A collapse in McDonalds Megahit Twenty20 competition inspired RSL-Colts in what may turn out to be a season-defining victory over CYMS on Saturday.
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The Bob Berry Blasters suffered a 106-run defeat at the hands of the Amaroo Hotel Tigers on Friday night, in what skipper Marty Jeffrey labelled a “pretty poor” batting performance.
But they used the defeat to fire them up in their top-of-the-table RSL-Whitney Cup clash, to scintillating affect.
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Some green in the pitch at Victoria Park No 1 Oval had Colts’ bowling attack excited, and when CYMS won the toss and opted to bat there were no complaints.
They quickly had the Cougars at in strife 2-16 after Bede Young (1-24) and Ben Semmler (1-14) made short work of Stuart Naden (8) and Brock Larance (4).
“Brock on his day can do anything, but … we had our own plans for him and I think we executed them really accurately,” Jeffrey said.
Ben Knaggs replaced Larance at the crease and got settled, finding the boundary seemingly at will, before he fell to Tim Howarth on 24.
The Cougars continued to claw in the runs, with Tom Nelson (13), Connor Watts (10) and Gilbert Chaseling (17) all contributing but the pressure was all too much and they were all out for 94.
Howarth (3-15) was the pick of Colts’ bowlers, with Greg Buckley (2-9 ) and Mitch Ashford (2-14) also making an impact.
“Before the game, our bowlers were confident that as a group they could bowl them out,” Jeffrey said. “To have … the bowlers stick to their word and really put in an all-round performance … they just broke the game open for us,” Jeffrey said.
“To roll the side that’s coming first for 90-odd without Tom Atlee, I think teams should look at that and see he’s not the only one who can take the ball for us.”
Jeffrey opened the batting alongside Wes Giddings and the pair combined for 30 before Ben O’Donnell (3-27) got Giddings’ number.
Jeffrey continued with the double bonus point in mind, but when Ashford (3) and Buckley (4) had fallen away after just 11 overs, the skipper was forced to reassess.
“We knew we had to score them in the first 20 but after losing a few my role changed to just … make sure I’m there, not out, at the end,” Jeffrey said.
“A bowler like Strachany [Ben Strachan], he can roll through if he gets half a sniff, so I had to be very disciplined and make sure we didn’t lose too many wickets.”
The skipper held firm with Brad Cox (11) and then Chris Morton (14 not out) to reach 95 runs with six wickets and 16.4 overs still in hand.