Seven of the eight ACT Premier Cricket Men’s 1st Grade teams have now won games after the second round of John Gallop Cup one-day matches, while Eastlake remain the only unbeaten team in the Women’s Grade competition after six rounds.
Three fifties and a 49 from four of the six Queanbeyan batters was the tail of the tape in what looked to be a pretty decent score of 4/245 against Tuggeranong at Chisholm.
Batting first, the Bluebags got away nicely with Nic Broes (58) and Raakin Rahman (55) adding 112 for the first wicket, and the runs kept flowing with ACT Comets wicketkeeper-bat Mikey McNamara (49) and skipper Dean Solway (58*) adding another 85 for the fourth wicket.
Evergreen former Sri Lankan first class allrounder Janith Samaratunga finished with 3-30 from 10 very economical overs for the home side.
In reply, Tuggies got away nicely with former Zimbabwean international Vusi Sibanda posting an even 50, before losing 4/21 to slow things down.
Allrounder Tyler Hays and Matthew Rogers started the rebuild, but Rogers’ wicket was the first in a 2/0 middle order collapse, leaving Tuggeranong 6/175. Fast bowler Lewis Evans proved the partner Hays needed, with the Australian Indoor rep finishing with an unbeaten 91 from 83 balls, to get Tuggies home by four wickets with four balls to spare.
Elsewhere, Ginninderra might have been a bit nervous as to whether their total of 218 was going to be enough at Kippax, after ANU young gun Dave Dubey finished with 4-34 from 9.2 overs, and with the Tigers bowled out in their final over.
But this was a day for the bowlers, with ANU losing 4-8 in their middle order, and then their last 4 for 12 to be bowled out for 171. Jak Wilcox (4-43) and Tom Hogan (4-29) were the destroyers for Ginninderra, bring the Students’ unbeaten start to an abrupt end in the 36th over.
Western Districts captain and Comets allrounder Scott Murn continued his vein of form, making 67 in the Lions innings of 224 all out against North Canberra-Gungahlin at KT Memorial Oval in Ainslie.
Murn was then one of five wicket-takers for Wests, led by David Waters’ 4-27, as North lost their first six for 64. They were eventually bowled out for 167 in the 37th over.
And Weston Creek-Molonglo enjoyed a comfortable win at Stirling, after PNG international Norman Vanua finished with 6-13 from 6.3 overs to roll Eastlake for 77 in 23.3 overs.
Amit Sharma was 45* in the run-chase as the ‘Creek made short work of the target total, reaching 4/81 in just 12 overs, overcoming a 3-8 top order hiccup with victory in sight.
In Women’s Premier Grade Glenda Hall Shield T20 action, Tuggeranong got home by six wickets over Queanbeyan down at Gordon.
Queanbeyan’s top order all got starts, before losing 3-10 to slow things up at the end of their innings and finish with 6/103 from their 20 overs.
Partnerships were the name of the game in the run-chase, with no.3 Mikayla Renouard making 28* to get Tuggeranong over the line with one ball to spare.
Abigail Hewitt’s unbeaten 35 was the lone hand for Weston Creek-Molonglo, who were kept to 5/82 in their innings thanks to some very good Eastlake bowling led by Elizabeth Edwards’ 3-20.
In reply, the Demons kept the runs flowing despite losing wickets, securing the five-wicket win in the 16th over.
The Ginninderra-ANU result was still to be confirmed at the time of writing.
Article by Brett McKay
Banner Image: Tyler hays in action.