By Justin Flynn
Rain thwarted Anglesea’s run of five consecutive Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association A1 Grade wins in a top of the table clash against Armstrong Creek.
The round six clash was billed as a potential grand final match-up and it was Anglesea that emerged from the game as the competition’s frontrunners despite sharing the points with the Titans.
After making 7/255 on day one, Armstrong Creek was 8/178 in reply, but because two overs had been lost due to rain, both teams had to settle for three points.
“We were trying to push through the overs but then the rain came and we lost two overs,” Anglesea captain Dylan Taylor said.
“We went back out and had nine overs to bowl to bowl them out, but they blocked it out, so we couldn’t get the job done, unfortunately.”
Both sides are expected to be major players come finals time.
“They’ve got some really dangerous players,” Taylor said.
“They had us on toast early on. They bat really well.”
Steve Nicholson has been a fine pick-up for Anglesea this season with the all-rounder travelling from Ballarat each weekend to play and stay in his caravan.
Anglesea’s attack is varied and consistent. Quicks Taylor and Darcy Elliott take the new ball while Ky Eskrigge can swing the ball away from the right-hander. Nicholson and Brett Venables take the pace of the ball while recruit Ollie Huby provides medium pace.
“It’s a really good variety, I’m really lucky to have these options,” Taylor said.
“Depending on what the game situation is, we can either go slow or go faster. There’s a really good mix of bowlers, which is really handy.”
Once again it was Clay Mulgrew who stood tall on day two for Armstrong Creek with a fine 86 while Taylor and Nicholson each picked up three wickets.
The Seas take on a struggling Queenscliff in round seven.
“They’ve got some dangerous players,” Taylor said.
“They are a bit of an unknown and haven’t really hit their straps yet this year. We just have to bring the challenge again. We’ve had a pretty tough couple of weeks with Barwon Heads and Armstrong Creek and now Queenscliff, so if we can get the win we’ll be setting ourselves up for the back end of the season.”
BARWON HEADS defeated Queenscliff by five wickets. The Seagulls chased down the total of 180 relatively easily with captain Max Melzer top scoring with an unbeaten 73.
BARRABOOL had to settle for first-innings points against Inverleigh. The Bulls made 8/135 declared with a lead of 64. Mason Dickson took 6/69 for the Kookaburras. In reply, Inverleigh batted out time to be 0/43.
JAN JUC won its second game of the season, edging out Ocean Grove. Chasing 230, Ocean Grove opener Shaun Fankhauser made a defiant 66 from 133 deliveries, but was run out, continuing the trend of the top order finding ways in which to run themselves out. The Sharks’ spin attack of Mark Zahra (3/27) and Tom Kearney (4/31) again proved to be match winners with the Grubbers 85 runs short.
