Dunsborough crush Saints

A Saint Mary’s lower-order collapse handed Dunsborough Cricket Club a hard-fought 33-run win on Saturday at Barnard Park.

Dunsborough’s second win in a row earned them second position outright on the Busselton Margaret River Cricket Association ladder after the Margaret River Hawks demolished Yobs by eight wickets.

Batting first, Dunsborough started well with opener Aaron Mott and first drop Cameron Morris cruising to 1-99 before Morris was caught by Kurt Davis off the spin bowling of Joe Lowe.

That sparked a collapse of 5-24 giving Saint Mary’s a sniff of restricting DCC to a reachable target.

Enter veteran Shane Edwards. The burly all-rounder strode to the crease confidently and proceeded to smack the Saints bowlers to all areas of Barnard Park on his way to an unbeaten 53.

He was joined by rough-and-tumble Jesse Gautrey and the odd couple stuck together for a vital 64 run partnership, dragging DCC to 6-187 off 40 overs.

In reply, elevated opener Jono Lloyd was out cheaply (3) for the Saints before Marc Ford and Joe Lowe took control, putting on 68 before Ford fell to Edwards for 41.

When Lowe was bowled by Dunsborough quick Riccardo Small-Boyce for 51 the Saints still needed 56 runs but the task seemed achievable.

But as has been the case with the reigning premiers the practicable proved problematic with their tail quickly dismantled for just 23 runs.

The chase proved much more achievable for the Hawks after they rolled Yobs for double figures for the second week in a row.

New Sri Lankan import Charitha Jayampathi proved unplayable, claiming 2-9 off five overs with three maidens but the hero was Trent Matthews who took 4-28 including the pivotal wickets of Harvey Golding, Tait Spowart, Nayt Colombera and Haig Colombera.

The Hawks are riding high and though they haven’t outscored their opposition overall this season their performances in the field have set the standard for the league.

BMRCA is recruiting players for its country week teams with the top side playing in the A-grade country competition at the WACA on January 18.

Selectors Matty Kent, Danny Hatton and Neil Langenhoven are collecting players interested in earning regional competition bragging rights.