SOUTH Dubbo hadn’t won a match since the opening round of the 2016/17 season but the Hornets sprung back to life on Saturday with a tense win over Macquarie at Lady Cutler 2.
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In the second meeting of the season between last year’s grand finalists, Souths had to withstand a late flurry by the Blues to win by just five runs.
Batting first Souths were in early trouble at 3/43 but a 41-run stand by Henry Railz (45) and Mat Finlay (54) steadied the ship.
When Railz departed it was Finlay and Greg Rummans (35) who kept the scoreboard ticking over with a 74-run partnership.
Late wickets restricted Souths to just 9/205 from their 40 overs, with the “retired from bowling” Jason Green stepping in to fill the void left by the injured Jeremy Dickson and claiming 3/20 from five overs. He was backed up by two-wicket hauls from Ben Taylor and Joe Haylock.
Macquarie started their innings in the opposite fashion to Souths, with Ricky Medway and Green combining for an opening stand of 41 from just eight overs before Green fell for 14.
Medway then combined with Nic Cosier to take the score along to 89 but when the latter fell for 29 it triggered a stage of the game where wickets would fall at regular intervals.
At one stage the Blues lost 4/3 to be 7/135, and when Ben Taylor (11) became Mitch Bower’s fourth victim things were grim.
But some late hitting by Hamish Smith and Joe Haylock got the Blues within striking distance, and off the last ball they needed a six to tie the match.
A no-ball changed the equation to be a six to win the match, but it would eventually be a dot and Souths hung on.
Bower was the pick of his side’s bowlers with 4/42 and said the win came at the right time for his team.
“We’ve lost a few close games so far this season so it was good to win one,” he said.
“I thought we probably left a few runs out there when we batted, we should have made more, but I still thought we had enough.
“We did a good job of putting pressure on them, particularly through the middle stages when they were losing wickets and not scoring many runs.
“Joey Haylock batted really well at the end, and he put the wind up me a bit late because he was getting them pretty close to the total.
“In hindsight I probably bowled myself an over longer than I should have, but it worked out alright.
“We have Colts next week so it would be good to go into the break with a couple of wins under our belt.”