Despite half an hour of play lost to heavy rain, second-placed Lakes Entrance was bowled out for a respectable 213 in the
final over of their vital Bairnsdale Cricket Association round seven clash with fourth-ranked Meerlieu
at the Lakes Entrance Recreation Reserve last Saturday.
Several of the other two day fixtures didn’t see 80 overs completed in the day’s play, which will allow
the side batting first to continue batting when play resumes.
Having made a total which is close to par on a ground with a slowish outfield, and at times threatened to be considerably larger or lower, it will be up to the Seagull bowlers to remove dangerous Tussock batsmen such as captain Rohan Blandford, thrashing machine Jay Peiris and experienced veteran Reagan Kyle, while Zimbabwean import Connor Mitchell is also more
than handy with the bat in hand.
The Seagulls got off to a good start with co-captain Ben John and Josh Sackfield (44) looking good early, but when John went for 11, the in-form Liam Allen followed shortly after without troubling the scorers, Lakes troubled 2/32.
Jack Timms (26) and Sackfield combined to get Lakes back in the match, but a steady flow of wickets and some consistent bowling from Mitchell saw the Seagulls in trouble at 6/104 with the game back on Meerlieu’s terms.
Mitchell bowled all day overs and finished with 6/78 in another herculean effort.
A crucial partnership between Daniel Bryant, who unfortunately had to retire hurt (knee) for 37 when
looking to up the tempo, and Jake Le Maitre (26) took the score through to 156 and when Le Maitre went there was still plenty of work to do at 7/180.
A handy lower order partnership between Laurie Thomson (17) and Michael Poynton (19) got the score over the barrier of 200.
It was an interesting day of local cricket, with another to follow this Saturday.
In “B” grade West Bairnsdale had made its way to 6/166 from 31 overs when play was abandoned due to the weather which struck spasmodically throughout the region.
Tully Davis was impressive with the ball for the Seagulls picking up 2/22, while Sean Read was the leading wicket taker with 3/53.
Lakes currently sits in seventh place on the ladder, a game outside the top four, with a big assignment
this week against fourth-placed St Marys Nagle, a win imperative to keep the side in the running for finals action.
The Seagulls kept their hopes alive of making the 20/20 finals last week with an impressive win over Metung Swan Reach.
The Swans were restricted to 8/88 from their 15-over allotment with Sam Kincaid (2/20), Phani Kumar (2/13) and Brett Boyd (3/21) doing the damage with the ball.
In reply Lakes Entrance knocked the total off in less than 12 overs, with significant contributions from Ben John (31 from 23), Jack Timms (23 not out) and 20/20 skipper Josh Sackfield, who was
entertaining late in the innings making a slick 26 from 13 deliveries.
In this weeks under 13’s matches on Friday night Lakes Maroon will do battle with West Bairnsdale/Wy Yung whileLakes White will host Lucknow at St Brendans.
