Young guns steer OVU to victory

OVENS Valley United's middle-order stood tall to deliver a tight win over Yarrawonga Mulwala in the A grade WDCA match at RC McNamara Reserve on Saturday. The Lakers won the toss and elected to bat at RC McNamara Reserve but quickly slumped to 3/21 after losing the wickets of Matt Knight and Reid Clarke for five apiece, while Kyle Archibald was trapped in front for three by Sam Piazza. Yarrawonga Mulwala young guns Jobe Fraser and Brock McCabe saved their side’s innings with a 78-run stand but that came to an end as Piazza took his third scalp for the day dismissing McCabe for 31. Fraser then teamed up with Angus McMillan who made a handy 15 runs to complement Fraser’s 78 as the away side posted an unlikely 8/163 from their 40 overs. “We started like a house on fire and had them three down for not many (runs),” Ovens Valley United skipper Dylan Bursill said. “But then Brock McCabe and Jobe Fraser came out and they batted really well and fought back which we knew they would do. “The last five to 10 overs they had a few wickets in the shed and started to open up a bit but I thought we restricted them really well in that last part. “Sam Piazza bowled really well up front and at the death and ended up taking four. “In the end we were pretty happy to keep them to 160 on a good pitch.” Ovens Valley United’s batting innings wasn’t too dissimilar to the Lakers, falling to 3-31 after Jake Riley (2), Seamus Phillips (10) and Bursill (2) failed to trouble the scorers too much. Bar Canadian import Gurjot Gosal making a quick-hitting 27 off 23 deliveries, it was the Tigers’ middle order that stood up though as Kane Fitzpatrick (18), Connor Forde (39) and Tyler Thomason (46) all made valuable contributions. Sixteen-year-old Thomason was the stand out cracking four boundaries in a chanceless innings as he took his side to 9/167 to claim victory. “We talked about batting in partnerships before the game,” Bursill said. “Our hard-hitting import Gurjot (Gosal) got us going at the top of the order, he took the pressure off early targeting the straight boundaries. “We lost three or four quickly after Gurjot but Kane and Connor steadied the innings a bit and just ticked the scoreboard over. “We were going at five or six an over when they were batting so we knew we’d make the runs easy enough it was just about not losing too many more wickets. “’Fitzy’ (Fitzpatrick) went out to a really sharp catch at gully and that brought Tyler (Thomason) in who was coming off back-to-back ducks but he ended up batting really well. “Tyler hardly gave any chances besides a couple of muck ups running between the wickets.” It’s a huge win for Ovens Valley United with Bursill admitting it’s been a long time since he’s beaten Yarrawonga Mulwala. “I can’t say I’ve ever beaten Yarrawonga Mulwala in A grade since the club merged,” he said. “Our boys will take huge confidence away from the win, especially because we did it without two of our better bowlers in Mikka Paulsen and Cooper Thomason. “We now move into the two dayers which are always a challenge but I’m looking forward to them.”

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