OCEAN GROVE JUNIOR CRICKET
Under 17: Alexander Thomson 3/146 def Ocean Grove 7/115
Ocean Grove hosted top of the table Alexander Thomson for their Round 8 clash at Shell Road.
Fletcher Long lost the toss again and Alexander Thomson decided to bat first.
Ocean Grove started well, with early wickets restricting the visitors to 3/27 after the first eight overs.
But from there Alexander Thomson batted strongly to post a very competitive 3/146 from 24 overs.
The best of the bowlers was Joe McDonald with 2/32, and Matthew Stanic also picked up a wicket, finishing with 1/18.
In reply Ocean Grove started very well with a 75-run opening stand in 14 overs between Long (45) and McDonald (28). But from there the batting fell away and Ocean Grove could only manage 115 from their 24 overs.
Under 13: Drysdale 8/97 def Ocean Grove Swans 7/92
Round 8 of Under 13s saw the clash of the two top teams Ocean Grove Swans vs Drysdale Hawks Gold.
The Swans won the toss and decided to bat in overcast conditions. Fletch Keck (9) and Tash Higgins (13) began very well posting 31 for the first wicket on a slow outfield. Toby Gill (9) and Luke Ewart (10) further increased the Swans’ score to 4/77 when Drysdale captured three quick wickets to put the Swans under pressure. Credit goes to the whole Swans team batting out the innings posting a competitive 7/92.
In reply Drysdale lost a quick wicket in the third over through a Luke Ewart (1/5) thunderbolt delivery and with Drysdale at 1/5 the Swans looked set to dominate. Drysdale then settled with four middle order bats scoring double figures and it appeared that Drysdale would run out easy victors.
Enter Georgie Gill (2/15) and Aiden Foard (1/7) playing in their first games displaying some solid tight bowling snaring three quick Drysdale wickets. All of a sudden Drysdale slumped to be 8/84 and an unlikely victory for the Swans was possible.
In the end Drysdale’s tail wagged and they scraped across the line to run out winners in a tight contest finishing 8/97.
