Sport
7 February, 2025
Battle of the birds to determine who flies high
The battle of the birds between Beaufort and Clunes is expected to go down to the wire when play resumes at Goldfields Reserve.
The bowling performances from both teams was the standout of the first day’s play — Beaufort with their wicket-taking and Clunes with their economical bowling.
The trio of Lachlan Oddie, Joel Pymer and Jayden Scotland did all the damage for the hosts, collecting all 10 wickets to limit the total to 191.
While Oddie and Pymer collected the most wickets with four and three respectively, Scotland also did a remarkable job limiting the run rate with figures of 2/8 from seven overs.
Considering the form of the Crows trio on Saturday, Clunes batted very well to reach their second highest total of the season.
Many players pitched in to ensure they reached their final total, with Jude McGuire, Mark Jenkin, Brenton Jones and Josh Dunn making up 125 of the Magpies’ 191 runs.
The visitors continued that form with the ball, providing a good base to attack when play resumes.
A total of 40 percent of their overs bowled were maidens on Saturday, not allowing Beaufort to pull away from them.
Jenkin deserved the opening breakthrough for his efforts, currently having figures of 1/7 from six overs, but it was a true team effort to limit the Crows to two runs an over.
Beaufort will be pleased to have only lost one wicket from their 20 overs, allowing some of their big bats to recover and refocus unlike in their loss to Carisbrook last round where they were unable to chase 149.
Four of their top five run scorers this season remain in the sheds, with the other member of that group Kriss Ellis, who sits second with 154 runs, currently not out on 14.
Oddie, Tom Alexander and Tom Grant will be motivated to find their groove again after being dismissed relatively cheaply in their last knock, while Joe Kingsbury will look to build off round 10, where he got his highest score of the season.
Beaufort will take confidence in the fact they currently have the Magpies number this season, winning the two one-day encounters between the sides earlier in the season.
The last time these two teams faced off, the Crows were able to chase down a similar total of 181 rather comfortably off the back of Oddie’s 83 not out.
Clunes will look to continue their bowling performance on the first day and take regular wickets to enact some revenge for those previous fixtures.