With just 103 runs to defend, and home side Belvoir 4/70, things weren’t looking great for Corowa but early and late spin helped the Roos get home by 10 runs.
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On an interesting wicket at Kelly Park, Corowa batted first with Daniel Athanitis having to depart on the fifth ball of the innings, leaving Belvoir confident.
Runs were hard to come by on the difficult pitch as Corowa was pushed onto the backfoot losing consistent wickets to fall to 4/24 off 13 overs.
Kade Wilson then came to the crease with Patrick Lavis to develop a crucial 28-run partnership before Patrick Lavis was dismissed on 14.
Kade Wilson then continued to bat out to a well-earned 36 before leaving the crease at 7/89.
Mark Athanitis then showed intent with the bat to leave him at 12 not out as Corowa were bowled out for 103 at the 35th over.
With only 103 runs on the board, Nick Grant used the new ball to take the first wicket on the third ball of the innings to set the tone.
Spin was identified to be the stronger force as Luke Backhouse was handed the ball in just the fourth over. Ben Mitchell and Backhouse bowled in tandem to produce a wicket from Mitchell in the seventh over.
Belvoir then created a 30-run partnership before Tyler Abley came on for an over to dismiss the danger man Josh Staines with his first ball.
Belvoir managed to get to 70 before Backhouse received a well-awaited wicket to leave Belvoir four down.
Looking to be almost home Belvoir lost 4/1 from an exciting and energetic set from Mark Athanitis.
As pressure mounted on both sides, Athanitis and Backhouse continued their onslaught of wickets to leave Belvoir at 9/84 before Athanitis rolled through the stumps to finish Belvoir off at 93, leaving Corowa with a 10-run victory.
Mark Athanitis ended the game with figures of 4/20 off 9 while Backhouse finished with 3/32 off his 10.
The win has led to Corowa jumping up to fifth position in the standings with one game remaining before the Christmas break.
B Grade
Saturday’s game saw the. B Grade hosting last year’s grand finalists Belvoir at Ball Park. Losing the toss Corowa was sent into bat, Carr and Eyers opened proceedings. Eyers was first to go with the score on 27, but not before bombing a huge six into the nets on the full, a feat brother Jordan hasn’t achieved yet.
From 1-27 to 5 for 96, some poor batting and ordinary bowling had us in a bit of trouble, but with Carr still at the crease ticking the score over and a cameo from the big fast bowler in Williams we were still on top.
Carr continued his dominance in a 66-run stand with Phibbs before the latter fell for 33. Chester then joined Carr making a neat 18 with his front foot driving a highlight.
Carr continued on his way dominating the bowling to make a superb 108 not out the second ton to be made in the B team in as many weeks, the final score 7-252.
The bowling innings got off to the best start possible with a wicket off the first ball to the big unit Williams. From there Belvoir steadied to be 1-45.
That’s where it ended, when young guns Joe Lavis and Jack Torney took up the attack taking seven wickets between them for 32 as an insipid Eagles side folded like a deck of cards. Lavis 4-8 and Torney 3-24 in his first senior game for the club were outstanding.
These two are only 15 years old and with eight under 18 in the side, the future looks bright as Belvoir were bowled out for 69.
C Grade Div 1
Had the bye.
C Grade Div 2
The C2 side was fronting up for their last game before the Christmas Break out on the hallowed turf of the Balldale Recreation Reserve.
Another lost toss meant another game where the Corowa team would be bowling first and after the first over where J Wilson picked up two wickets it looked like it might be another short day in the field but that wasn’t to be as the Corowa team would only end up taking another two wickets for the innings.
Rhylee Barber bowled a great spell of 1/8 from his 6 overs joined by Blayre Smith 1/13 from 6 overs, taking a sharp caught and bowled being the only other wicket takers.
Special mention to Pat Mitchell for winding back the clock with the gloves taking a great leg side stumping in a good display of keeping.
Chasing 133 for the victory Sproule and Wilson would take the honours of opening the batting and set the run chase up by getting the score to 32 before Sproule would depart for 10.
Wilson and Drew added another 30 runs to the total before Wilson was bowled for a well-made 34 in his first innings in over a decade on his former home ground.
Drew would be joined by Burdon who came to the crease with the intent to up the run rate, the pair would add 27 in the space of five overs before Drew was out for 17 and when Burdon departed for 24 the Corowa team would still require 35 runs for victory.
Billy Raggett 16* and Pat Mitchell 10* would steer the team home once again to give the C2 team another win with 5 wickets in hand.
Yet to field a full-strength side in the first half of the season the Corowa team heads into the Christmas break sitting second on the ladder and have set themselves for a very exciting few months of cricket ahead in the New Year.
Under 16s
On Friday night the under-16s played St Pats at Xavier High. Corowa won the toss and elected to bat as Joe Lavis started with a bang smashing a six over mid-wicket first ball.
Joe Lavis and Jack Torney looked the goods early before Joe was dismissed for a quickfire 25 off 14 balls. Jack also departed shortly after for 8.
The middle order fell to a slump and didn’t trouble the scorers. Rustyn Collins and Toby Hanrahan then combined to shuffle the score along.
Toby departed for 13 and so did Rustyn. The two ran well between the wickets and fought very hard. In came Archie Bedford and Harry Norman, the pair worked hard to get Corowa to a reasonable total.
Archie smacked the bowling attack around to reach a well-made 21 off 14 before he ran himself out trying to sneak an extra run on the last ball.
Harry Norman made 10 also running himself out doing the team thing.
Cohen Wilcox finished on 3 not out which was crucial for Corowa to reach a total of 116 off their 20 overs.
St Pats looked the goods early as they kept out the dangerous Joe Lavis and Jack Torney with the ball.
Corowa let slip with a couple of missed opportunities but in came Levi Phibbs.
Levi picked up two wickets and Harry Norman followed with one. Corowa looked in complete control as St Pats were 3 for 39. The two St Pats’ batsmen then combined to put on 40 runs as St Pats reeled the scores back in.
Jack Torney then dismissed the dangerous Williams as the score was 4/92 with just three overs left.
Shortly after Levi Phibbs struck with a run out to dismiss the other dangerous batsmen in Murphy.
St Pats needed 11 to win from the final over. St Pats scratched a couple of singles and hit a streaky boundary through slips.
It came down to the last ball with St Pats needing 3 to win.
A direct hit runout from Jack Torney as St Pats were coming back for 2 won Corowa the game by one run.
The boys went bananas as emotions were running high. The day featured many ups and downs. But they certainly didn’t give in.
The under-16s play Wodonga Bulldogs next Friday night in a t20 as they look to head into Christmas undefeated.
Under 14s Div 1
With 151 runs on the board from last week our boys took to the field to take the wickets required to book a win against the much-fancied East Albury Allens batting lineup.
As per usual we gave the new ball to Jake Witherden and apart from one loose ball he was on the spot from the start.
The team sprung a surprise on the batsmen bringing on Oliver McLellan as the other opening bowler to change the angle on the batsmen early as a left armer.
Unfortunately, our surprise didn’t result in a wicket and up against quality batsmen with our line and length off a bit the runs were flowing early with the score 0/33 after five overs.
Lachie Douglas was brought into the attack bowling nice and tight and was rewarded with a wicket in his second over as he cleaned up the batsman’s stumps to have them 1/43 after seven overs.
The opposition captain was in next and took a liking to our line and length with a few early boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking over. As we kept the bowling changes coming so did the runs keep flowing. It wasn’t until Finley Douglas’s last over in his spell that the break-through resulted.
On the first ball of his over their captain hit a boundary that went just wide of Harry at mid-wicket.
Next ball Fin came back with a cracking ball that moved back in sharply and bowled their captain's middle stump to have them 2/108.
Fin didn’t waste any time having their next bastman trapped LBW for a duck to finish off his spell.
This brought Caleb Anderson to the crease who set about running hard to keep the score moving whilst their other opening batsman retired on 50.
The next wicket to fall was on 130 when Archie struck. This left East Albury with six wickets in hand chasing a further 22 runs for victory.
Whilst the day was to belong to East Albury it was the Douglas boys picking up wickets to finish the day with six wickets between them and Finley clearly the most effective bowler for us with 4/20.
It wasn’t our day but if we do meet them in finals we know where we are at and have worked a few of their batsmen out.
Under 14 Div 2
The Under 14s showed a spirited performance in T20 clash against Tallangatta. In an exhilarating contest, the Corowa boys put up a commendable fight but ultimately fell short against Tallangatta, losing by just a few runs in a nail-biting finish.
Winning the toss, Corowa opted to bat first.
Openers George Smith and Will Torney got the innings off to a promising start, showcasing their batting prowess. George laid a solid foundation before being retired after the coach’s strategic decision to allocate limited balls for each player. He finished with an impressive tally of 19 runs.
Will Torney and Oliver Matthews then forged a crucial partnership, both finding their rhythm at the crease. Oliver’s dynamic play earned him a commendable 16 runs before he also retired. In the latter stages of the innings, Jaxon Collins provided vital support, capitalizing on gaps in the field to finish with an unbeaten 11 runs.
However, a batting collapse ensued, prompting the reintroduction of the top order.
In a disappointing twist, George Smith and Will Torney, who had both already retired earlier, returned to the crease to face the challenging bowling.
Despite these setbacks, the team concluded their innings at 83 runs.
The standout performers with the ball for Corowa were Leo Davis and Nathias Price, who put in an impressive effort. Davis bowled tidily, concluding with figures of 0/3 from 2 overs, and even took a spectacular catch.
Nathias was exceptional, claiming one wicket for just one run off his two overs.
Franco Moolman contributed effectively to the bowling attack, finishing with figures of 1/6, while Jaxon Collins showcased his skill with the leg-spin, creating pressure on the batters.
As Tallangatta prepared to chase down the total, tension mounted.
The match reached an electrifying climax as Tallangatta needed just three runs to clinch victory in the final over.
A spectacular run-out by Leo Davis coupled with Will Torney's well-timed wicket kept Corowa’s hopes alive. However, the Tallangatta team managed to snatch some crafty singles to ultimately surpass Corowa’s score.
The match was a testament to the growth and resilience of the Corowa Boys team, marked by moments of brilliance and tenacity on the field. "Bad luck, boys—a very good game," hailed the coach post-match, emphasizing the positives despite the close loss.
Under 12s Div 1
The boys hosted a top-placed East Albury on the weekend. Austin won the toss and elected to field. The first 10 overs were the best we have bowled and fielded for the season.
With a couple of great catches to Jake and Billy, a Jake run out and all bowlers attacking we had the Crows scrambling at 4/25 at the halfway mark of their innings.
Unfortunately, the second 10 overs were the opposite and the batsmen got on top taking to the bowling and doing some heavy scoring to finish at 4/103. Ollie Bedford, Max Tull and Billy Witherden all bowled well collecting a wicket each.
George Smith and Austin Loughman opened the batting but unfortunately, Austin was just short of his crease and run out on 3.
George and Benji Casey’s innings were also short and Corowa were in trouble at 3/10 before Ollie Bedford and Jake Rhodes combined to steady the ship putting on a very solid 36-run partnership before both retired.
The boys at the bottom end couldn’t do a lot of damage with the bat but it was great to see Max have some time out in the middle although not scoring many but facing out 23 balls.
Eventually Jake and Ollie met back out in the middle to continue their innings but run out of balls to get the runs. Total 7/74.
Jake played a really great innings finishing on 33 not out and Ollie a solid 10 not out were the standouts this week.
Under 12s Div 2
This week the Div 2 boys were away against Barranduda after a couple of weeks off due to the horrible weather.
Captain Jobe Ollington won the toss and bowled first.
Barranduda were batting well and making it hard for Corowa in the field. Finishing on 98 off their 20 overs Jobe Ollington taking two wickets, Jack Nixon and Hugh Hicks also bowled well taking a wicket each.
With the bat, the boys looked a little rusty after having the couple weeks off and struggled to get any momentum going.
Oscar Amor and Mauritz Moolman with 12 and 7 respectively batted well.
Falling just short finishing on 69 off their 20 overs.
Thanks to Karrie Playford and Leonelle Moolman for scoring.
The last game before the Christmas break sees us at Balldale against St Patrick's.
Corowa Cricket 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, Wiesners, Corowa Meats, TH Kitchens & Joinery & Corowa RSL Club.
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