Despite being unbeaten and sitting on top of the GCA2 ladder, Bell Park captain Jamie Spiller said his side is “definitely not the finished product”, which is not the news opposition sides would want to hear.
The Dragons took care of business in round 10 on Saturday 17 January, beating an understrength, but hugely competitive, Bell Post Hill.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve got the other three sides in the top four to play in the month coming home,” Spiller said.
“So once we play all of them, we’ll see where we’re at.”
Bell Post Hill won the toss and batted first and was 2/138 in the 37th over with Will Iles (55), Matthew Reid (45) and Aidan Barrow (29) getting runs.
Bell Park hit back with Bailey Kelly and Nikhil Deep Pottabathini (4/24) removing Reid and Iles in the space of five deliveries and the Panthers eventually cobbled together 8/188.
The Dragons were tested, but got the runs with two wickets and three deliveries remaining. Sam Elliston-Buckley (32), Pottabathini (31), Shane Lymer (28) in his 150th game, Spiller (22), Steven Kelly (21) and Kasey Duncan (17) all got starts, but did enough to drag their side over the line.
“We were always confident chasing under 200 with our batting lineup,” Spiller said.
“Everyone in our top six got 20 or 30. I said to the boys after the game, someone needs to go on, but you’ve got to win ugly sometimes and that’s what we did.
“Credit to them (Bell Post Hill) – they threw everything they had at us. Their depth was tested, but they’re well and truly capable of being there at the pointy end of the season.”
Bell Post Hill skipper Ben Muir said his side fell about 40 to 50 runs short batting first, but praised his bowlers for getting back into the game.
“We were at least 40 or 50 short at Bell Park, but I couldn’t fault our bowling,” he said.
“We stuck it out all day and took it to the third-last ball of the innings. They’ve been making some pretty big totals and have got a couple of really good bats at the top of the order.”
Pace off the ball worked for Bell Post Hill with slow bowlers Jackson Moore (2/26), Tyler James (1/31 from10 overs) and Muir (1/35 from 10) all proving difficult to get away.
Bell Post Hill was without star all-rounder Jason Grozdanovski, opening bat Rhys Burke and Lachie Horan and although Muir said he never accepted losing, the 11 chosen gave it their all.
“You lose experience like that – for blokes to come in and play a role and do a job, it was fantastic,” he said.
“I feel like it’s a learning curve. We’ve exposed a couple of debutants in the last couple of weeks to ‘ones’ cricket. You never like losing a game of cricket, but when you walk away with your head held high, and you’ve taken the top of the ladder team to the 50th over, I think that’s a positive.”
GEELONG CITY chased down Highton’s 8/249 and consolidated a spot in the top four, but it was a blistering innings of 154 from 148 balls from Isaac Bird that stole the show. Bird played a lone hand for Highton as Jack Parrot (3/32 from 10 overs) and Byron Taylor (3/52 from 10) tried their best to limit the damage.
At 9/219 in the 44th over, Highton looked set for victory after Lachie Emmett (47), Jack Driver (42) and Angus Evans (38) got runs for City. But an unbeaten 31-run last-wicket stand between youngster Harry Lindsay (60 not out from 51 deliveries) and No 11 Hudson O’Leary (9 not out from 10) saw the Sharks home with nine balls still remaining.
LEOPOLD was far from its best, but defeated Torquay by 13 runs and sits in third spot on the ladder. Joseph Vallelonga (46) and Michael Kenneady (44) were able to get Leopold to 168 before being bowled out in the 46th over. Damien O’Brien snared three wickets for Torquay while Ash Russell’s 1/15 from 10 overs was pivotal.
Russell then capped off a terrific game with 39, but Torquay ran out of overs and was 8/155 at the end. Jake Le Maistre the standout for Leopold with 4/34.
GEELONG WEST was led by Kenny Spence’s 73 from 82 balls in a final total of 8/244 against Alexander Thomson. Vikings skipper Zach Mevissen picked up three wickets. In reply, Bailey Forssman made 67, but Alexander Thomson was all out for 167 in the 38th over with Charlie George-Eldrige and Rajasekhar Lankireddy each grabbing three wickets for the Rams.
