Colts crumble, Magpies outplayed in T20 blasts

It was a weekend to forget for some of Wangaratta’s A grade T20 sides, with two crushing losses in round two of competition. At the Benalla Gardens Oval, City Colts managed just 96 runs in 20 overs, a total chased down by the Bushrangers in 16 overs with eight wickets in hand. Winning the toss and batting, City Colts found it hard to penetrate the field, a situation which wasn’t improved when opener Mitch Giggins was run out for one after facing 16 balls. Aaron Thrum (17 from 24) and Alasdair Brett (39 from 34) offered some resistance, but couldn’t stick around, while the middle order capitulated, slumping to 4/35 from 11 overs. The pressure kept mounting, and despite inbeaten knocks from Will Petersen (13* from 12) and Ben Feldtmann (5* from two), the Colts were kept to a subpar score of 6/69. The Colts needed to grab quick wickets and while they dismissed the dangerous Lucas Ham and Vishal Sharma at one end, at the other, it was raining runs. Benalla’s batting talisman Brayden Stepien was let off the chain, hammering 10 fours and a six on his way to an undefeated 66* from just 55 balls, carrying his bat to secure the win. James Carboon, bumped down the order to four, saw the chase home with 18* from 23. A total of seven bowlers rolled the arm over, trying to stem the flow of runs, but they all copped a bit of stick. The best bowler was the experienced Kent Braden, who finished with 1/10 rom his three overs, and while Harvey Moore picked up a wicket, he was expensive, going for 24 runs from his eight overs. Over at Yarrawonga’s Stan Hargreaves Oval, the Magpies came couldn’t put enough on the board to deny the Lakers the win in a thriller The Magpies were kept to 3/141 from their 20 overs, with Yarrawonga Mulwala chasing the total with seven wickets in hand and three balls to spare. Batting first, a massive innings from Cooper Matheson at the top of the order had the Magpies off to a flyer, the opener crunching a pair of sixes and six fours on his way to 57 off 46. Tyler Nanson struck a run-a-ball 17, while James Thewlis departed for 25 off 27, and the Lakers were squeezing. Jarryd Wallace (7* from five) and David Killen (28* from 25) would close out the innings, with the Lakers needing a tick over seven an over for victory. The dangerous Devlin Web was removed cheaply by Nanson, but it was his opening partner in Fraser Smart who was scoring freely, the first wicket falling for 47 runs. Smart would post 36 before he was removed, following Zac Fraser back to pavilion after Nanson picked up his second. The Magpies were in control, with Yarrawonga Mulwala were sitting at 3/56 in the 10th, but an 85-run stand between Brock McCabe (38* off 29) and Ben Welsh (43* off 33) would ruin the Magpies’ day in the final over. After conceding 11 runs from the 19th, the Lakers needed just six runs from the final over, with McCabe’s boundary off the second delivery doing the bulk of the work. The Lakers sit undefeated on top of the T20 charts with two rounds left, while Magpies sit in third overall.

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