After a slim loss last time out, the Bushrangers were desperate to get back to winnings ways.
But the A-grade side will have to be patient as Ovens Valley United rattled through Benalla’s batting line-up and chipped away at their total.
The Tigers won by three wickets.
Benalla won the toss and elected to bat first.
Coach Priyank “Sunny” Chohan looked to be returning to form after a run of low scores with the bat.
Cooper Thomason caught Michale Honman on the pads, and he had to depart with the score at 13 runs.
The partnership of James Carboon and Sunny swung the tide in Benalla’s favour.
Sunny was caught by Kane Fitzpatrick off a Gurjot Gosla ball.
Benalla’s coach had contributed 30 runs to the total at the time.
Carboon was the next Bushranger to meet his match as Connor Forde cleaned up his wickets.
With the score of 3/84, the batters began to drop like flies.
Of the last seven wickets, four were for ducks.
Daniel Brew and Charlie Bull were the only players able to make double-digit scores. Their respective totals were 10 and 26.
Cooper Thomason was left wondering what could have been as he cleaned up the last two batters in consecutive balls, and the innings was over before he could bowl his hat-trick ball.
After 28.5 overs, Benalla was bowled out for 132.
The Bushrangers knew that to defend their total, they would have to be aggressive, and the side started its bowling attack in the right manner.
George Lithgow caught Gurjot Gosal for a duck of a Charlie Bull ball, with the Tigers only having one run on the board.
History repeated itself for the second wicket as Kane Fitzpatrick was dismissed in the exact same manner after he put on a blistering show, facing 15 balls and hitting 20 runs.
Sunny joined in the party when he had Seamus Philips out LBW, and Daniel Brew wasn’t going to be left behind. He cleaned up captain Dylan Bursill’s wickets.
The Bushrangers’ hold-up looked to be going to plan at 4/35, but Cooper Thomason and Connor Forde returned fire.
The pair’s 60-run partnership swung the momentum back in the home side’s favour.
Forde remained at the crease for the rest of the game and saw his side onto a three-wicket victory with 66 runs to his name.
Charlie Bull was the standout bowler for Benalla, picking up four wickets at a cost of 21 runs.
Benalla will face Yarrawonga Mulwala at Stan Hargreaves Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The Bushrangers will be dying to pull off one more ambush in their last game in 2023.
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