With last week a washout in the Proserpine Cricket Association calendar, four eager teams took to the grounds on Saturday on a damp outfield where scoring was hard to come by.
Batting first, the Whitsunday Colts were off to a shaky start as Ben Davis (1/24) and Scott Milne (2/31) made the early breakthroughs.
Michael Pettiford (73 not out) continued his run of good form, holding his bat through the entire innings. He found assistance in Wes Homewood (36) and Charlie Woodhouse (50 not out) as the Colts piled on the runs late in the innings.
Luke Thompson (1/40) was the only other Proserpine Canecutters bowler to add his name to the wickets column as Colts finished on 4/181 after 35 overs.
Canecutters never looked comfortable in response, as the youngsters piled on the pressure with the ball in their hands. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Roy Blain (1/24), Kohan Mau (2/17), Noah Wylie (3/23), Jackson Riley (2/13) and Michael Pettiford (1/16) shared the wickets between them.
Nine different bowlers were utilised for Colts with the youngsters sharing the workload together to ensure everyone felt part of the game. Liam Davies (66) was the only Canecutters batsman to show any resistance, whilst Ben Davis (12 not out) was the second highest scoring player for Canecutters.
The regular fall of wickets significantly affected the runrate, with Canecutters finishing on 9/130 after 35 overs to hand a convincing 51 run win to the Colts.
In the other game, Warriors batted first against Valleys and as with other match, the runs were hard to come by early. Ricky Parslow had the ball on a string and quickly sent three Warriors batsman back to the sheds. Randal ‘Red’ Porter (33) and Dan Leschke (22) steadied the ship to combine for a 45 run partnership, whilst Josh Large (24) provided some middle order impetus. Youngster Jacob Williams (3/29) was very handy with his off spin.
Machlin Turner (1/10) and Tony Hinschen (1/19) also assisted with the ball, however Ricky led the way returning the ridiculous figures of 5/6 in his 8 overs. Warriors were bundled out for 107, which was still somewhat competitive given the slow outfields.
Despite losing the two early wickets, Valleys were never under any real pressure chasing down the modest total.
Chris Wren grew another leg and bowled with pace that he hasn’t bowled for many seasons, however didn’t get the wickets we deserved returning figures of 1/40. He was assisted by Luke Valmadre (1/23) who was the only other Warriors bowler to add their name to the wickets column.
Fresh off his five wicket haul, Ricky (46 not out) continued his form with the bat despite only being on one leg with a quad injury he picked up bowling. Machlin Turner (47 not out) was the perfect foil to team up with Ricky, with the pair taking down the target at the end of the 17th over. Valleys remain undefeated so far in the 40 over competition.
This Saturday will see all teams receiving a bye as Pink Stumps Day taking centre stage in Bowen.
The Proserpine fixtures will resume on Saturday, February 25.
Any new or returning players can contact Dale Mengel (0410 895 191) or Craig Brown (4945 1983) for further information.
Contributed with thanks to Dale Mengel
