The West Wimmera Cricket Association grand final is evenly poised after play on the first day, with the Nhill Tigers batting first and putting 166 runs of the board which they now need to defend when Jeparit attempts to overhaul it at Davis Park tomorrow.
The Tigers' captain chose to bat first when he won the toss and with 21 runs on the board after only five overs when the first wicket fell.
A second wicket partnership of 39 between Luke Smith (30) and Mitch Dahlenburg (16) took the total to 60 which set a firm foundation for the innings, but the loss of four wickets over the next ten overs kept the game in the balance.
It was at this point that Ritchie Dodds picked up the pace of the scoring and despite wickets regularly falling at the other end, he took his personal score past 50 and the team score well above 100.
When Dodds was the last batsman dismissed, to the third run out of the innings, he had contributed 77 to the Tigers' total of 166.
Trevor Polkinhorne (13) and Daniel Garoni (11) were the other batsmen to contribute more than 10 runs.
Jeparit maintained the pressure throughout the innings with some enthusiastic fielding and tight bowling. The standout with the ball was Justin Knorpp who finished with 5 wickets for 41 runs, and single wickets were taken by Jeremy Preston and Michael Preston.
Association leading wicket taker Jack Crowhurst did not add to his season tally, but only conceded 23 runs from his 14 overs which included a period of six consecutive maidens. All other bowlers conceded less than three runs per over.
The stage is now set for an entertaining final afternoon of cricket for the season with Jeparit boasting the batsmen capable of making these runs, and the Nhill Tigers line up features the bowlers who can take 10 wickets for less runs.
2017/18 Grand Final - Stumps on Day One
Nhill Tigers First Innings
| L Smith | ct S Leach | b. J Knorpp | 30
| | D Garoni | | b. J Preston | 11
| | M Dahlenburg | run out | | 16
| | A Cramer | ct M Preston | b. J Knorpp | 2
| | R Dodds | run out | | 77
| | T Polkinghorne | run out | | 13
| | L Dahlenburg | ct A King | b. M Preston | 6
| | B Pollock | ct A King | b. J Knorpp | 0
| | S Smith | | b. J Knorpp | 0
| | S Kessler | | b. J Knorpp | 1
| | S Gusman | not out | | 1
| | Sundries | | | 9
| | TOTAL | | 166
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Jeparit Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | G Grinter | 5 | 0 | 11 | 0
| | J Preston | 12 | 5 | 25 | 1
| | B Keller | 9 | 4 | 16 | 0
| | J Crowhurst | 14 | 7 | 23 | 0
| | A King | 5 | 2 | 11 | 0
| | T Inkster | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0
| | J Knorpp | 13.4 | 2 | 41 | 5
| | M Preston | 10 | 1 | 32 | 1
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