Three telling half-centuries and a late partnership enabled Corowa to overcome Tallangatta’s imposing 230 with just seven balls to spare last Saturday at Ball Park.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Like he’s done seven times already this year Corowa captain Jarryd Hatton lost the toss and Tallangatta captain Matt Armstrong had no hesitation deciding to bat.
Tallangatta’s openers started well, with Phil Neville playing some beautiful positive strokes early to put Corowa’s opening bowlers under immediate pressure.
Although Neville had started strongly, the always dangerous Shoaib Shaikh was being strangled with some very accurate new ball bowling and a very clever inside field from skipper Jarryd Hatton. That field paid dividends soon after with Shaikh trying to go too square to a full delivery and being trapped LBW for 6, dismissed by Nick Grant (1/37).
English overseas batsman John Oswell walked to the middle batting number 3 for Tallangatta and it didn’t take long to see why he is one of the form batsmen of the competition. Oswell batted with brilliant intent and hit the ball extremely hard. The introduction of spin brought the immediate downfall of Neville on 31, out bowled to Ben Mitchell (3/33).
This didn’t slow down Oswell who continued to tick the scoreboard over in excess of five an over and when Tallangatta reached 2/140 off 25 overs, captain Jarryd Hatton was wondering where Dan Christian was.
Oswell passed 50 and his positive intent allowed their other English import Callum Brown to settle into a supportive role at the other end.
Man of the month Mark Athanitis (1/35) who went for more runs off his first 2 balls of Saturday’s spell than his entire 10 overs a couple of weeks ago against Lavington, was under real pressure, being hit for a couple of huge sixes. To his credit and showing all of the skill we have seen in recent weeks, Athanitis deceived Oswell who finally mid-hit a ball and was taken extremely well at deep mid off by Kade Wilson.
The wicket of Oswell proved crucial as Corowa were able to wrestle back momentum, with all of the bowlers doing a great job late in the innings to restrict Tallangatta to 9/230 off their 50, which although is a great score it did look like being closer to 300 at one stage. Paddy Lavis (2/27) and Kade Wilson (1/26) were instrumental in the Corowa fightback.
After a beautiful afternoon tea spread, Corowa openers Kade Wilson and Patrick Lavis walked to the middle knowing that if Corowa were going to get the runs it would be a record white ball chase for the club in the modern era.
Ten balls into the innings with the score still on 0, Kade Wilson got one that just jagged back enough to get an inside edge and when Englishman John Oswell took a nice catch to his left Corowa were 1/0.
Fresh off 79 last week, Ben Mitchell strode to crease at number 3 for Corowa. Six minutes later Mitchell’s brief stay in the middle would come to an abrupt end, caught at mid off playing what he described as the worst shot of the day, we couldn’t disagree.
Just as Tallangatta finished celebrating having the hosts on the ropes at 2/4, they were greeted by Jarred Lane. For anyone that doesn’t know, Lane quite enjoys batting against Tallangatta and Saturday was no exception. He and Lavis weathered the storm perfectly, watching off some quality bowling but also being positive when needed.
Their 100 run partnership, which featured a coming of age innings from young gun Patrick Lavis who showed everyone at Ball Park his talent, playing all around the ground and in the process bringing up a maiden A grade 50.
Lane went about his business in classic Jarrod Lane fashion and in total control of his own game brought up a half century of his own, a sight Tallangatta are all too familiar with.
While this was going on out in the middle Corowa captain Jarryd Hatton was in the dressing room letting his teammates know he was promoting himself to number 5 from number 9.
With the score at 2/115 Patrick Lavis was dismissed for an excellent 65, bowled by Lachlan Paton. This brought Hatton to the crease, who has shown this year how good he can be with the bat.
The plan to elevate himself in the order turned out to be an absolute master stroke with the captain playing a “captain’s knock” and really taking responsibility for the run chase after Lane was dismissed for an excellent half century.
Supported well by Matt Wilson (17), Hatton showed controlled aggression, clearing the boundary with strong attacking shots and showing intent with his running between the wickets on his way to 56 off only 45 balls.
Like all great run chases Corowa hit a speed bump and lost a couple of quick wickets to give Tallangatta a fighting chance and when Hatton departed at 8/206 it was game on.
With the game on the line and Corowa needing 26 off 30 balls, number 10 batsman Nick Grant joined club coach Jack Thomas out in the middle. The pressure was being felt by both sides with the 6 competition points at stake.
Grant and Thomas were able to take 10 off Thomas Gibbs’ final over with some nice running between the wickets and a little bit of luck, this left the equation at 10 runs to win off 12 balls with two wickets in hand.
Tallangatta captain Armstrong turned to medium pacer Fraser Bremner to bowl the 49th over, Bremner, who hadn’t bowled yet in the innings, was given an even harder task with Tallangatta being told by the officiating umpires that they would only be allowed two fielders outside of the 30 yard circle due to running out of time to bowl their 50 overs. This didn’t deter Bremner who started the over to Grant with two dot balls.
Ten off 10 required, with everyone on the edge of their seats and Nick Grant on strike, Tallangatta’s chances were increasing with every delivery bowled. Grant was then able to get Bremner away past mid off for 2 runs, leaving the chase at 8 off 9 deliveries.
With the match in the balance Nick Grant played the shot of his life to dispatch Bremner for 4, one bounce into the mid-wicket boundary to give Corowa that little bit of breathing space and making the equation 4 off 8 with 2 wickets in hand.
After a discussion between bowler and captain, Armstrong moved his deep fine leg to deep mid-wicket to protect the area of the area of the ground that saw Grant hit the previous delivery.
Grant, who was a man oozing confidence with the bat in hand, identified this and with one small movement across to the offside dispatched the next ball for 4 exactly where that fielder had come from at fine leg to secure a famous victory for Corowa. Grant finished with 19 not out and Thomas 6 not out guiding Corowa to victory in a brilliant game of cricket that both sides can hold their heads high for being apart of.
The win leaves Corowa in outright second on the Provincial ladder 3 points behind Belvoir.
With two matches remaining before the Christmas break the boys will travel to New City this week and will finish off 2023 at Ball Park against competition newcomers Baranduda. We hope to see everyone at Ball Park on the 16th of December to cheer on the boys.
B Grade
A very young B Grade side had a brilliant win against Tallangatta at Tallangatta. Losing the toss the side was asked to bat first with Ethan Lane and Blake Keenes opening up. The two got the team off to a great start adding 55 for the first wicket before Lane went for 18. Keenes looked good making 40, while Angus Massey (28), Luke Heagney (14), Joe Lavis (17) and Lachlan Raggett (19) all made starts as Corowa reached 6 for 170 with a few overs to go. Jack Eales with a quick fire 40 not out of 34 balls enable Corowa to finish their 45 overs at 6 for 203.
In reply Tallangatta got off to a flyer reaching 71 before Tyler Abley got the breakthrough in the 12th over. It was a different game from then on as Abley bowled a brilliant spell to take 3 for 12 off 9 overs and with good support from Jacob Fuge with 1 for 31 off 9 overs the game was back even with Tallangatta 4 for 126. Massey and Heagney then ran through the lower order with Massey (1/12) and Heagney (4/19) skittling Tallangatta for 139. A great win for such a young team.
C Grade
Had the bye.
Under 16s
On Friday night the 16s had another win, against Belvoir/Tallangatta. Batting first Brodie got the boys off to a good start.
Leroy Chester departed for 17. Brodie fell just short of a half century making 48. Joe Lavis made a quick fire 50 belting the attack everywhere. Benji Hanrahan and Jayden Forge finished off the innings. Jayden finished on 24 not out and Benji finished 21 not out. The boys set a total of 184 after 20 overs. Some big sixes were hit as the boys cashed in.
The bowling load was shared. Austin Ross-Anderson, Archie Bedford and Brodie Eyers all picked up wickets. Belvoir Tallangatta finished on 4/94 after their 20 overs.
The 16s have a bye for the next two weeks then move into the Christmas break. They don’t play till February next year. They go into the new year sitting third on the ladder.
Under 14s Div 1
Corowa Div 1 U14s travelled to play Baranduda. Baranduda won toss and decided to bat. Some excellent fielding from Will Forrest created the first wicket with a brilliant run-out. Will Massey was rewarded for some excellent bowling with next wicket to have Baranduda 2/3. Baranduda got back onto top with some good batting to get to 2/103 before Eli Lavis and Riley Barber ran riot claiming 5 wickets between them in the final three overs. Baranduda finished with 7/104 off their 20 overs.
After a good batting display from Corowa it was enough for the boys to get the chocolates finishing at 4/107 off 20 overs. Riley and Austin continued their excellent form making 30no and 27 respectively. Aiden Wintle iced the game with hard-hitting 6no off 3 balls to get us the win in the final over. A special mention goes to Harry Norman for almost taking out square leg with his bat on the final ball of the day, but then was dismissed run-out after going to get his bat rather getting back into his crease.
Under 14s Div 2
Day 2. Chasing 184 with perfect batting conditions Callan was out to a late in swinging ball to be bowled for a duck. That brought Archie Rhodes to the crease for a quick-fire 24 and a 59 run partnership with Lachie before Archie was bowled.
Lachie didn’t survive much longer and after making 30 runs we were 3/60 after 10 overs with Charlie and Jake Witherden at the crease. The boys made 10 runs before Jake was back in the sheds for 3 bringing Nate Kuschert to the crease. Looking for runs, Nate went first ball. Abe Spencer came out to face the hat trick ball and confidently played it along the ground however we were now 5/70 and looking shaky.
Charlie and Abe steadied the innings and were getting on top of the bowling to have us 5/118 after 26 overs and in a good position to attack the remaining 67 runs required.
Unfortunately, Abe got a great ball and was out for 12 with his stumps knocked over. Enter Jagger Doody who set about making his presence known with a cracking boundary before he too was bowled. Aiden Ractliffe didn’t last long and we were 9/128 with the game looking over.
This brought young Finley Douglas to the crease who was filling in for us; eight overs left and 54 runs required. Charlie and Fin combined well with Charlie taking the lead in the partnership and cracking some nice square leg boundaries to keep the total ticking over.
Two overs left and the boys on 160 it was a big ask. They brought their best bowler back into the attack with Fin falling in the middle of the over for 6 runs, ending our run chase.
Under 12s Blue
Some tight bowling from Howlong meant that Corowa Blue just didn’t make enough runs Friday night. Only three batsmen made it into double figures with Jacko Barber and Jagger retiring on 16 each and Leo making 10. The score of 69 off 20 overs always looked a little light on.
The bowlers knew that they had to keep things really tight and started off bowling really tight lines and lengths. One of the Howlong openers dug in and made 30 retired and the rest chipped away to be 60 at drinks. The bowlers stuck to their task. It took the opposition five and a half overs to make the last 10 runs and they ended up 6 for 90 after the 20 overs.
The ladder is starting to get tight and Corowa have plenty to work on to hopefully stay in the finals race. Training will be focusing on a more attacking batting strategy leading into the Xmas break.
Under 12s White
This week White travelled to Xavier High School to play St Pats White.
Captain for the day Ollie Bedford won the toss and elected to bat. Archie Rhodes and Kasey Rhodes opened up the innings and both were on fire early taking to the opposition bowlers making boundaries look easy with quite a few clearing the rope.
Archie finished with 44 not out and Kasey 19 not out in his first crack at opening bat. Some patient batting through the middle order kept the score ticking over nicely with all batsmen contributing.
Albie Wood and Ollie Bedford 5 each worked well together and some pinch hitting from Fin Douglas 12 off 9 and Jaxon Collins 6 off 7 finished it off well getting the team to 6/114.
Taking to the field the bowling was very tidy from the get-go. Although no wickets were falling the runs weren’t coming either.
Finally, a breakthrough in the 9th over for Jaxon Collins, with great bowling continuing with numerous balls missing the pegs by a whisker.
Eventually White were able to capitalise when the batsmen, needing to pick the run rate up, resulted in a magic run out by George and Cal, and wickets to George, Fin, Cal and Archie sealed the game for Corowa. Next week, East Albury at home.
The club would like to acknowledge our sponsors for this season, A & A Auto, Davidson White Accountants, John Rhodes Bricklaying, Waldrons Fresh on River, Kilara Group, Rivalea, Pharmasave Corowa, O’Connors, Balldale Hotel, Federation Steel, Collins Transport, BJ Hanrahan Family Trust, Moloney Real Estate, Corowa Furnishing and Floors & Corowa RSL Club.
news