By Trevor Jackson
THE runs flowed at Frew Park on Saturday in Round 3 of the Hoggies Wines Barber Shield cricket season.
Half-centuries were the order of the day, with three recorded as North Sportsman’s claimed the win, but not without a fight.
North won the toss and sent Mil Lel into bat, which began to pay dividends for the home side.
A half-century opening stand saw Craig Lock and William Rowland bang on 63 runs to kick-start the innings in style.
Lock fell to Tom Robertson for 27, but Rowland continued on with Todd Carpenter and another half-century partnership ensued.
Unfortunately Carpenter just fell short of his half-century milestone and the 100-run partnership as well.
He eventually succumbed to Elliott Fisher for a fast 44 off just 45 deliveries, taking the total from 63 to 160.
Rowland was next to depart, clean bowled by Fisher after a sustained scoring effort which returned an impressive 93 runs from 96 balls.
In the middle order Carey Megaw and Darcy Williamson contributed 27 and 17 runs respectively but few others had an impact with the bat.
Mil Lel finished its 40 overs at a defendable 7/228.
Tim Young and Fisher were best with the ball, with two wickets each.
In response North also compiled a half-century opening stand, as Nick McInerney and Brad Robinson put on 53 for the first wicket.
Robinson fell for 13 and the incoming Fisher played a supporting role to McInerney, offering just five runs from 17 deliveries, while the pair pushed the score along by 23 runs.
McInerney was joined by Robertson and the runs continued to flow.
McInerney fell for 51, while Robertson remained unbeaten in the end on 69.
Jake Schutz added 32 off 36 balls, while Declan Kenny smashed 46 runs from 25 deliveries to ensure North reached the target.
Jack Miller was best with the ball with two of the four wickets.
Out at Blue Lake Sports Park South Gambier struggled against a strong West Gambier lineup, with the Roos’ victory built on the back of an opening 101-run knock from Justin DeJong.
Those runs came at a fast rate, off just 109 deliveries, which built the perfect foundation to chase the meagre 132-run total set by the home side.
South was in trouble early as opener Daniel Loupos was clean bowled by Sam Willis for two runs.
Just 12 runs later the incoming Adam Kuhl was sent back to the sidelines for nine and the wickets continued to tumble with regularity.
With a total of 34 on the board, Stepehen Easterbrook was sent on his way for just four, then at 42, both Ryan Kuhl (16) and Michael Sims (0) were out of the picture.
James Dunn and Camron Jorgenson steadied the ship somewhat with a timely 48-run partnership but both were gone soon after and Dunn’s 34, plus Jorgenson’s 35 were the two high scores of the innings.
South was bowled out for just 132 runs in the 38th over, leaving plenty to do to defend the total.
Richard Crute did much of the damage with the ball, with figures of 4/14 off his eight overs.
DeJong and Jack Geddes hit the ground running for West with the bat, setting up the win with a half-century opening stand.
Geddes went for 21, as did the incoming Connor Prior.
When Jake Blackwell fell for 16 the points had already been secured.
Willis went on to contribute 25 and West easily claimed the win on the back of DeJong’s century.
At McCorquindale Park, Penola struggled against East Gambier, as the Bulldogs continued to rack up the wins.
Penola was sent into bat and a long list of failures saw just two players reach double figures.
The in-form Mark Smith compiled another half-century, with 56 to his name but from there it was only Brad Maney at the bottom of the order who found runs with 35.
The home side was bowled out for 107 in the 33rd over after a sustained effort with the ball across the board by the Bulldogs.
Marc Roberts was best with figures of 4/22, although Alex Hentschke proved difficult to get away, with 2/3 off his eight overs, which included five maidens.
While no victory is guaranteed, East reached the target comfortably, albeit with the loss of eight wickets at the end of its 40 overs.
Leigh Von Duve set the score up with handy opening knock of 32 at close to a run-a-ball, while Dion Stratford compiled a nice half-century, with 64 runs from 94 deliveries.
Further down the order Hentschke added a quick-fire 18 off 16 balls, while Travis Younghusband contributed 21.
East finished the day at 8/166.
Josh Doyle was best with the ball, with figures of 3/23.
