The Corowa A Grade Cricketers have missed the Cricket Albury Wodonga finals after a promising start to the season.
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Some disappointing results along with key injuries post the Christmas break resulted in Corowa missing out on finals by just 1 point despite a dominant display against Baranduda on the weekend.
Corowa Cricket Club will now look to the minor grades for premiership glory.
A Grade
Corowa A Grade put on a clinical all-round performance to secure a six-wicket win over Baranduda P1 at Ball Park.
After rolling Baranduda for 107 in 35 overs, Corowa’s batters made light work of the chase, reaching 4/110 in just 20.1 overs to wrap up a convincing victory.
Corowa’s bowlers wasted no time making an impact, with Nick Grant striking in the opening over to bowl Luke Spalding for a duck.
Grant continued to ask questions with the ball, later cleaning up Walter Bowles (2) and Peter Cooper (0) to finish with 3/36 from 9 overs. He set the tone early, and from there, Corowa never let up.
Mark Athanitis kept things tight and removed the dangerous Aidan Ryan for 28, a key breakthrough that slowed Baranduda’s momentum.
But it was Luke Backhouse who really ripped through the middle order, finishing with 3/17 off 8 overs.
Backhouse had Sebastian McKenna (30) caught by Ben Mitchell, trapped Nick Bowles lbw for 0, and wrapped things up with the wicket of Mitchell Ryan (29), who had been holding the innings together.
Ben Mitchell (1/20 off 7) chipped in with a tidy spell, knocking over Hunter Ryan (5), while sharp work in the field led to two crucial run-outs—including a direct hit from Joe Lavis to remove Daniel Saville (2) and a great team effort from Shaun Smith and Matthew Wilson to run out Zach Leach (5).
Baranduda never found any rhythm and limped to 107 all out, giving Corowa full control of the match.
Chasing 108 for victory, Corowa had a few early hiccups.
Shaun Smith was bowled by Peter Cooper, and Joe Lavis (10 off 14) hit one to mid-on off Zach Leach, leaving the visitors at 2/16. But that was as good as it got for Baranduda.
Matthew Wilson steadied the ship with an unbeaten 43 off 52 balls, playing the perfect anchor role.
He found a strong partner in Jarred Lane (11 off 24), who hung around to build a crucial stand before falling lbw to Jordan Wells.
At 3/44, Corowa still had work to do, but Kade Wilson (25 off 28) came in and took charge, playing aggressively and finding the boundary five times to put the result beyond doubt.
Wilson was eventually stumped off Walter Bowles with Corowa just six runs shy of victory, but Patrick Lavis (2 off 2) and Matthew Wilson finished things off with ease, getting Corowa to 4/110 in 20.1 overs.
B Grade
B Grade have finished their season with a big 8 wicket victory over Baranduda at Baranduda.
Winning the toss Corowa elected to bowl first and Angus Williams made the perfect start collecting two early wickets to have Baranduda 2 for 11.
Corowa’s young attack bowled well as they restricted Baranduda to 154, with Blake Keenes taking 3 wickets while Jack Eales and Ethan Lane collected two each.
Chasing the score Ethan Lane was on fire making 46 off 54 balls before he was the first to fall with Corowa 1 for 69. Fellow opener Blake Keenes was next to go for 15 with the score at 82.
This was the last wicket to fall as Jack Eales smashed his was to 52 not out which included 6 boundaries and 3 sixes while Brodie Eyers enjoyed his promotion to make 30 not out as Corowa cruised to the total in 33 overs.
C Grade Div 1
The Corowa C1 team travelled to Thurgoona to face North Albury in the first week of finals.
Losing the toss, Corowa were told they’d be bowling first. First breakthrough was by Liam McDonell in the eighth over with the score 1/29 and the next come through Dan Osborne with north Albury at 2/39.
After some lucky placed shots and seven dropped catches, North Albury would be bowled out for 199.
Caleb Kuschert the pick of the bowlers with 3/19 off his 8. With wickets also going to Osborne (2), Burgess (2), Silva (1) and McDonell (1).
McDonell started his innings of on fire hitting the first three balls for 4. Unfortunately, it didn’t last much longer with McDonell getting out the next over with a quick fire 13 off 5 balls, score 1/14. 2 more wickets fell quickly to have Corowa struggling at 3/18.
Silva made a solid 18 before being caught by a screamer of a catch. Caleb Kuschert then come to the crease and put on 42 runs with Burgess, Kuschert making 36 of them in his best innings for the year.
From there the Corowa boys struggled to hold their wickets and would end up being all out for 146.
Burgess top scored with 52, his third 50 plus score in a row!
Cody Kuschert made his highest score for the year with 12.
As Corowa were the highest placed loser of the three teams that lost, they are through to the final next week to play against east Albury. Hopefully they can get the job done and progress through to the grand final.
C Grade Div 2
The C2 team hosted Lavington in the first week of finals at Morris Park.
Corowa lost the toss and were sent into bat with Billy and Lachie Raggett opening proceedings once again for the Corowa team.
After being dismissed for a second ball duck only two weeks earlier against Lavington, Lachie wanted to redeem himself and redeem himself is exactly what he would do.
In one of the best innings you’ll see in any grade of cricket Lachie would put on a clinic, creaming the Lavington attack with some clean and crisp hitting he would bring up his maiden century on his way to 131 from 66 balls including an astonishing 15 x6s and 6 x4s.
Big brother Billy played the perfect role in the early stages by getting his little brother on strike but once Lachlan departed it was then Billy’s turn to torment the Lavington attack on his way to his second century of the season.
Billy would finish his innings in the 39th over on 127 from 117 balls with 7 x 6s and 9 x 4s which would give the Raggett brothers a memorable day opening the batting and both making centuries which is a fantastic achievement and one the whole family will be proud of.
Corowa finished their 40 overs with a mammoth score of 2/360 with Mick Drew once again churning out another unbeaten half century with 73* and Nathan Rhodes 9* being the unbeaten batsmen.
With an unlikely run chase ahead of them the Lavington openers wouldn’t die wondering attacking the Corowa opening bowlers on their way to 51 before the dangerous Booth was well caught on the boundary by Lachie Raggett off the bowling of Eli Lavis in the seventh over.
And when Marc Playford would get the second wicket for Corowa the next over the brave Lavington team would lose all hope of an unlikely victory.
Nathan Rhodes and Doug Lavis bowled brilliantly both collecting three wickets apiece with Rhodes finishing 3/10 off his 8 overs and Lavis 3/11 from his 7 overs and Lloyd Grantham cleaned up the tail with his season best figures of 2/6 helping Corowa get their first finals win with a 268-run victory.
The victory meant Corowa progresses through to the semi-final where they will host Albury Umpires at Morris Park on Saturday, March 8.
Under 16s
Friday night the under 16s were given the task of chasing down 160.
Eli and Joe Lavis opened the batting. The pair worked hard to see off the new ball before Eli was given out lbw.
Jack Torney came in at third order and departed early for 5 after being bowled.
The boys were in trouble early at 2/17.
Levi Phibbs and Joe gritted their teeth and battled on as the score shuffled along. The two made the fielders work hard as they ran terrifically between the wickets. It began to look quite easy for the pair.
At drinks Corowa were 2/85.
Joe began to rip into the bowling as a few boundaries began to flow.
Levi Phibbs departed after drinks for 20 as he and Joe combined for a 96-run partnership. Austin Ross-Anderson and Joe cruised along to chase down the total with 5 overs to spare in what was a great chase.
A close to 10 out 10 batting performance as they look to take momentum into finals next week. Austin Ross-Anderson finished on 16 not out and Joe batted beautifully to finish 89 not out just short of a century.
The 16s take on St Pats at home this Wednesday and Friday night to hopefully push through to the grand final.
Under 14s Div 1
A loss could mean the Roo boys moved from third to fifth on the ladder and miss finals.
Chasing 125 and with a finals spot on the line it was up to Jagger and Abe to get the team started on the chase.
Jagger started the innings well with his first score being a boundary and the boys quickly moved to 13 before Abe spooned a ball back to the bowler to have the team 1/13.
Cal joined Jagger and was a little scratchy early on before finding his range with a cracking boundary.
Jagger and Cal saw the team to the first break before Jagger copped a ball that didn’t bounce and hit his middle stump just before it would have double bounced and been called a no ball.
A very unlucky way to get out and a shame as he was batting really well to make a solid 18. This brought Finley Douglas to the crease with the score on 41.
Cal continued on his way building his innings and his last three scoring shots read 4,4,6 before he half hit one to mid-wicket to have the Roos’ on 3/59 and bringing Archie to the crease.
Whilst Cal was whacking the ball around Finley was seeing a lot of the action from the non-strikers end however he got a ball that turned in a lot from their spinner and had Fin bowled for 2.
That brought Charlie to the crease with Archie before Archie was caught behind slashing at a wide one outside off to have the Roos at 5/63 and looking in a spot of bother.
Charlie was still to trouble the scorers when Jake Witherden replaced Archie in the middle and set about a scoring spree the team have been waiting to witness. He wasn’t there for a long time, but he had a good time to a well-made 20 with Charlie still yet to score.
Dougy was next in and combined well with Charlie early before he chopped one back onto his stumps and the boys were looking even deeper in trouble at 7/92.
Jake Rhodes then made his way out and was looking really solid as Charlie started get more active on the scoreboard.
Jake played a nice cut shot however there was a fielder there who caught the ball and 8/107 with Billy Witherden making his way out into the middle for his first bat in the 14s.
Billy settled well with Charlie although there was an anxious moment on a call mix-up as Billy made his way to the keepers end with Charlie back in his crease, forcing Billy to scamper back to the non-strikers end.
Billy ran 2 but it didn’t count with Charlie having dove back into his crease.
This may have created a sense of urgency in Charlie as he played some cracking shots, included a lofted cover drive that was Marty Douglas’s shot of the day for a boundary, to keep the team inching towards our target of 126.
Another cracking shot and the boys were off for two before two became a call for a third leaving Charlie scampering for the non-strikers end and barely making it home.
Charlie and Billy brought the team home with a cracking 4 through mid-wicket sealing the victory and our spot in the finals.
Under 14s Div 2
Corowa’s cricket team put up a valiant fight in their second day against Kiewa, chasing a target of 181 runs.
Despite falling short by 48 runs, the team's determination and standout performances set the stage for a highly anticipated rematch in the first week of finals.
Jackson Barber opened the innings with Jaxon Collins, providing a steady start. Barber, affectionately known as Jacko, displayed resilience and skill as he saw many partners come and go, yet continued to play his shots.
George Smith arrived at the crease with a determined look, contributing 23 runs before an unfortunate deflection ended his innings.
Will Torney added 9 runs, while a battered and bruised Ollie Bedford fought hard to contribute 4 runs.
The surprise package of the day was Franco Moolman, who took on the bowling attack and made 11 runs.
His exceptional running between the wickets was a highlight of the innings. Nathias Price provided solid support, allowing the retired opener Jackson Barber to return and add to his tally.
Price eventually fell for 7 runs, while Barber remained not out with an impressive 56. Despite Jackson's fantastic innings, Corowa finished 48 runs short of the target.
With the finals approaching, Corowa is set to face Kiewa again. The team is determined to find the edge they need to secure victory and make a strong impact in the finals.
Under 12s Div 1
The Corowa boys finished the season off with a bang on Friday by winning a thriller against St Pat”s Green in Albury.
Patties won the toss and elected to bat but Corowa got away to a flyer with a rocket throw from Ollie Bedford to Jake Rhodes to run an opener out third ball of the innings.
Patties managed to scramble a few runs in the next few overs before the game got flipped on its head when young gun fill in Tex Rhodes entered the attack.
On his third ball he got his first wicket in 12s cricket with Ollie super in the field taking a nice catch.
Next ball Tex struck again rattling the new batsman stumps to be on a hatrick.
Although narrowly missing the hatrick it was only 1 ball later that he was able to get the batsman to sky one straight back to him where he took the catch comfortably and then finished his over with a dot to make it a 3-wicket maiden!
The batting team were now in tatters but managed to keep their heads to get through until Jake Rhodes took a diving catch down leg side off Jack Timms to have St pat’s 5/40 at the break.
Billy Witherden then got himself a wicket with help of Benji Casey’s fantastic catch at cover.
A few overs later the Roos’ other young gun, Archer Hicks, was in the action sending the stumps flying to grab himself a scalp.
To finish off Benji got 2 wickets in his second over with some great bowling and patties finished at 9/92. Tex 3/7 outstanding, Benji 2/5, Billy 1/1 and Jack 1/8 all brilliant.
Into bat the boys mixed the order up and Benji and Ollie opened up and did a great job seeing off the good bowlers. Both went onto retire.
Cousins Bailey and Hugh Hicks controlled the crease for a little before Hugh went out and Bailey retired.
At 1/42 at drinks the boys new they had to lift the run rate and Billy and Jake started well before Billy went in the 15th over then Jack Timms got run out next over unfortunately and Corowa were 3/70.
Basically needing a run, a ball Jake took control with the help of Max Tull to get us into the last over level score.
Just needing 1 run max got run out with 3 balls remaining still needing that run.
In came Archer to the non-strikers end and the instruction was to run no matter what and when Jake hit the ball to square leg they set off.
Archer heading to the danger end had those little legs pumping to get over the line after a keeper fumble and the crowd erupted as the job was complete.
A great innings by Jake showing great leadership to finish 27 not out, Benji 14 and Ollie 10 both not out also played a big part in the win at the top of the order and Billy smashed 14 when the team needed to get going.
Max had some time in the middle to make a few runs which was also good to see.
A great finish to the season, well done boys.
Under 12s Div 2
This week the Div 2 boys were home at Balldale to North Albury in a massive game for both teams season with the winner to make the finals.
North Albury won the toss and sent the Rooss into bat with some very impressive bowling early.
Jack Nixon and Mauritz Moolman navigated the bowling well not losing a wicket in the opening partnership.
Jobe Ollington, Billy Hunter and fill in Tyler Mullavey came in scoring 17, 11 and 19 respectively.
Finishing the innings with a solid 9/130...it was a big job for the boys in the field with arguably the best two batsmen in the league coming to the crease.
These two had an opening partnership of over 50 and the Roos thought they were in trouble.
The boys fought hard and bowled well, with Billy Hunter being the star taking 3 wickets causing 3 run outs and even getting a stumping with the gloves.
Six other bowlers took a wicket each and in an epic finish North Albury fell 10 runs short of the Roos’ total.
A great fighting win.
Thanks to all the parents that get down to support the boys it's great to see a decent crown out at Balldale watching the cricket.
Also, a massive thanks to Wes Amor for doing the hardest job in the world, scoring an under 12s game of cricket!
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, Terry White Chemist, O’Connors, Balldale Hotel, Federation Steel, Collins Transport, BJ Hanrahan Family Trust, Thrifty, Corowa Furnishing and Floors, Wiesners, VK Logic, Wodonga Pneumatics, Back on Track Physiotherapy, Corowa Curtain & Decor, Corowa Meats, TH Kitchens Joinery, KB Wilson Seeds & Corowa RSL Club.
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