On a knife’s edge

ALL results are in play as Beechworth’s A grade will try to hang on in a low-scoring tussle against Ovens Valley United on Saturday. The Tigers need just 55 runs to chase down Beechworth’s first innings total of 98, but they will have to do so with four wickets in the shed. The Wanderers were sent in to bat on a green McNamara Reserve deck at Myrtleford last weekend and immediately found proceedings difficult. The previous week’s centurion Clancy Ellett was first to go for just four before the Tigers claimed the wickets of the Surrey brothers without a run between them. Beechworth would enter all sorts of trouble when Geeth Alwis entered the attack and had Jackson Cull stumped, leaving the Wanderers on 4/20. Alwis would spin a web around the Beechworth middle order removing Jack Ryan and Will Prebble cheaply. It was then down to Matt Ryan and Cam Fendyk who almost single handedly brought Beechworth back into the game in their eighth-wicket partnership. Ryan would top score with 23 while Fendyk went on to make 20, as the lower order fought to the 48th over before they were bowled out. Alwis would finish with 5/24 while Bailey Wyatt (2/15), Gregor Fraser (1/17) and James Neary (2/2 off four overs) were in the wickets. With limited room for error, opening bowlers Tim Cogger and Ryan would tighten the screws on the Ovens Valley top order, taking wickets cheaply with boundaries hard to come by. The league leading run scorer in Alwis would enter the crease, until Kayde Surrey claimed the crucial wicket of the Sri Lankan import, gone for just one. As the Tigers looked to hang on for what they could before stumps, it was Ryan who again made his mark on the game removing the plucky Fraser and Noah White in successive balls in the day’s penultimate over to blow the match wide open. Cooper Thomason (2*) and Kane Fitzpatrick (4*) will restart play from 1pm on Saturday with Ovens Valley 6/44 from 24 overs. In other grades, B grade brought up their third win of the season in Whorouly against the Tigers in comprehensive fashion, winning by 63 runs. Sent in to bat, it was Beechworth’s young brigade who led the way, with big-time knocks from juniors Rama Schultz (62 off 77 balls) Henry Scalzo (40* off 53 balls) and Taylor Thomson (26* of 11 balls) taking the Wanderers to 4/182 off their 36 overs. After a shaky start with the ball, Brandon Fitzpatrick quickly steadied the ship taking three wickets in five balls to have Ovens Valley at 3/46. The Tigers would never recover as Fitzpatrick (3/24), Jacob Howard (3/14) and Schultz (2/12) did the damage to bowl out Ovens Valley for 119. And in C grade, hopes of a perfect season remain in tact after a 52-run win in Stanley against Greta Blue. The runs were shared among the lineup as the Wanderers brought up 188 batting first, with Chris Nuck (34), Jed Enslow (27), Dean Chambeyron (22) and Brendon Thompson (20) top scoring. Despite a crushing 79 off 43 balls by middle order batter Simon O’Brien, which included seven sixes, Greta would have no answers for a well-rounded Beechworth bowling attack to be bowled out for 136. B grade will host Greta at Baarmutha Park while C grade are off to Benalla to face Benalla Blue.

On a knife’s edge

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