South Dubbo captain Mitch Bower hailed his side’s performance on Saturday as one of the best he’s been a part of in recent seasons.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Hornets, boosted by the return of a number of representative players, have a firm hold on second spot after holding of a spirited Macquarie side at No. 2 Oval.
A number of players contributed with the bat after Bower won the toss and there wasn’t one player who passed 50 in the Hornets’ total of 210.
It was an equally strong all-round effort with the ball following that was the Blues fell 22 runs short of victory.
There was no massive standout. Everyone did a job and we just batted well, bowled well and fielded well.
- Mitch Bower
“It’s pleasing to be in the top two when outside of yesterday (Saturday) we haven’t put together a complete performance,” Bower said.
“It was one of the best performances we’ve put in in a couple of seasons. There was no massive standout, everyone did a job and we just batted well, bowled well and fielded well.”
The two best individual performances of the day came from Macquarie players with Rick Medway taking 5/42 after keeping in the first session and then Angus Cusack made 79 not out with the bat in the unsuccessful chase.
But Souths proved it was a team game with Bower (45 not out and 3/28), James Duffy (40), Adam Wells (37) and Henry Railz (34 and 2/37) all chipping in.
“We’ve got the depth,” Bower said.
“Batsmen kept coming and the partnership between ‘Wellsy’ and Duffy in that last session was probably the difference.”
The pair added 55 for the seventh wicket and helped the Hornets pass 200 despite the best efforts of Medway and his spin.
James Hughes (2/43 from nine) was the Blues’ other multiple wicket-taker.
Macquarie was in trouble early in the chase when Medway (0) departed but Ed Haylock (29) and Nic Cosier added 54 for the second wicket.
Cosier battled on after damaging his knee while batting and he eventually fell for (31) and soon after key man Jason Green joined Cusack.
“They got close,” Bower said.
“When ‘Greeny’ came out it could still go either way and he and ‘Cuey’ batted well together but once we got him the tail fell away a bit.”
Three late runouts also hurt Macquarie, who remain in third spot.