Brothers rekindle their winning form
BROTHERS believe they are laying the platform for a long- awaited return to the Townsville Cricket finals after claiming a thrilling win over last season’s grand finalists Wests.
Wickets tumbled all afternoon in the perfect bowling conditions at Mick Downey Oval as Wests were dismissed for 97 before Brothers chased it down with just three wickets in hand.
Chris Horn ( 2- 10) and Justin Rawlins ( 2- 19) made a dream start for Brothers as they ripped through Wests’ top order to have them at 4- 13.
Lachlan Ford ( 12) and Kim Rose ( 35) led the fightback to get Wests to 5- 45, but Grant Russ ( 11) was the only other batsman to hit double fig- ures as they were all out for 97.
In reply, Heath O’Brien ( 30) and Herbie Heuir ( 17) looked to have Brothers cruising with a 50- run opening stand before they lost 4- 9 to the bowling of Jack Raffles ( 3- 11) and Dan Kearney ( 3- 14).
Captain Reece Danaher ( 17) and Gary Friend ( 18 n. o.) steadied the ship, but Wests’ bowling attack continued to apply pressure before Friend and Rawlins Brothers to victory.
Danaher admitted it was a tough run chase given the conditions, but he was delighted to see his side scrape home as they jump up to third on the ladder – just two competition points behind Wests.
“It was nice, quick outfield and a bit of a soft wicket so even though 98 doesn’t look like it was a big run chase it was probably worth about 150 on a flat wicket,” Danaher said.
“Chris Horn started us off really well with the ball. It’s a bit of unfamiliar territory opening the bowling for us, but he did a really good job there.
“We changed our opening partnership up a little bit this week so Herbie and Heath got us off to an absolute flyer. It made it a lot easier for us in n. o.) guided the middle around a bit.
“We’ve hopefully learnt our lesson over the last couple of years that we need to be winning these close games and it was huge for us to scrape through and get that win.”
Meanwhile, defending champions Suburban Parks kept their perfect start intact with a 69- run win over Norths at Riverway Stadium.
Chris Gartrell hit an unbeaten 80 from 64 balls as the Redbacks posted 4- 231 from their 45 overs despite the best efforts of Sam Collingwood ( 2- 27) with the ball.
Zach Myles ( 23) and Josh De Munari ( 24) made a solid start for Norths, but Jamie Heit ( 4- 19) led a strong bowling performance from Sub Parks to restrict their opponents to 9- 162. order to just nudge it