RAIN ruined Saturday's seventh round of the Bendigo District Cricket Association season, but not before a stellar bowling performance from White Hills' Rhys Irwin against Golden Square.

Irwin wreaked havoc with the ball, bagging 5-23 from his nine overs.

Irwin's brilliant spell was the catalyst for Golden Square slumping to 6-68 from 21 overs before rain intervened and ended the clash at Wade Street in a draw.

Just 26 balls into its innings after it won the toss and batted Golden Square was reeling at 4-3, with Irwin having snared three of the early dismissals unassisted - Jack Keating (0, lbw), captain Liam Smith (1, caught and bowled) and Connor Miller (0, lbw).

The other wicket to fall in the early flurry was opener Tom Campbell (2), who was trapped lbw by spinner Linc Jacobs (1-24).

As well as his three early victims, Irwin also removed Riley Hocking (17) and Max Grant (6), who was dismissed for the first time in his four hits this season.

"Rhys would admit that he's been a bit down in form, but it really clicked for him today and it was nice to see things go his way," White Hills captain Mitch Winter-Irving said.

"He attacked the pegs really well and there was a bit in the wicket with the way the conditions were, which suited him.

"And bowling down breeze, he was sending them down fairly quick today."

Irwin's 5-23 was the fifth five-wicket haul of his career and takes his season tally to 15.

In-form all-rounder Scott Trollope - who continues to lead the Addy's BDCA MVP rankings - scored half of Golden Square's runs, finishing 34 n.o off 54.

Trollope struck four boundaries in his innings.

The keenly-anticipated showdown between top two sides Strathdale-Maristians and Kangaroo Flat lasted just 63 balls at Bell Oval.

Sent into bat by the Roos, the Suns were 1-33 when play was abandoned in the 11th over.

The only wicket to fall was that of James Vlaeminck (1), caught by Dylan Klemm off Lewis Stabler (1-15) in the second over.

The competition's leading run-scorer Grant Waldron (17 n.o.) and Cameron Taylor (15 n.o.) were the not out batsmen.

Kangaroo Flat skipper Chris Barber was disappointed the inclement weather didn't give his side the chance to test itself out against the competition's benchmark.

"We were really keen for this game against the top side," Barber said.

"We've put up a good fight against Strathdale over the past few years and today would have been a really good chance to see where we're at because they've looked good all year.

"Unfortunately, we only got 10 overs in, but that's cricket."

The Roos - who had Brent Hamblin playing game No.150 - will now have to wait until February 20 to get their next crack at the Suns when they meet in a return bout at Dower Park.

Eaglehawk made a strong start with the bat against Bendigo at Canterbury Park.

Batting has been the Achilles Heel of the Hawks this season, but with Russell Stockdale in fine touch they had been strongly placed at 1-70 before play was halted in the 13^th over.

While the game only lasted 73 balls, that was enough time for Stockdale to peel off his first BDCA half-century as he cracked an unbeaten 50 from just 36 balls.

Stockdale belted seven boundaries and one six in his entertaining innings.

"It was a really good start today... we've been working really hard on the track with the bat and we got a little bit of reward for it today," Eaglehawk captain Cory Jacobs said.

"Hopefully, we can build on it next week (against White Hills).

"It was really good to see the way Russell went about it today. He played some great shots and that will give him a lot of confidence."

Bendigo's wicket was taken by Jotham Higgs (1-21), who had Anthony West (10) caught by Goers' skipper Nathan Fitzpatrick.

Huntly-North Epsom had looked headed for a big score against Sandhurst at Weeroona Oval.

The Power won the toss and batted and had raced to 0-70 from just 9.3 overs with Adam Ward (38 n.o.) and Ryan Grundy (31 n.o.) at the crease before play was called off.

Ward's unbeaten 38 came off just 26 balls with six boundaries and one six.

Bendigo United has its first points of the season after picking up three for its draw with Strathfieldsaye at Tannery Lane.

Strathfieldsaye captain Ben Devanny finally won his first toss of the season and elected to bat, with the Jets 0-41 when play was called off in the 10^th over.

Moving up the order to open the batting, Devanny was 21 n.o., including five boundaries, and Nayana Palamandadidge 18 n.o. when stumps were pulled.

The Jets haven't had much luck batting first this season.

The only two times they have batted first both ended early in washed out draws, with the same having happened against Eaglehawk in round five, also at home.

RUNS PER WICKET:

1, Strathdale - 40.00

2, Kangaroo Flat - 23.84

3, Sandhurst - 23.02

4, Bendigo - 22.57

5, Huntly-North - 21.46

6, White Hills - 21.32

7, Strathfieldsaye - 19.54

8, Golden Square - 18.45

9, Eaglehawk - 13.98

10, Bendigo United - 12.84

AVERAGE - 21.70

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RUN RATE

1, Strathdale - 5.69

2, Sandhurst - 4.53

3, Bendigo - 4.51

4, White Hills - 4.04

5, Strathfieldsaye - 3.95

6, Huntly-North - 3.84

7, Kangaroo Flat - 3.82

8, Golden Square - 3.69

9, Eaglehawk - 3.26

10, Bendigo United - 3.07

AVERAGE - 4.04

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BALLS PER WICKET:

1, Strathdale - 42.18

2, Kangaroo Flat - 37.50

3, Strathfieldsaye - 33.95

4, Huntly-North - 33.52

5, White Hills - 31.66

6, Sandhurst - 30.50

7, Bendigo - 30.00

8, Golden Square - 30.00

9, Eaglehawk - 25.75

10, Bendigo United - 25.09

AVERAGE - 32.02

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PLAYER SCORES OF 50+

1, Strathdale - 9

2, Bendigo - 5

3, Sandhurst - 5

4, White Hills - 5

5, Golden Square - 4

6, Huntly-North - 4

7, Eaglehawk - 2

8, Bendigo United - 1

9, Kangaroo Flat - 1

10, Strathfieldsaye - 1

AVERAGE - 3.7

.............................................

BATTING RANKINGS:

1, Strathdale

2, Kangaroo Flat

3, Sandhurst

4, Bendigo

5, Huntly-North

6, White Hills

7, Strathfieldsaye

8, Golden Square

9, Eaglehawk

10, Bendigo United

RUNS PER WICKET:

1, Kangaroo Flat - 15.82

2, Strathdale - 17.14

3, Huntly-North - 17.87

4, Golden Square - 19.04

5, Eaglehawk - 19.53

6, Strathfieldsaye - 19.54

7, White Hills - 21.72

8, Bendigo United - 24.65

9, Bendigo - 24.92

10, Sandhurst - 34.05

AVERAGE - 21.43

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ECONOMY RATE:

1, Kangaroo Flat - 3.19

2, Eaglehawk - 3.57

3, Strathdale - 3.64

4, Strathfieldsaye - 3.71

5, Huntly-North - 3.72

6, Golden Square - 3.98

7, Bendigo United - 4.09

8, White Hills - 4.34

9, Bendigo - 4.96

10, Sandhurst - 5.02

AVERAGE - 4.02

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STRIKE RATE:

1, Strathdale - 28.29

2, Golden Square - 28.68

3, Huntly-North - 28.80

4, Kangaroo Flat - 29.76

5, White Hills - 30.00

6, Bendigo - 30.12

7, Strathfieldsaye - 31.61

8, Eaglehawk - 32.83

9, Bendigo United - 36.16

10, Sandhurst - 40.70

AVERAGE - 31.70

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MAIDEN PERCENTAGE:

1, Eaglehawk - 21.32%

2, Kangaroo Flat - 19.35%

3, Huntly-North - 13.89%

4, Golden Square - 12.97%

5, Strathfieldsaye - 11.57%

6, Bendigo United - 11.21%

7, White Hills - 10.00%

8, Strathdale - 9.52%

9, Sandhurst - 6.37%

10, Bendigo - 5.86%

AVERAGE - 12.21%

.............................................

BOWLING RANKINGS:

1, Kangaroo Flat

2, Strathdale

3, Huntly-North

4, Golden Square

5, Eaglehawk

6, Strathfieldsaye

7, White Hills

8, Bendigo United

9, Bendigo

10, Sandhurst

129 - Jack Neylon

Strathdale-Maristians v Eaglehawk, round 6

.............................................

121 - Kyle Humphrys

Bendigo v Golden Square, round 6

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115* - Grant Waldron

Strathdale-Maristians v Bendigo, round 2

.............................................

114 - Ryan Grundy

Huntly-North Epsom v White Hills, round 5

.............................................

112 - Joel Murphy

Sandhurst v Bendigo, round 5

.............................................

103* - Dylan Gibson

Sandhurst v Bendigo United, round 2

.............................................

102 - James Vlaeminck

Strathdale-Maristians v Sandhurst, round 4

6-3 - Brent Hamblin

Kangaroo Flat v Huntly-North Epsom, round 5

.............................................

6-10 - Scott Trollope

Golden Square v Bendigo United, round 3

.............................................

5-10 - Brent Hamblin

Kangaroo Flat v Huntly-North Epsom, round 4

.............................................

5-18 - Dylan Johnstone

Bendigo v White Hills, round 4

.............................................

5-23 - Rhys Irwin

White Hills v Golden Square, round 7

Saturday, December 12

Bendigo United v Strathdale-Maristians

Huntly-North Epsom v Strathfieldsaye

Bendigo v Kangaroo Flat

White Hills v Eaglehawk

Sandhurst v Golden Square

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