Sport
29 January, 2024
Morganti’s nine wickets propels Clunes to dominant outright win
PHIL HOOPER INSURANCE A GRADE CLUNES 9/275 def MARYBOROUGH 36 and 57 Clunes had a dominant second day in the field, taking 20 wickets to defeat Maryborough outright by an innings and 182 runs. The Magpies were still burning from being unable to get...
PHIL HOOPER INSURANCE A GRADE CLUNES 9/275 def MARYBOROUGH 36 and 57
Clunes had a dominant second day in the field, taking 20 wickets to defeat Maryborough outright by an innings and 182 runs.
The Magpies were still burning from being unable to get their outright victory against Carisbrook, and made no mistake with a ruthless dismantling of an inexperienced Maryborough batting lineup.
Ash Gunn and Daniel Burnett combined for the first two wickets of the day, although both were vastly different circumstances.
They got the opening wicket of Tom Hart thanks to a regulation catch, before Daniel Leahy was next to go, with Burnett taking a terrific diving catch at cover.
At 2/8, Maryborough needed some resistance, but it wasn’t forthcoming, with Lachlan Morganti and Brett Coon coming on and making a mess of the Owls’ middle order.
First, Morganti got the wicket of Ben Hoban, who nicked a ball to Jude McGuire behind the stumps, before Lachlan Bursill was the next to go as he was bowled by Coon.
Morganti would collect another wicket, with Sam Thomson going out in similar fashion to Hoban, before Troy Bursill was also bowled to give Coon his second wicket.
Clunes weren’t done, with Morganti continuing on a sensational spell, bowling Marc Cassidy for four and collecting the wicket of Jacob Glen not long after to leave the Owls 8/24.
Jasper Trickey was next to go for a duck, with Coon claiming his third wicket, while after some brief resistance from Steven Shovan, Muhammad Shehzad claimed the final wicket to bowl for the Owls out for 36.
Morganti took 4/6 off seven overs, while Coon took 3/6 off six overs.
Clunes sent Maryborough back in to bat to seek an outright victory and it was Jaxon Smyth who gave the Magpies the perfect start, getting the wickets of Hart for one and Leahy for a duck.
Both he and Morganti were ripping through the Maryborough batting lineup, and Morganti had three quick wickets of his own, with Hoban gone for three, Thomson dismissed for a duck and Lachlan gone for two.
At 5/8, things weren’t getting much better for the Owls, with Smyth claiming two more wickets, that of James Scott and Troy, before Morganti had another wicket, that of Jasper Trickey for one, to leave the Owls sitting on 8/9.
Some late hitting from Marc Cassidy prevented Maryborough from a single-digit score in the second innings, while Jacob Glen also provided some resistance before he was Morganti’s fifth wicket of the innings, and ninth of the day, for six.
Cassidy and Shovan combined for 27 runs to surpass their first innings score, but Ash Gunn finished things off by removing Cassidy for 26.
Morganti finished with figures of 5/12 off 11 overs, and figures of 9/18 for the day, while Smyth finished with 4/17 off 12.
