THE bowlers from both Arnold and Kingower applied the clamps across the opening two days of the Upper Loddon Cricket Association grand final at the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Arnold and Kingower are fighting it out for the flag on the wide, and green, expanses of the Inglewood oval, with the match to continue for a third and final day next Saturday.
It was a grinding first two days of the grand final as the two teams combined for a run-rate of just 1.41, with 322 runs scored off 227.2 overs.
Arnold – chasing its first premiership since 1999 – will resume its first innings next week at 5-137 in reply to Kingower’s 185.
Kingower, which won the toss, spent 139.2 overs at the crease in an innings with plenty of starts, but no player going on to cash in.
The Gower’s scorecard included James Essex (30), David Rose (28), Ben Rose (27), Jayden Leach (24) and Nick Leach (23) all dismissed between scores of 23 and 30.
Kingower at one stage lost 4-11 mid-innings as it stumbled from 3-136 to 7-147.
Arnold’s tally of 139.2 overs included 58 maidens.
Captain Ashley Younghusband (4-39) and Brenden Younghusband (3-29) combined for 7-68 off 58.2 overs for the Redbacks.
By stumps on Sunday night Arnold was left with a target of 49 to win on first innings with five wickets in hand after it faced 88 overs in crawling to 5-137.
All-rounder Cam Dale (41 n.o.) and Ben Metelmann (5 n.o.) will resume the chase next Saturday from 10.30am for the Redbacks.
Among the batsmen out for Arnold is the competition’s leading run-scorer, Phil Scholes (12), who was caught behind off the bowling of Jayden Leach.
Kingower’s Leach brothers have applied plenty of pressure to Arnold, combining for 4-63 off 50 overs – Nick with 2-30 off 26 and Jayden claiming 2-33 off 24.
Ashley Younghusband followed up his four-for with the ball with 32 with the bat.
Kingower is playing in its 11th grand final in the past 16 seasons.