ROVERS United Bruck’s bowlers will be pleased with their efforts from Saturday, keeping Benalla to 173 on a batting-friendly deck.
After being handed the ball by Bushrangers’ skipper Brayden Stepien, the Hawks were made to toil away on the flat surface, a far cry from the spicy bowling-favoured strips at W.J. Findlay Oval from previous matches.
Stepien would make the most of an early reprieve after being dropped in the slips to clobber a quickfire 37 from 48 to put the Hawks under pressure early.
Benalla were trucking along nicely at 0/45 from 12 overs before Paddy McNamara would find the breakthrough wicket of Stepien.
Partnerships would be the name of the game, with James Carboon (15 from 60) and Ross Cavill (54 from 94) ticking the scoreboard over, the Bushrangers in control at tea.
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Rovers United Bruck’s Jeremy Wilson would turn the momentum back towards the Hawks, combining tight bowling and threatening lines and lengths.
He would chime in with regular wickets from his 25 overs, finishing with 5/47 and 10 maidens to company an incredible economy rate of 1.88.
The Bushrangers’ middle order and tail would have limited impact, with Gary Priests’ 14 from 50 the only score of note outside the top three.
Brady Bartlett was extremely economical, going at 1.62 with figures of 2/13 from his eight overs, while Paddy McNamara (2/34 from 16) and Cormac McNamara (1/20 from four) chipped in with scalps of their own.
Hawks’ skipper Paddy McNamara said it was a fairly difficult grind in the field.
“We just had to toil hard all day to get the result we wanted,” he said.
“It was a different wicket to what we’ve played on so far after Christmas, there was absolutely nothing in it for the bowlers.
“The last few weeks we’ve had a lot caught behind the wicket, but since the wicket was dead it was pretty hard to get caught behind when the ball’s not flying through.
“We just had to really target the stumps, put the pressure on the batters and make them play.
“After the first 10, 15 overs that’s what we went to and it worked.
“Stepien does what he does and got them off to a really good start, I think they were 0/40 off 10 overs - we were looking in a bit of trouble, but thankfully we removed him.
“We were able to build a lot of dot ball pressure through maidens and wickets came through that.”
While the deck does favour the batters, McNamara said it would be a difficult chase.
“I think a 200 plus score would’ve been good, so they’re probably a little under par, but we’ve still got a game on our hands,” he said.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to have a good challenge against a pretty decent total.
“Hopefully we can get the score without too many wickets lost and bat the full 75.
“It’s not going to be easy, there’ll be a bit of pressure on, and they’ve got some good opening bowlers and a couple of good spinners, so they’re definitely going to challenge us, it’s going to be a good contest for us next week.”
Play resumes at 1pm at W.J. Findlay Oval on Saturday, 1 March.
