Corowa travelled to Tallangatta and won their third consecutive match by four wickets, with 16-year-old Tyler Abley and experienced Matt Wilson bowling and batting beautifully.
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Despite the pitch’s reputation for high scores, Corowa’s bowlers delivered a disciplined performance, restricting Tallangatta to 171.
Captain Ben Mitchell, in keeping with tradition, lost the toss, and Tallangatta opted to bat first.
Corowa’s stint in the field got off to a perfect start as Nick Grant dismissed opener Matthew Oswell with just the third ball of the match.
Despite a calf injury, Tallangatta’s number three, Dilhara Lokuhettige, scored a spirited 36 before being removed by Tyler Abley, who bowled with maturity beyond his years.
Abley’s spell proved critical, taking 3-23, and, combined with economical bowling from the Athanitis brothers and a sharp run-out by Mitchell, Tallangatta was kept in check.
Tallangatta’s innings saw a steady fall of wickets, and they were eventually bowled out in 47.3 overs, aided by a resilient unbeaten 40 from Phil Neville at the tail.
Corowa’s chase got off to a rocky start, as Patrick Lavis was bowled for just 4 on the fourth ball he faced.
Matthew Grantham (17 off 50) and Shaun Smith (39 off 50) worked to stabilize the innings, pushing the score to 53 before Grantham pursued to play the worst shot of the day and was trapped LBW by Thomas Gibbs.
Shortly after, an eager Smith fell and was run out, leaving Corowa at 3-68.
Jarred Lane and Ben Mitchell both played brief cameos, scoring 8 and 15, respectively, but fell to Gibbs, whose impactful spell created further pressure.
When Mitchell was dismissed at 5-98, Corowa looked in a precarious position. However, Matthew Wilson took control with a solid paced 65 not out off 67 balls, striking 11 boundaries to shift momentum back to Corowa.
Wilson's stroke play turned the game around, and he was supported by Jay Lavis, who contributed a valuable 24 off 31 balls before being dismissed at 6-167.
With just a few runs required, Wilson and Daniel Athanitis saw Corowa over the line in the 39th over, finishing at 6-175.
This crucial win, marked by Wilson’s knock and Abley’s early breakthroughs, secured bonus points for Corowa boasting a third consecutive victory and highlighted their growing confidence as the season progresses.
B Grade
A brilliant bowling performance from Angus Williams has led B grade to a 9-wicket victory over Tallangatta at Ball Park.
After losing the toss Corowa was asked to bowl first and Blake Keenes made a breakthrough in the second over and when Williams collected a wicket in his second over Tallangatta was on the back foot at 2 for 7.
Zac Taylor-Nugent was able to collect a wicket and when Jack Eales collected 2 wickets in 3 balls Corowa was well on top at 5 for 37.
Joe Lavis broke through to have Tallangatta 6 for 52, but a very good partnership developed adding 58 runs to move the score along to 110 before Williams was reintroduced into the attack.
Williams bowled full and straight as he collected 4 wickets in 7 balls to bowl out Tallangatta for 114 in 38.4 overs. Williams finished with the brilliant figures of 5 for 8 off 5.4 overs, while Eales took 2 for 20 off 8 overs.
In reply Corowa lost Blake Keenes early to be 1 for 2, but after that it was a masterclass in batting from Kade Wilson (60*) and Angus Massey (47*) and they made the runs in 28.5 overs.
C Grade
Corowa C-Grade (Division 1) has secured its third win from as many rounds despite a failing top order.
The top three were gone for just 16 runs on the board with the side chasing 132 against St Patrick’s in Albury.
But a team effort from the middle and lower orders got the visitors across the line with three wickets to spare.
Luke Kuschert (23) and Baxter Macfarlane (13) started the resistance with a stabilising fourth-wicket partnership, Kuschert looking dangerous with five boundaries before edging to the keeper and Macfarlane seeming likely to grow his game again the season.
But it was the partnership of Danny Osborne (37) and Tom Sharpe (35*) that all but won the day, the duo never looking too troubled as they worked the ball around and hit regular boundaries to keep the required run rate at a low level.
The chase also included a Matt Goodall cameo (10 runs via a six and four) which was brought to an end by a spectacular one-hander at fine leg while Karvan Silva (7*) mopped up the final 20 runs with Sharpe.
Earlier, opening quick Osborne (3/25) got Corowa off to a good start when he removed an off-stump with his sixth ball.
Opening partner Caleb Kuschert combined with wicket-keeper Ollie Collins for the second wicket before a Max Barraclough screamer at first slip, stretching with one hand at full height, gave Osborne his second.
Collins snaffled his second behind the stumps when Luke Kuschert drew an edge and Corowa were well on their way to restricting St Pat’s to a manageable total, despite losing some concentration in the latter overs.
Barraclough would claim another nice catch, covering ground and stretching wide to palm a looping chance at gully while John Conroy was lively in the field and offie Blayre Smith (1/27 off seven) took the crucial wicket of St Pat’s captain.
C Grade Div 2
On Saturday the C2 boys travelled to Norris Park to take on Lavington. Corowa lost the toss and was sent into bowl with Eli Lavis and Jack Williamson taking the new ball. Lavington got the score out to 20 before Eli struck first bowling the young Lavington opener.
Some tight bowling from Lavis and Williamson had all the pressure on Lavington who were desperate for runs which ended up resulting in their 2nd wicket being lost thanks to a great run out from Marty Douglas.
Levi Phibbs and Andrew Clark then came into the attack and continued the good bowling which would see Lavington bowled out in 17.3 overs for 43. All bowlers ended up with multiple wickets Lavis 3/15, Williamson 2/21, Phibbs 2/0 and Clark 2/2.
With a tricky total of 44 to chase down Lachie Raggett and Marty Douglas strode to the crease with the intent to finish the job in quick fashion.
A lack of communication would see Raggett run out for 12 in the 2nd over with the score on 19.
This would bring young Rhylee Barber out to the crease who got off the mark instantly with some crafty shot selections. Corowa would run down the total in 4.3 overs with Douglas 23* and Barber 6* finishing the job.
The win has seen the Corowa boys catapult clearly to the top of the ladder having only lost the one wicket in the first two games.
Our attention now quickly turns to this weekend’s game against St Pat’s. This will be a good test for the group to see exactly where we stand in this grade.
Under 16s
Friday night the under 16s travelled to take on Lavington.
Losing the toss and bowling first, Lavington’s openers looked the goods early. Joe Lavis broke the opening stand with a sharp run out. Lavington were 1/31.
Toby Hanrahan and Eli Lavis bowled well and made it tough to score. Toby collected a wicket before drinks bringing the score to 2/52 at the halfway mark.
Levi Phibbs and Harry Norman proved to be too much to handle with the ball. Levi took 1 wicket for 5 runs off his 3 overs and Harry Norman took 3 wickets for 8 runs off his 3 overs.
The pair changed the game. Callan Corcoran played his first game of 16s coming up from the under 14s to help out. Cal took a wicket with his first ball and only conceded 1 run. Well done cal. Lavington finished at 8/76 after their 20 overs.
Eli Lavis and Jack Torney got the run chase off to a good start.
The pair worked hard before Eli was caught bringing the score to 1/30.
Levi Phibbs replaced Eli and he didn’t muck around smacking a quick fire 20 and only scored in boundaries. The big, muscled Levi put the bowling attack under pressure.
A few quick wickets fell as the boys tried to get the job done. Austin Ross-Anderson and Joe Lavis finished the job off as Corowa finished at 5/80 after 16 overs.
Another all-round performance from the boys as they take home the chocolates again. The 16s take on Raiders away next week in a two-day game.
Under 14’s Div 1
This week saw us take on the Raiders where we won the toss and decided to bat. Harry Norman and Lachie Douglas got us away to a good start before Dougy was bowled in the 4th over to have us 1/16.
Harry and Charlie Hall pushed the total along before Harry skied one to mid on and we were 2/30 bringing Archie Rhodes to the crease.
We were getting a good start on partnerships but not going on with it with Charlie misjudging a ball to be bowled on 14 and the team 3/61 after 11 overs.
That brought Jagger Doody to the crease in what was to be our best partnership with Jagger and Archie lifting the scoring rate before Archie retired on 31 bringing Cal Corcoran to the crease.
In typical Cal form his first scoring shot was a boundary. Jagger and Cal partnered well to bat out the innings with Jagger making an unbeaten 32 and Cal an unbeaten 19 to have us 3/131 after 20 overs.
We thought this was a very defendable total with only nine players on the Wodonga team however the Raiders had other ideas.
Their opening batsmen came out with the right attitude to attack the bowling, and our bowlers were struggling to find their line and length with any bad ball dispatched to the boundary.
One of Raiders batsmen retired on 30 in the 6th over with Raiders on 47.
Our guys were really struggling before Harry Norman struck to bowl their other opener with the score at 56 after 7 overs and our very defendable total in danger.
With both openers gone we looked to change the pace on the ball and brought on Cal who bowled well, keeping the dot balls ticking over.
Finley Douglas bowled the over before drinks and had immediate impact bowling a double wicket maiden to turn the game slightly in our favour and have Raiders 3/62 after 10.
After the break Ollie McLellan came on to bowl his left armers but didn’t get a great start so got a quick break from bowling.
Cal came back into the attack for his final over and removed another Raiders batsman to put more pressure on the Raiders.
The pressure was telling on Raiders as Ollie got a runout with some poor running by Raiders to have Raiders 5/72 after 13 overs and our boys having fought back to steady the ship.
Jake Rhodes joined the attack picking up a wicket with the last ball of his over before Ollie came back into the attack to claim a wicket with Charlie taking a good catch as square leg.
Down to their last partnership with 49 runs required from the last six overs the Raiders were doing their best to close the gap however Abe was able to clean up the last wicket with the score on 102.
Good fightback by the boys when things weren’t going their way and hopefully will help them during the season.
Under 14’s Div 2
Winning the toss, Corowa elected to bat first, setting the stage for a competitive match.
Corowa’s innings got off to a very steady start, with Nathias scoring 12 runs and Jackson following up with a solid contribution of 14.
As the innings progressed and wickets began to fall, Leo made a quick impact late in the innings, adding 10 runs and helping his side to a total of 6 wickets down for 69 runs.
When it came time for New City to bat, Corowa faced a tough challenge.
The New City openers put up a strong resistance and it wasn’t until Albie executed an excellent run-out that Corowa managed to break through.
Despite valiant efforts from the bowlers, including Jaxon Collins, who conceded just 3 runs in his over, and Oliver Matthews, who impressed with figures of 0/4, the team struggled to dismiss New City’s top order.
Under 12’s Div 1
The under 12s team travelled to Wodonga to take on the Raiders on Friday. Winning the toss we chose to field. It wasn’t a great start with the Raiders’ opening batsmen taking to our bowling attack.
The fielding wasn’t at our best with some catches dropped and some missed opportunities.
After the opening pair retired, we were able to slow the scoring and get a few wickets. Raiders finished on 3/113; best bowling George Smith 1/1, Jake Rhodes 1/6 and Bailey Hicks 1/14 and a catch.
We started the run chase well with Ollie Bedford smashing a 4 and George Smith a huge 6 before Ollie went for 5. Benji Casey come in first drop and put on a good partnership with George smashing balls before getting caught on 15.
George retired with the game in the balance Jake Rhodes and Jack Timms then kept the runs ticking over in another good partnership before Jake unfortunately got caught on 16 trying to clear the boundary.
Jack retired on 15 which brought two new batsmen to the crease with the game going down to the wire.
The only option was to swing the bat but both unfortunately went cheaply. So into the last two overs George returned to the crease with little brother Bill.
Both batted great but the task was too much, falling nine runs short total score 6/104. George again showing his talent with 28 not out and Bill Smith a great innings 5 not out.
A great game of cricket and we are confident there is a win just around the corner.
Under 12’s Div 2
The Div 2 boys hosted Baranduda at the high school this week. Bowling first the boys put in a very impressive effort restricting Baranduda to 63. Jack Nixon the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/7; Max Sampson also bowled well for figure of 1/5. With the bat the boys chased the score down with 3 overs to spare Kobe Raggett hit three impressive boundaries on his way to 16. Zach Playford 8, Max Sampson 10 and Jobe Ollington 7 all batted well.
Thanks very much to our scorer Lou Hicks and all the parents that get down and help out.
The club would like to acknowledge our sponsors for this season, A & A Auto, Davidson White Accountants, John Rhodes Bricklaying, Waldrons Fresh on River, Kilara Group, Rivalea, Terry White Chemist, O’Connors, Balldale Hotel, Federation Steel, Collins Transport, BJ Hanrahan Family Trust, Thrifty, Corowa Furnishing and Floors & Corowa RSL Club.