Finley chase down win with storm looming

Finley B-grade took on Katunga in round two of the Murray Valley Cricket Association competition on Saturday.

Katunga won the toss and elected to bat. The bowlers performed well, keeping them to 9/140 on a quick and small ground.

All bowlers chipped in with wickets. Matthew Wilson (2/19 off 7) and Jonathon Cattell (1/11 off 5) were highlights.

Finley was tight in the field with Archibald Mason and Matthew Wilson providing two run outs.

Katunga finished with 9/140 off 40 overs. The Cats set out to chase with storm clouds looming.

Harrison King got the side started with a quick fire 18.

Jonathon Cattell (39), Jack Tonta (20) and Cougar McGrath (21) all added runs at a quick pace, passing the total set by Katunga in the 23rd over five wickets down.

C-grade took on Cobram at the Finley Recreation Reserve.

C-grade won the toss and batted.

The top order collapsed and Finley found themselves 4/30.

Mitch Pyle (11) hung around for a while, but just as he looked to consolidate he skied a ball and was well caught on the boundary.

Finley continually lost wickets and couldn't put partnerships together.

They finished all out on 93 after 23.2 overs. The batting highlight of the day was Glynn Lloyd (24) putting the ball over the boundary multiple times before chancing his luck one too many times.

Finley bowled and fielded pretty well but just couldn't take enough wickets to put scoreboard pressure on.

Cobram exceeded the run chase in 28.4 overs, only three wickets down.

The Cats look forward to an improved batting performance next round.

The under-16s started their season with a win over Katunga, after their first round game was abandoned.

After losing the toss, Finley were sent in to bat.

Nathan Brown (17) got off to a good start hitting multiple boundaries in the first over.

Dan Eldridge (20) and Roree Wallis (11) kept the runs coming.

The rest of the boys chipped away for a final score of 9/87 off 20 overs.

The Cats bowled well keeping Katunga to only 4/62 off their 20 overs.

Roree Wallis and Logan Eldridge picked up one wicket each, and Dan Eldridge took two.

Finley’s under-14s kicked off their season with a close loss to Barooga.

They travelled to Barooga for a two day game.

Finley won the toss and elected to bowl first. The boys had to work hard for the first wicket with Barooga travelling quite nicely, but it came through James Winn with a great caught and bowled to get them started.

This was the only wicket for the day as Barooga batted very well.

At the end of the first 20 overs, Barooga finished 1/71.

Finley went in to bat and we were off to a good start with Logan Eldridge (23) and Ryan Bauer (17) playing some great cricket shots and working hard for their runs.

Finley finished their first 20 overs 3/72. On day two at the weekend, Finley returned to bowl their remaining 20 overs.

There was a big improvement on last week, with Barooga ending their innings with 9/58.

This included some great bowling from Jackson Tooke (2/16 off 4), James Winn (2/20 off 5), Evan Lawton (1/8 off 3) and Angus Urquhart (1/4 off 2).

There were also some great fielding efforts with three runs outs for the day.

It was now Finley’s turn to bat again. Knowing they needed 59 runs to win, it was going to be a close one.

Finley started off a bit slow, but it allowed some of the younger players to get some quality time in the middle.

There was a bit of hope late with some bottom order hitting from Jack Culton (11), but it was too late.

Finley finished their innings all out for 117 - 13 runs short of Barooga.

This weekend they take on Berrigan at home.