Martin’s 14-wicket damage

PALMERSTON left-arm orthodox spinner Hamish Martin took 14 wickets for the match as his team claimed outright points against Tracy Village in round 10 of the Carlton Mid Premier Grade cricket competition.

Commencing at 1-49 chasing Tracy’s 128, Palmy declared its first innings closed at 8-243 and a lead of 115 runs – best with the bat was Mitchell Hearn (100 not out, 67 balls faced, eight fours and six sixes) while Village off-spinner Reiley Mark bowled a marathon 26 overs and returned 4-80.

The Villagers didn’t fare much better in their second innings and were dismissed for 136, with Josh Hoffman making a quickfire 87 not out, but Martin (6-54) again did the damage and his side knocked off the required runs, losing two wickets in the process.

Playing at home, Darwin (297) overcame a disorganised Nightcliff to take first innings points after bowling the Tigers out for 189.

The visitors started well but the persistence of the Eagles bowlers frustrated the batsmen and only Raveesh Srivastava (76) and Yuvraj Sharma (48) held their nerve long enough to bother the steady attack, led by skipper Connor Hawkins (3-54) and medium-pacer Luke Zanchetta (2-35).

Unable to play due to Covid protocols enforced during the week was club coach and key bowler Jake Reed.

At DXC Arena it was the Roby Lane (5-63) and Sam Geyer (3-39) show as the Waratah pair combined with the ball to ensure PINT (10-222, 71.5 overs) couldn’t run down the required total with the Greens falling 103 runs short.

PINT skipper Sanka Wijegunarathne (61) maintained his recent good batting form while Lachlan Roughley was belligerent at the end (59, 56 balls faced, 11 fours).