Newcomb & District’s five-wicket win against Manifold Heights on Saturday gave it a handy buffer in second place on the Geelong Cricket Association Division 4 ladder.
The Dinos were spearheaded by English quick Nathan Keevil, who bagged five wickets, and are now a game ahead of Meredith, nine points clear of Little River and two games clear of Manifold Heights, which slid to fifth.
“Games like that, they’re essentially a 12-point game,” Newcomb & District captain Jason Robertson said.
“And for us to have that win yesterday just gives that a little bit of a buffer in case we do drop one in the coming weeks, because we’ve got a pretty tough draw.
“We’ve got Little River coming up next week, who are thereabouts as well, and then St Albans (Breakwater), who are no slouches.”
Bowling first, the Dinos’ pace attack was relentless although Nick (39) and Nathan Pratt (40) took the Sharks from 5/67 to 6/144 with a 77-run partnership. Manifold Heights was eventually dismissed for 166 in the 45th over.
Keevil (5/25), Robertson (1/29 from nine overs), Black Ritchie (1/29 from nine) and Huey Nield (3/23 from eight) proved difficult to get away.
“Last week (against top side Guild St Mary’s) we were pretty disappointing, we bowled the wrong lines and then yesterday from literally ball one we were on,” Robertson said.
“Our lines were right, our plans were right. He (Keevil) is a mixture of our ones and twos at the minute, (with) three injuries, he’s got his chance, which was great.
“He bowls a heavy ball – he hurries you up a little bit, and when he’s on like yesterday, he’s very hard to face.”
With Cam Egan restricted in bowling duties due to injury, Matt West out with a hamstring and opening bat Anthony Quarrell cutting his hand open at work, the Dinos are not at full strength.
Egan is able to bat, though, and got the team off to a flyer in response with 18 from 12 balls. The Dinos got the runs five wickets down and with 13 overs to spare.
Tyler O’Neill top scored with 48, Nield made 26 while Ritchie (17 not out) and Aaron Morgan (20 not out) took the score from 5/128 to 5/167 and the win.
“He (Egan) made 80 the first game he stepped up, so he’ll be locked in there (as opener) for a little bit until those boys come back,” Robertson said.
“Tyler batted really well, and he’s experienced the middle order there because it is quite young with Hughie, Blake, all those types of boys.
“Aaron’s ultra aggressive and he doesn’t mind me saying this, but every time he faces a ball, I tell the boys, ‘every fielder here is in play’.
“But, he showed some maturity and took the singles when they gave it to him because we didn’t really need to be doing anything rash. He and Blake handled the situation pretty well, I thought.”
Robertson said this Saturday’s clash against Little River was important.
“They got done yesterday by a couple of runs so they’ll be ready to go,” he said.
“They’re sort of in the mid-table now after dropping yesterday so I reckon they’d be pretty keen to get the win.”
MEREDITH leapfrogged Little River into third spot on the ladder with a tense two-run win. Skipper Tyler Dittloff made 74 with the Rams posting 9/205 batting first. Luke Wright picked up 2/18 from nine tidy overs for the Redbacks. In reply, Little River was all out for 203 with two balls of its allotted 45 overs remaining with Trent Archer making 79 and Chesney Milne chipping in with 4/36 after being introduced into the attack late. However, the Redbacks were forced to bat one short with Joel Thompson injuring his ankle while fielding and went to hospital.
GUILD St Mary’s stayed on top of the ladder with a huge win against Teesdale. The Saints posted a hefty 7/281 with Davinder Singh making 82 and David Thomas 79 while Kasim Khan Pathan scored 41 and Ricky Kennedy grabbed four wickets for Teesdale. Teesdale’s innings never got going, all out for 71, as Mitchell Vicary took the stunning figures of 5/9 and Shivam Gupta snared 3/23.
