A-grade
The Saints took on Cobram at Cobram four round two of the Murray Valley Cricket Association.
The Saints won the toss and elected to have a bat but started disastrously, collapsing to 5/14 in the 11th over.
Andrew Parr (0), Tristan Mears (7), Rory Bartlett (2), Jacob Bartlett (1) and Harley Middleton (3) were all caught with Adam DeCicco (3/10) and Jimmy Daniels, who claimed two the chief destroyers for the Tigers.
Matt Ross and Brady Bartlett began the rebuild for the Saints.
The two looked more comfortable as the bowling changes began, but Chase Hardwidge (1/28) picked up Ross in his second over with a mis-hit and he was caught for eight.
The score was now 6/27 after 14 overs.
Brad Loats was next in for the Saints and, with Bartlett, made the batting look easy.
The two took the Saints’ score pass 50 and then got the score to 67 before a pull shot from Bartlett stuck in the hand of Hardwidge. He was dismissed for 33 off Jack Beasley (2/25).
Tim Cooper was next in and Loats took on the Tigers’ attack with the two adding another 12 runs before Cooper wasn’t able to clear the in field and was caught off Beasley.
The score was now 8/79.
Darcy Pyle was next in and, with Loats, kept building a competitive score for the Saints taking it past 100 before Loats was caught for 28 off the bowling of Lachie Adams (1/15).
Jordan Swann, on his A-grade debut, was the last man in for the Saints.
But Jimmy Daniels struck again, clean bowling Pyle for 10 and the Saints finished all out for 102 with Swann on zero not out.
With the Saints keen to get into the field, the opening pair of Noah Iddles and Ayden Latessa struggled to score against the fast bowling of Brady and Rory Bartlett.
The Saints pair suffocated the Cobram batters of runs before Rory struck in back-to-back overs to dismiss Latessa for four (LBW) and then Iddles for six, clean bowled.
After 10 overs Cobram were 2/13.
The Saints’ bowling pressure continued. The Tigers’ new batsmen Shaun Downee and Mitch Doyle were struggling to free the arms and the Saints would not offer any bad deliveries.
Matt Ross and Jacob Bartlett continued the pressure but continual singles kept the score ticking over for the Tigers, who had reached 50 in the 18th over.
The runs started flowing from the tiring Saints bowlers, and Cobram wrestled the game away form the Saints.
Downee and Doyle took the Tigers past the Saints’ score in the 26th over, with Downee finishing on 57 (not out) and Doyle on 37no and the Tigers finishing at 2/109 after 27 overs.
For his efforts with the bat, Brad Loats picked up the Tim Harris Transport Award.
This week the Saints take on Barooga at home.
Under-14s
Berrigan took on Finley in round two of the Murray Valley Cricket under-14s competition at Finley.
Winning the toss, the Saints sent the Cats in.
Saints opening bowler Jordan Swann (2/4) had an immediate impact with the new ball, clean bowling Ryan Bauer for a duck in the first over.
New batsman Jordan Dean joined James Winn in the middle but followed shortly with a change in the Saints attack with Blake Davidson-Miles (1/10) snaring the batsman bowled.
The Saints were on top early, with the Cats at 2/8.
Aniq Alam was next in for the Cats and, with Winn, started to get the Cats’ innings going to take the score past 20.
But that was before Swann was brought back into the attack, trapping Aniq LBW for five.
The score was now 3/21 in the 11th over.
Angus Urquhurt was next in and took on the Saints’ attack, cracking the bad balls to the fence for four.
Winn pushed the ball around and their pace between wickets added a further 21 runs to Finley’s score until Nick Arnold (1/4) had him caught behind for 14.
Nick Chesworth was next in, building another handy partnership with Winn and adding a futher 17 runs to the Cats score before Tully Ryan (2/9) put an end to both Chesworth (4) and Winn’s (19) innings.
Evan Lawton and Judd Clarke finished out the Cats’ 25 overs taking the score to 6/71.
With 72 to get, Lachie Packer and Jack Phillips took to the crease seeing off Finley’s opening pair of Dean and Bauer.
But the bowling change to Chesworth (1/27) had instant success with Packer bowled for a duck and the score was 1/9.
This brought Swann to the crease.
Swann took on the Cats’ attack and with Phillips rotating the strike.
The two took the Saints’ score past the 50 mark, but Lawton (1/13) brought Phillips undone bowling him for six.
The Saints were 2/53 after 18 overs.
Kaleb Litchfield was next in but was joined by Blake shortly after as Swann retired on 26.
Kaleb and Blake took the score to 67 before Clarke (1/1) struck with Litchfield caught for one.
Jack Smith was next in and, with Blake, guided the Saints past the required runs in the 24th over.
In the last over, Madeline Price (2/6) claimed both Smith (caught for four) and new batsmen Ollie Batten (caught for two) on the last ball of the innings.
Blake finished on nine not out and the Saints won by five wickets.
The Saints go into a two week bye on top of the ladder.