A NEAR faultless display with the ball capped off a dominant two weeks for Beechworth’s A grade cricketers, smashing Ovens Valley United (OVUCC) by 141 runs. Starting with a clean slate, the OVUCC openers found runs hard to come by with the new ball partnership of Gareth Taylor and Cam Fendyk dotting the scorecard early as they chased their target of 229, with the first wicket falling at the start of the 11th over. A string of consistent dismissals followed to stifle any chance of a clean run chase for the home side at Myrtleford's McNamara Reserve, bowled out for 87 within 40 overs. Dean Fitzpatrick (3/9) and Richie Worcester (3/19) finished with dream figures off just seven overs apiece while Tim Cogger (2/16) off his seven overs continued his impactful early season form with the ball. Only three Tigers batters reached double figures in Kane Fitzpatrick (25), Tyler Thomason (11) and Gurjot Gosal (10) in the team’s second score of below 100 in as many games. Batting out the remainder of the overs, the Wanderers put on 7/143 in their second innings with opener Clancy Ellett backing up his first innings 50 with a top score of 72. A forecasted 10-30mm of rain and a chance of a thunderstorms looks set to dampen hopes of play tomorrow, as Beechworth head to Benalla Gardens for another two-dayer against the Bushrangers, eager to make amends after being out righted against Yarrawonga-Mulwala. Opening batsman and current highest run scorer Priyank Chohan has been leading the way for Benalla who have lost their past three matches. In other grades last Saturday, Beechworh's B grade were handed a 123 run loss by OVUCC while C grade chased down Yarrawonga-Mulwala’s 129 comfortably thanks to 65 runs from Hunter North.
