Sport
16 February, 2023
Crows look to keep finals chances alive against Owls
Tomorrow’s first day of play will be a significant one for Beaufort, when they celebrate their final home game of the season with Pink Stumps Day. However, Maryborough are determined to ruin the party. With this being the last game for the Owls...
Tomorrow’s first day of play will be a significant one for Beaufort, when they celebrate their final home game of the season with Pink Stumps Day. However, Maryborough are determined to ruin the party.
With this being the last game for the Owls before finals, they will be determined to win outright to give themselves the best possible chance to finish top two, even with the final round bye.
But the Crows have some impetus to cause an upset result ahead of their final game of the home and away season themselves — win and they’ll be in pole position for fourth place ahead of a meeting with Clunes in a fortnight.
Maryborough’s win over Colts Phelans last week helped open up the race for a spot in the top two.
A brilliant batting performance from Sam Bartlett, who made 71, helped guide the Owls to 6/172 off their 40 overs, and was well-supported by Todd Doran, who finished with 28.
It was the Owls’ bowling performance, however, that was eye-catching.
They were led strongly by Martin Dell, who was as miserly as ever with the ball, conceding just six runs from six overs. While he only took one wicket, his pressure opened up opportunities for others, which saw Liam Maffescioni and Lachlan Morganti take advantage, taking five wickets between them.
Doran added to his good game with the bat with four dismissals behind the stumps, keeping byes to an absolute minimum.
During their bye fortnight, Beaufort took the opportunity to give their A grade batsmen significant batting time at the crease in A reserve. While they were unable to do so against Clunes two weeks ago due to inclement weather, they certainly did not miss their opportunity against MKM.
Both Nick Stabbins and Lachlan Oddie made over 60 as they were able to score 6/242 in the Crows’ first A reserve win of the season.
Both meetings this season have gone the Owls way, and have also been low-scoring encounters.
In October, the Owls were able to take an eight wicket win at Jubilee Oval, with Harry Lumsden leading the way with 2/11 off four overs, while Blake Jantzen top-scored with 31.
In response, Mitch McClure and Bartlett were able to score at a brisk rate to give the Owls a comfortable victory, scoring 32 and 29 apiece.
Two months later, the Owls had another straightforward victory, scoring a seven-wicket victory over the Crows after chasing down a target of 87 within 20 overs.
The Owls were able to restrict the Crows to just 86 runs in 32.4 overs, with Zac McLeod doing the damage with 4/14 in five overs, while Oddie top-scored with 35.
In response, Dell, McClure and Harry Lumsden were able to guide the Owls to their target, all scoring over 20 runs as they made 3/92 in 20 overs.