Both senior West Wimmera Warriors teams have booked places in the Horsham Cricket Association finals after scoring good wins on Saturday.
On the Coughlan Park turf wicket in Horsham, the A grade Warriors took the opportunity to bat first against the home team and set a formidable target.
Opener Nathan Alexander was the first wicket to fall, but not before he had scored 85 runs off 88 balls and seen the team score to 139. Fellow opener Mitch Dahlenburg contributed 48.
A flurry of wickets mid-innings saw five batsmen return to the pavilion for just 15 runs, but two more significant partnerships in the closing overs took the team total to 198 for the loss of seven wickets.
Other noteworthy contributions included 28 by Luke Smith and 10 not out by Liam Preston.
After the fall of a couple of early wickets, the Saints’ innings didn’t get started until a 31 run fifth-wicket partnership, but this proved to be the only combination that yielded more than eleven runs.
The innings ended in the 29th over 120 runs adrift of their target.
Three wickets each to Austin Smith and Xavier Bone took three wickets each, and the four remaining wickets fell to Austin Merrett, Preston, Henry Smith, and Brad Alexander.
In the penultimate home and away match next Saturday, the Warriors will travel to Minyip to play Ruupanyup-Minyip, the team currently just behind them on the ladder. A win here will ensure a place in the finals before the last round game against the second-placed Homers.
The C grade have confirmed their place in the finals with two rounds remaining after a solid ten-wicket win over Horsham Saints on Davis Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Saints’ captain chose to set a target, but his batsmen struggled to live up to his expectations when they slumped to 5 for 31. Their next partnership doubled this score, but although they batted out their 40 overs, three wickets fell for just 13 runs in the last overs, preventing them from gaining any momentum to post a high score.
Alias Danaha and Dylan Webb took two wickets each, and Bailey Zimmermann, Jack Crowhurst, Lochlyn Hahne, and Shane Gusman all took one each.
Seventy-seven was always going to be a challenge for the Saints to defend. Although they tried eight bowlers in 12 overs, they could not separate the Warriors’ opening combination of Gusman (24 off 37 balls) and Webb (39 off 40 balls), who comfortably saw the team passed the target.
Next week the Warriors will host Laharum at Davis Park in their last game of the home and away season as they have a bye in the final round. This opponent currently sits fourth on the ladder, providing a challenging workout where a win should see the Warriors finish no lower than second.
The Under 16.5 competition’s regular season came to an end on Saturday after round eight, and although the Warriors had the bye, they have finished in third place on the ladder, which will see them take on the undefeated Homers in the semi-finals next Saturday.
The Hindmarsh derby was played in the Under 14s on Friday evening at Davis Park. The Blackheath-Dimboola team kept their chances of making the semi-finals alive with a win over the Warriors.
One more round remains in this competition before the semi-finals and final on the long weekend in March.
Horsham Cricket Association - A Grade - Round 13 - Limited Overs Match
West Wimmera won by 120 runs
West Wimmera Warriors
| N Alexander | | b. S Sounness | 85
| | M Dahlenburg | | b. J Carroll | 48
| | B Alexander | lbw | b. J Carroll | 3
| | A Smith | run out | | 5
| | H Smith | | b. A Laffy | 2
| | L Smith | | b. K Goodwin | 28
| | L Preston | not out | | 10
| | T Braendler | | b. K Goodwin | 7
| | Sundries | | | 10
| | TOTAL | (40 overs) | 7 for 198
|
Horsham Saints Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | J Carroll | 7 | 0 | 27 |
| | S Sounness | 6 | 0 | 33 |
| | K Goodwin | 8 | 0 | 36 |
| | A Laffy | 5 | 0 | 29 |
| | M Currill | 8 | 0 | 31 |
| | H Freak | 2 | 0 | 13 |
| | L Briggs | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| | D Avery | 1 | 0 | 9 |
|
Horsham Saints
| M Currill | ct. H Smith | b. A Smith | 0
| | J Hedt | ct. M Dahlenburg | b. A Smith | 7
| | M Grace | | b. A Smith | 0
| | H Freak | ct. H Smith | b. A Merrett | 9
| | A Laffy | lbw | b. H Smith | 12
| | K Goodwin | not out | | 36
| | J Carroll | ct. N Alexander | b. L Preston | 2
| | L Pike | ct. M Dahlenburg | b. B Alexander | 0
| | L Briggs | lbw | b. X Bone | 2
| | D Avery | ct. & | b. X Bone | 0
| | S Sounness | | b. X Bone | 0
| | Sundries | | | 10
| | TOTAL | (28.4 Overs) | 78
|
West Wimmera Warriors Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | N Alexander | 5 | 2 | 10 | 0
| | A Smith | 5 | 2 | 7 | 3
| | A Merrett | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1
| | T Braendler | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0
| | L Preston | 5 | 2 | 18 | 1
| | H Smith | 5 | 0 | 16 | 1
| | B Alexander | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1
| | X Bone | 1.4 | 0 | 3 | 3
|
Horsham Cricket Association - C Grade - Round 11 - Limited Overs Match
West Wimmera Warriorswon by 10 wickets
Horsham Saints Innings
| D Pike | ct. D Webb | b. J Crowhurst | 6
| | L Kuriakose | Ct. D Bullen | b. B Zimmermann | 2
| | K Dalgleish | | b. A Danaha | 11
| | C Sounness | ct. S gusman | b. L Hahne | 6
| | S Marcroft | | b. A Danaha | 0
| | T Sostheim | ct. W Wheaton | b. D Webb | 12
| | B Chandran | ct. C Cardwell | b. D Webb | 12
| | J Wundke | not out | | 3
| | A Sostheim | | b. S Gusman | 1
| | T McGrath | not out | | 0
| | Sundries | | | 24
| | TOTAL | (40 Overs) | 8 for 77
|
West Wimmera Warriors Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | B Zimmermann | 6 | 0 | 14 | 1
| | A Danaha | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2
| | J Crowhurst | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1
| | L Hahne | 6 | 0 | 15 | 1
| | W Wheaton | 6 | 0 | 20 | 0
| | C Cardwell | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0
| | D Webb | 6 | 1 | 13 | 2
| | S Gusman | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1
|
West Wimmera Warriors First Innings
| S Gusman | not out | | 24
| | D Webb | not out | | 39
| | Sundries | | | 15
| | TOTAL | (12 Overs) | 0 for 78
|
Horsham Saints Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | J Wundke | 3 | 0 | 12 | 0
| | L Kuriakose | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0
| | S McDonald | 2 | 0 | 16 | 0
| | S Marcroft | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0
| | T McGrath | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0
| | C Sounness | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0
| | D Pike | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0
| | K Dalgleish | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0
|
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