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The Hawks and Power couldn’t be split at Canterbury Park as they each ended their innings on 170.
Just like against Bendigo in round two when they surrendered a position of strength and were beaten by one run, the Power will be rueing a missed opportunity.
With four overs remaining in pursuit of the Hawks’ 9-170, the Power looked headed for victory when they needed 14 runs with three wickets in hand.
Yet the Power faltered late and when Mitchell Whittle (0) was run out by stand-in Hawks’ captain Matt Fitt attempting what would have been a match-winning second run off a leg bye from the fifth ball of the final over, they were all out for 170 and the two sides left to split the points three apiece.
The last three wickets to fall were all run outs, with Cameron Moore (20) and Matt Rule (7) also caught short of their crease in the frantic dying stages.
The Power have now played in the BDCA’s past two tied games, the previous having been when they shared the points with Strathfieldsaye in round nine of 2014-15.
Brodie McRae was again in good touch for the Power in making 47 off 57, with his knock including seven boundaries and one six.
The Power had seven players in double figures, but only McRae got past 25.
Richard Tibbett – who bowled the last over that had started with the Power needing six to win with two wickets in hand – snared 3-32 for the Hawks, with his scalps the first three to fall.
Earlier, the Hawks, who retained the Symes Motors Cup, recovered from 2-6 and then 3-30 in the 11th over to post 9-170 off their 45 overs, with the revival led by left-hander Shane Murdoch (43) and Zac East (39).
Considering the game ended in a tie, the Power would be lamenting the 16 wides they gifted the Hawks that came back to haunt them.
Cameron Moore continued his solid form with the ball in taking 3-30 off eight overs for the Power, while Peter Moore’s 1-19 featured the big wicket of Hawks’ dangerman Andrew Smith (5), who chopped on.
• Bendigo United star Ben Gunn slayed the Sandhurst Dragons with a blistering century that set up the Redbacks’ 91-run win at Harry Trott Oval.
Gunn was at his brutal best in smacking 110 off just 77 balls – his second ton of the season and 12th of his BDCA first XI career.
Gunn’s ton helped the Redbacks to 247 after they won the toss and batted in what was an innings where Gunn and fellow opener Mark Di Fede put on 171.
The Dragons didn’t take their first wicket until the 25th over, yet 20 overs later had claimed all 10.
Gunn was in devastating form from the outset – his first 39 runs included 34 coming from fours (seven) and sixes (one), while at one stage he had faced just eight more balls than Di Fede, but had scored 60 runs more.
His entertaining innings, laced with 15 boundaries and four sixes, came to an end when caught by Manning Walsh at mid-on off Will Keck (3-49).
Having one stage been 0-171, the Redbacks quickly became 4-173 as Keck soon after followed up the wicket of Gunn with the dismissals of long-time Dragons’ tormentor Heath Behrens (0) and Leigh McDermott (0) in consecutive balls.
Di Fede (47) was also among the four quick wickets to fall, dismissed in the 40s for the third time this season.
The Dragons slumped to their third loss in a row when all out for 156 in the 32nd over in their chase, which got off to a poor start when they were 3-23 in the fifth over, with Gunn taking two early catches.
Veteran off-spinner Nick Crawford later took the last four wickets to fall to finish with 4-34 off 6.5 overs for the Redbacks, who beat the Dragons for the 18th time in their past 20 meetings.
Clayton Holmes (2-33) and Alex Culvenor (2-37) picked up two wickets each for the Redbacks, while Joel Schneider’s 39 was the top score for the Dragons, who are now out of the top four.
• In the clash of what were the two bottom teams, White Hills snuck home with a six-run win over Strathfieldsaye at Glen Loddon Homes Oval.
The Demons’ total of 4-200 just proved a winning score as Strathfieldsaye was held to 8-194 in reply.
Bodee Scullie (59) and opener Zoltan Smyth (53), who battled cramps during his innings, both scored half-centuries in the Jets’ run-chase, with the innings starting well as Smyth and Greg Lyon (17) put on 50 for the first wicket.
Skipper Mitch Winter-Irving played the lead role with the ball for the Demons with 3-33, which included the key wicket of his counterpart Ben Devanny (1).
White Hills’ match-winning total was built on the back of a 126-run partnership for the second wicket between Gavin Bowles and Sam Stagg – the second year in a row the dynamic duo have put on more than 100 against the Jets.
They came together with the Demons 1-22 in the fifth over and pushed the score to 148 in the 37th over before the second wicket fell.
Bowles’ 75 off 93 was the Demons’ highest score and the fourth time in six innings this season he has passed 50. He is now the competition’s leading run-scorer with 352.
Keeper-batsman Stagg – who spent all but four overs of the game in 38 degree heat out on the field – scored 66 before he was the third wicket to fall with the score on 178, while Winter-Irving finished unbeaten on 33.
Devanny’s 2-42 off nine overs were the best bowling figures for the Jets.
• For the first time this season Strathdale-Maristians is in the top four after winning its fourth game in a row and keeping intact an unbeaten record against Bendigo that stretches back to the 2002-03 season.
Both teams were missing players to Victoria Country at the Australian Country Cricket Championships – Nathan Fitzpatrick for Bendigo and Cameron Taylor for Strathdale.
Batting first at Axis Employment Oval, the Goers posted a respectable 4-188.
The innings featured Xavier Ryan (50) scoring his first half-century in the first XI and a better-than-a-run-a-ball 49 off 43 to Tom Hart that included seven boundaries and one six.
Ryan and Hart added 76 for the third wicket after the Goers had been 2-56.
The Suns made light work of their run-chase thanks to a devastating cameo from Sam Johnston at the top of the order.
Opener Johnston blasted 73 off just 44 balls before he was caught at deep mid-wicket by Matt Gray in the 14th over.
Johnston struck seven boundaries and five sixes, meaning of his 73 runs, he only ran 15 of them.
He and Andrew Hosking (23) put on 85 for the first wicket, with Hosking on 10 when Johnston was dismissed.
Jack Neylon (39) and captain Linton Jacobs (45) kept the runs flowing for the Suns as they reached 4-189 in the 32nd over.
The Suns’ tally of 189 included 92 runs in fours (23) and 42 in sixes (seven).
Ryan Trickey (2-17) was the only multiple wicket-taker for the Goers in their fourth loss in a row.
• Kangaroo Flat took a step closer to a return to the finals for the first time in nine years, defeating Golden Square by seven wickets at Champions IGA Oval.
Square was all out for 142 after being sent in, having one stage been 4-42 before veterans Scott Johnson (53) and Grant Connelly (30) halted the flow of wickets with a 71-run fifth wicket partnership.
Dylan Klemm (3-37) returned his best bowling figures for the Roos, before his brother, Jake Klemm, found form with the bat with an unbeaten 62 as Kangaroo Flat replied with 3-143.
Roos’ youngster Ryan O’Keefe (32 n.o.) finished the job with Klemm, while Golden Square teenager Kyal Rasmussen (2-25) took two of the wickets to fall.
