Combine’s captain Cocks shines
TBY ‘ONE SHORT’
he highlight of this week’s round of Grampians Cricket Association action was Combine captain Sam Cocks’ 161 runs.
The Combine made 6-264 against Rhymston’s 6-82.
Cocks’ innings included 20 fours and five sixes. Next best was Ricky Peters with 30 not-out.
Faced with this mammoth score, Rhymston appeared to just bat out their overs.
Dan Walker top-scored with 32, while Matt Heffer was the best of the Combine bowlers with 3-19 from his eight overs.
The other A Grade match saw a comfortable win to Pomonal, 1-101 to Chalambar’s 10-94.
Chalambar batters were unable to get going thanks mainly to Clayton Mackley, 3-13.
The Tigers cruised past Chalambar’s score with Mackley, Tyler Cronin and Shaun Campbell all scoring 30s.
B Grade matches were also clear cut, with Halls Gap, 3-241, defeating Rhymney-moyston 2, 6-81.
Batting first, Halls Gap’s total was bolstered by Caleb Bretherton, 86 notout, Jayde Mcmurtrie, 50 not-out, and Riley Thomas 45.
Lachy Lee, 31, led Rhymston’s response of 6-81.
In the remaining match, Swiftsgreat Western, 2-98, ran down Halls Gap2, 10-93.
Gappers’ Solomon Riddell Connell posted his best score for the season with 36, but received little support. For the visitors, Tom Robinson reached 30 and under-16 player Jacob Dunn notched 32 not-out to go with his 2-11 to get the votes.
This week, A Grade sees Swiftsgreat Western meeting Chalambar at Central Park, Stawell, St Andrews greet Pomonal at Alexandra Oval, Ararat and Rhymney-moyston has the bye.
In B Grade, Halls Gap takes on Halls Gap2 at Halls Gap and Rhymney-moyston will meet Swifts-great Western at Moyston.
The match of the round is at Alexandra Oval between the Saints and the Tigers for second spot on the ladder.
The Saints at full strength will be a handful for the Tigers, who are doing everything right with Clinton Mackley, Shaun Campbell and Tyler Cronin all performing, but so, too, are James Hosking, Adam Haslett and Sam Summers for the opposition. It is anybody’s game.
The Combine versus Chalambar is a bit more predictable, with SwiftsGreat Western having more potential match winners than Chally and having the incentive of remaining on top of the ladder.
B Grade results should go the way of round 10, with wins to Halls Gap against Halls Gap2 and the Combine against Rhymston2.
Sunday’s girls match at Central Park, Stawell, saw the Stawell Strikers 5-103 defeat the Horsham Sixers 2-55 to keep them second on the ladder.
Better players for the Strikers were Ayva Mitchell, 25 not-out and 2-4, Cloe Maloney, 21 not-out, Matilda Venn, 14, and Lily Reading, 13 notout.