Going up … Kealba’s wicket keeper David Rogowski and Burnside skipper Rick Hudson track the ball hit skyward by Hudson, who was caught out by Jarrad Catania. 58254 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By Dejan Kalinic
KEALBA-Green Gully has gone into the Christmas break on the back of an impressive outright victory against local rival Burnside Springs on the second day of its George Luscombe Shield clash.
The Cougars raced to the set target of 154 in 28 overs with five wickets to spare after they bowled Burnside out for 180 just before tea on day two in the North West Cricket Association.
Captain-coach Andrew Lambropolous lauded his team’s performance to gain outright points.
“It was a very strong performance all round,” he said.
“I told the boys I was going to be very aggressive in the field, with the ball and also with the bat and everyone agreed and went along with it and did a great job.
“It’s always tough to get an outright (win) and it would be nice to put a gap between us and a few other teams so it’s a good result.”
Lambropolous could only use opening bowler Matthew Scalzo (7/39 and 2/31), who took nine of the team’s 13 wickets on day one, for five overs due to hamstring tightness.
But opening partner Jarrod Catania (1/60 and 5/64) did the damage bowling with the breeze in the second innings.
“For him to get five wickets was a great result for us,” Lambropolous said.
“He has been working really hard and bowling well so I’m very happy for him.”
It was an improved batting display by Burnside with Adam Baker (42), Rick Hudson (41) and Adam Spiteri (25) helping set an awkward target after starting the day at 3/6.
Burnside Springs captain-coach Hudson said his team showed character after a poor first day.
“All round when you lose outright it is a disappointing result,” he said.
“We obviously let ourselves down on day one with some undisciplined batting and there was some good bowling there too.
“(It was) disappointing in terms of how we got ourselves into that mess but I guess (there is) a bit of satisfaction to know that we had some character to try and get ourselves into a position where it could have gone either way late in the day.”
Set 154 to win from the remaining 35 overs of the day, the Cougars raced to the total on the back of solid knocks from Todd Newman (39), Evan Long (29), Matthew Nadzielski (29) and an unbeaten 39 by anchor Vince Tullio.
Hudson plans to attack the unbeaten Sydenham/Hillside when they visit in the first game back, a one-day clash on 8 January.
But with four two-day games after that, Hudson said they needed to show the ability to bat an entire 80-over day.
Lambropolous said the Cougars, who sit third on the ladder, wanted to continue their good start to the season.
“I would like to keep being as consistent as we are,” he said.
Sydenham/Hillside fell just short of registering full points against Buckley Park after an exciting second day’s play.
After collecting first innings points on the opening day, Storm extended its lead to 36 before declaring early on day two.
Set 116 to win from 15 overs after bowling the Beavers out for 151, Storm reached 4/99 at the close and was forced to settle for first innings points to leave it undefeated at the top and eight points clear going into Christmas.
