THE Wingello Tigers made short work of Moss Vale to record their third win in a row in the BDCU first grade cup at Lackey Park on Saturday.
The Tigers easily chased down Moss Vale’s score of 76 in the 24th over in the six-wicket win and now sit equal third with Tully Park on points heading into the last round of the one-day competition.
Defending a small total Moss Vale needed to take early wickets and bowl tightly but the young team failed to do either.
Tiger Aaron Deegan top scored with 26 and the 17 extras were the next highest scorer. Moss Vale’s Troy Brown (2-13), Scott Mckie (1-19) and Jack Webb (1-14) bowled well but with no runs to play with the bowlers could do little to stop Wingello taking the points.
Moss Vale skipper Dave Edmends won the toss and elected to bat on an “up and down” wicket. The slow outfield made finding the boundary difficult and the home team only managed to get their first four late in the innings through Mckie in the 34th over.
Wingello’s Cameron Pike (1-11) and Andrew Benson (0-9) opened the bowling tightly before James Baldwin (1-9) and Ricky Martin (2-6) cleaned up the tail.
David Short (4-18) and Grant Pike (2-20) ripped through Moss Vale’s middle order as the home team lost 8-21 to slump to 9-65 in the 32nd over before being dismissed in the 35th.
Edmends said the batting let the team down with the extras (19) the highest scorer. He said Moss Vale must bat out its 45 overs if they want to be competitive.
“I was hoping for something around 150, but if you can’t bat out your overs you won’t get runs,” he said.
“We played well against the Workers last week but we went backwards yesterday.
“The top order needs to deliver us more runs. Someone needs to go on with it and get a half century.”
Edmends said it was important to keep up the confidence of the young team, which has three under-16s players, and is looking for a win against Hill Top in the last round.
Tigers skipper Michael Pike said he was surprised Edmends chose to bat on what was a bowler’s wicket and said he would have sent Moss Vale into bat anyway.
Despite a few dropped catches the Tigers fielded really well, Pike said.
“The catches we dropped didn’t cost us which is unusual for us. Usually we pay dearly,” he said.
“David (Short) bowled a good a line and length and moved the ball around.”
Chasing a small target can be dangerous but Pike said the Tigers’ top order showed great patience in getting the runs.
“Custard (Baldwin) took 39 balls to get nine after hitting a ton last and we took our time getting the runs,” Pike said.
After languishing at the bottom of the table for several seasons Pike said the Tigers were not getting carried away with sitting in the top four.
“Three wins doesn’t make a season, we have a long way to go,” he said.
“Once we got that first win we got the confidence we needed. Last year we were very close to a win a lot of the time.
“We found a lot of ways to lose last year, but the first win this year showed the younger guys we can do it.”
Email a friend