HEAT FIRE UP
... and have you ever seen eight maidens from one bowler in a one-dayer?
ALISTAIR Ross bowled eight maidens in a remarkable one-day bowling performance as Highton suffocated St Peter’s in a seven-run win on Saturday.
Ross took 1-5 off 10 overs of impeccable accuracy, helping the Heat successfully defend a 157 total that coach Brad Scown admitted was 30-40 runs under par.
“We bowled well, but I don’t think they showed enough intent either,” Scown said.
“The intent not to score off the spinners was the thing that probably cost them in the end.”
Highton had Luke Buckland (34), Alex Watson (26) and Luke Merryfull (43) to thank for the defendable total after the trio orchestrated a middle-order fightback as the Heat crashed to 3-10 early, with Ben Dodds, Jacob Smith and Ross all removed cheaply.
“To have Merryfull come in at seven was very handy,” Scown said.
“I just said to the guys, don’t worry that we’re five-down (the Heat at one stage were 5-58 after Buckland and Luke Daffy were dismissed), just bat normally and the runs will flow. They batted well.
“I thought we were 30-40 runs short, but we still had given ourselves every opportunity.”
Scown himself ignited the Heat’s stingy performance with the ball, removing dangerous St Peter’s openers Billy Ford (2) and Hayden Illingworth (17) early.
Steve Illingworth (19), Shane Fowles (21) and Mitchell Jepson (28) all got starts in the middle order, but the pendulum swung back in Highton’s favour during a miserly period between the 35th-45th overs where the run-rate slowed up considerably.
The Saints were all out for 150 in the 49th over. The result leaves Highton knocking on the door of the top-four.
“The problem we’ve had this year has been availability,” Scown said.
“I think we’re making three changes every week. We just can’t get a settled side, but we’re now starting to get that. We treat every game as a final pretty much now.”