Edwards swings game in Blues’ favour in low-scoring slog

A BOWLING masterclass from veteran Ray Edwards Jr helped Winchelsea to a gritty three-wicket win against St Leonards.

Edwards Jr bamboozled the Saints’ top-order with top-class swing bowling, grabbing 1-0 from six accurate overs, including six maidens, to restrict St Leonards to 86 off 35.1 overs.

He then chipped in with 18 from 32 deliveries at No.4 as the Blues chased down St Leonards’ total in the 30th over at Winchelsea’s Eastern Reserve on Saturday.

“Ray Edwards bowled really well,” Blues coach Adam Korth said.

“I didn’t realise until we went off that he’d bowled six overs 1-0. He’s a good outswing bowler and he’s very consistent.

“When I won the toss and bowled, I was concerned about how we’d go, but he controlled the ball well. He didn’t try to do anything too outrageous. He didn’t try to bowl too fast. He just got the ball in the right areas and was very consistent. In his younger days he had a bit more pace, but now he’s consistent and accurate.”

The Saints found themselves in deep trouble early, with Justin Wright and Taylor Bonner both falling for seven-ball ducks.

St Leonards opener James Burke dug in, making seven from 59 deliveries, but the Saints were unable to get on top of the disciplined Winchelsea bowlers.

“We had a shower of rain just before we went on, so there was a bit of moisture around, but the boys were able to deal with that and get the ball in the right areas,” Korth said.

“There was a little bit of zip off the wicket and fortunately we took a couple of wickets early. The boys bowled to our plans and we took pretty much all of our catches, so we were really happy with our bowling.”

Cam Egan (16 from 12), Richard McCarthy (18 from 55) and Alex Wilson (24 from 36) provided the backbone of the Saints’ innings, but the lower order crumbled to be all out in the 36th over.

“It was just regular wickets that we were able to take,” Korth said.

“Wilson hit a couple of very clean balls and he was threatening to take the game away from us, but every time they got a partnership together, we were able to take another wicket and have new batters coming in.”

With the bat, opener Cameron Leigh crafted 14 from 23 balls at the top for Winchelsea, while Edwards and Will Kelly (18 from 35) also hit double figures as the Blues claimed their second win of the season, despite losing regular wickets to keep St Leonards in the game until the end.