Atherton backs up for one-day victory
A RECENT turn of form has seen Atherton secure its first back-to-back wins of the Cricket Far North one-day season.
Following last round’s win over Cassowary Coast, Atherton were again impressive at the weekend as they found a way to beat Rovers in a seesawing affair.
In a game that went down to the wire, both teams managed to crack the 200 on a belter of a batting deck at Endeavour Park.
Sent in with the task of chasing 204, Atherton opening batsman Dan Parnell didn’t hesitate to get the show on the road.
The skipper notched up 71 runs off 63 deliveries, including nine fours and two sixes, in his innings, but said the win could be attributed to a great team effort, especially with the ball.
“Brendan Lynch coming up from second-grade opened the bowling for us and bowled really well early on,” he said.
“Logan Poggioli also bowled really well – I don’t think he ended up taking a wicket but he really tightened it up for us.”
Atherton’s Fred Pittorino (48*) and Mick Salerno (32*) finished off what their captain started to carry Atherton to a four-wicket win in the 37th over.
“It could’ve went either way and the experience of those two really got us home,” he said.
“It was good to be able to get across the line in some pretty tough, hot conditions.”
After starting the 40-over competition with a first-round bye, Atherton won their first match against Rovers before going down to Mulgrave, Barron and Norths in consecutive defeats. The team now has the chance to go into the Christmas break full of confidence and on the back of a hat-trick of one-day wins if they can beat Mulgrave at Loder Park this weekend.
“Hopefully we have our strongest team on the park (this weekend) – if we can get most of our players up for that one, we should put on a good contest,” Parnell said.