Missed opportunities costly for Bloods
It was a tough day for Tocumwal’s Premier Division team in the Murray Valley Cricket Association on Saturday with Barooga making the most of some gilt edged opportunities to win comfortably against the Bloods.
Toc. won the toss and elected to bowl on a very green Barooga deck which had been under covers for most of the week.
Andy Arthur and Jesse Barker both bowled well without luck making use of the seaming conditions.
But the Bloods were their own worst enemy. After Matthew Wilson (2/55 off nine) snared Sam Leigh (15), caught at slip, the visitors dropped Trent Bachelor (140 not out) twice early on and it would ultimately prove costly.
The Bloods did capture the prized wicket of Riley Gow (14) to a sharp Brad House catch but the damage was done as Batchelor went on the attack and together with Kale Watkins (37) added 115 for the third wicket.
Tocumwal battled hard and mixed their bowling options up. It was veteran Ranji Oliver (1/22 off five) who provided the breakthrough snaring Watkins to an infield popout.
Batchelor by this stage was unstoppable and the opening bat pounced on the bad ball hitting 14 ‘fours’ and two ‘sixes’ in his unbeaten knock.
Amar Ullah (20) ensured the runs flowed as Barooga closed at 4/263 from 45 overs.
The seaming conditions suited the Barooga opening bowlers perfectly, with Matthew Jaensch (1/6 off four) and Gow (2/17 off 8.2) making life difficult for the Toc openers.
In a horror opening the Bloods crumbled to 4/21 to all but rule out a chase at victory.
A defiant performance from skipper Barker (31) and Oliver (9) chewed into the overs as the Barooga bowling attack began to ease.
When Barker was out LBW and Oliver an over later it appeared the end was closing in for a disappointing day but standing to the challenge was Reilly Rennick (48) who began to attack the Hawks’ bowling.
The young bat smashed four boundaries and two towering ‘sixes’ to get the score board over triple figures.
On an otherwise dark day the Bloods did well to only fall short of the compulsory close by just 10 deliveries and reach 133 in total.
Tocumwal’s final one day fixture is against Nathalia at Nathalia on Saturday.