Collendina broke through for its first win of the Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association A1 Grade season on Saturday with a huge performance from a young debutante.
The Cobras were 5-15 and then 8-59 but first game Jack Every and fellow youngster Noah Jeffrey got the innings to some semblance of competitiveness with a modest, but super important, 31-run stand.
Every made 28 in a mature performance, but the Cobras were not expected to win with a score of 90 on the board.
Chris Hockey (3-8 off eight) and Daniel Harrison (3-19) did the early damage for the Saints.
But all of a sudden, St Leonards’ batting looks brittle without Andrew Spengler, who may have played his game for the club.
At 4-12, the Saints were in all sorts of trouble as Charlie Lamb (3-10) and Nathan Frye (2-23) sent panic through the Saints dressing room.
Only former state player Richard McCarthy reached double figures as the Saints slumped to 50 all out with spinner Jacob Gasier joining in on the fun with 3-6 to open the Cobras’ account for the season.
Jan Juc proved too good for Ocean Grove.
Grove made 7-149 batting first which was probably 20 short of what it wanted.
Shaun Fankhauser (31 off 66) and Paddy McKenna (38 off 59) dug in and Paul Jubber played well for 32 off 46 at the end.
Oscar Crocker took four wickets for the Sharks.
Jan Juc started poorly at 2-15, but Ben Grinter (54 off 100) and Brad Roberts (33 off 56) added 85 for the third wicket, but Grove got back into the game with a flurry of wickets.
At 8-117, Ocean Grove would have fancied its chances, but Jack Taylor (31 not out off 35) and No 10 Andrew Kent (10 not out off 29) guided Jan Juc home with two wickets and 10 balls to spare.
Jubber capped off a great game with three wickets while Lindon Giuffrida continued his consistent season with two.
Barrabool finds itself in a situation nobody thought was possible at the start of the season – winless and at the bottom of the ladder.
The Bulls were expected to be one of Anglesea’s challengers for the flag, and still could, but they would need to start winning soon.
A 139-run opening stand between Anglesea’s Ned Cooper (64 off 103) and Tyron Norman (83 off 94) set the tone and from there, it was only to be one result possible.
A final score of 4-198 would be hard to chase down anyway, but with Anglesea’s attack, it was made even more difficult.
Leg-spinner Joe Lynch (3-36) did some of the damage while Dale Kerr (2-19) kept things tidy as Barrabool could only muster 101 in reply.
Queenscliff sent Inverleigh in to bat with the Kookaburras getting away to a solid start.
Jasper George made 46 off only 37 deliveries and Kobe George contributed a fine 43 from 56 as Inverleigh made 189. Thomas Kidd took three wickets for the Coutas.
Lachie Kidd got Queenscliff’s run chase off to a great start with 46, but at 8-142, things looked dire.
However, Jordan Monahan (28 not out) and Thomas Kidd (26 not out) got the side home with just three balls to spare.
