BEECHWORTH have taken a crucial step towards a finals berth as they held on in a low-scoring bout with Ovens Valley United. The Tigers resumed at 6/44 on a spicy McNamara Reserve wicket in Myrtleford and only added 32 to their total before their tail folded, all out for 76 chasing Beechworth’s 98 posted the previous week. Kane Fitzpatrick and Cooper Thomason were in the infancy of their innings as day two commenced and managed to build a partnership. Tim Cogger was able to deal the first blow of the day when Fitzpatrick tried a lofted straight drive and Cogger plucked it out of the air, Fitzpatrick gone caught and bowled for 19. Cogger would pick up the wicket of James Neary the very next ball, caught by Will Prebble, and suddenly the Tigers were 8/72. The hat-trick ball would be left outside the off stump, but Cogger had done the damage. Matt Ryan would clean up the tail, skittling Glenn White for a six-ball duck, and Bailey Wyatt in his next over to finish with 5/15 from his 11.1 overs. Thomason was forced to watch the wickets tumble at the other end, ending unbeaten on 16*. With the result secured but still plenty of time left in the day, the Wanderers came back out to bat, but it was far from smooth sailing. Clancy Ellett was the only top order batter to make a start, blasting a quickfire 22 from 17 balls before he holed out to James Neary. Jackson Cull (1), Austen Fendyk (3) and Brenton Surrey (1) all departed in quick succession, with Beechworth finding itself at 4/35. Jack Ryan stuck around, facing 60 deliveries for his 21 runs, but all the action was at the other end when Geeth Alwis came on to bowl. Alwis would finish with 5/8 off 11 overs and match figures of 10/32 as the Wanderers were bowled out for 65. Once again, the bowlers had the run of conditions when Ovens Valley came out to bat for a second time in the day, with Matt Ryan taking 5/33 from his 11 overs. The Wanderers sit third on the ladder heading into their penultimate round clash against second-placed Wangaratta Magpies at Baarmutha Park. The Magpies were trounced by ladder leaders Rovers United Bruck in their last outing and will be eager to deny Beechworth a chance at a home final. In other grades, B grade were outclassed by Greta at Baarmutha Park going down by nine wickets. The Wanderers could only post 65 batting first with Lewis Richards (17) and Henry Scalzo (13) top scoring. The Blues would only take 12 overs to make the runs, with Alex Beatson taking the sole wicket of the innings. And in C Grade, the Stanley based Wanderers survived a scare to their unbeaten record to hold on by 13 runs over Benalla Red. Chris Nuck’s 52 and Sam Thompson’s 36 made for valuable contribution in Beechworth’s batting as the rest of the order lacked answers for young bowler Josh Hart, taking 6/45 as the Wanderers were bowled out for 133. Economic bowling from the likes of Darby West (3/23), Ryan Niklaus (2/17) and Dean Fitzpatrick (2/13) denied the Bushrangers a clean run in their chase, running out of overs in their score of 9/120. This weekend B grade will have the bye and C grade face Gapsted in Stanley.
