Corowa welcomed fourth placed Albury Cricket Club to Ball Park for Saturday's game with the visitors in the hunt for finals and Corowa looking for a strong finish to the season.
Winning the toss Corowa elected to bat first with the humid early conditions proving challenging with Nathan Rhodes joining Arthur Godsal at the top of the order however the new partnership did not last with Godsal unluckily caught down the legside without scoring. With the in-form Matt Grantham unavailable Kade Wilson was promoted with he and Rhodes battling some tight bowling in swinging conditions with Rhodes playing some crisp cover drives in a positive sign before being well caught at mid-off with the score 20.
Jarred Lane joined Spud however the bowlers continued to squeeze with a build-up of dot balls leading to Kade being caught behind leaving Corowa 3 for 20 after 10 overs.
Matt Wilson then joined Lane. With the team in desperate need of a partnership, the pair dug in realising the need to get through to drinks only one run was scored in 5 overs with Wilson taking 17 balls to score his first.
After drinks there was a clear plan to find singles to get the scoreboard moving with some daring running creating gaps for Mattress in particular as he started to expand his game striking some impressive drives from the pace bowlers with Lane capitalizing against the spin at the other end. As the partnership grew so did Matt's range of strokes putting on a ball striking clinic.
Manipulating the field at will and running hard between the wickets, Albury had no answers as Matt’s strike rate quickly rose above a run a ball as he reached his half century with a clear intent on putting on a show on for a new supporter. As the partnership grew past the 100-run mark Corowa was running away with the momentum, with Lane also reaching his half century playing the support act in a 150 run partnership which was finally broken as Jarred holed out for 57 with the score on 169 and 12 overs left to bat.
The promoted Joe Hansen joined Matt and immediately made an impact with some clean ball striking contributing 13 from 14 balls, Jarryd Hatton then continued the late onslaught hitting two monster sixes on his way to 18 from 13 balls. However Mattress was the star of the innings bringing up an incredible century, the construction of his innings a real feature playing the situation early before exploding with 15 boundaries to all sections of the ground to bring up his hundred at better than a run a ball - a testament to the work he puts in and the maturity that has grown in his cricket, a club favourite everyone involved could not be prouder of his efforts as he finished unbeaten on 111 from 108 balls. Patty Lavis, Luke Backhouse and Nick Grant provided late support, pushing the total to 8 for 234 from 50 overs - a figure that seemed unlikely at 3 for 21 from 15 overs.
With runs on the board early wickets were next on the agenda and Arthur provided that removing the dangerous Popko in the first over without scoring and when he backed it up in the next over by clean bowling Stockdale Corowa had maintained its batting momentum. Nick Grant then joined in removing Brown to have Albury in desperate trouble at 3 for 6. Sariman and Spencer tried to resurrect the innings however Nick Grant interrupted, removing the former edging to the gloves of Matt Wilson who was continuing his day out now from behind the stumps.
A partnership of 40 then developed before Luke Backhouse produced some sharp turn and bounce to remove Spencer for 30, a tidy bowling partnership between Athanitis and Backhouse was rewarded with Mark removing Diplock and Dixon in the same over to reduce Albury to 7 for 78 which then became 8 for 92 when Mark grabbed his third.
Tailender Botes then decided to chance his arm hitting some impressive shots making 34 before Jack Eales put his most delicate body parts on the line to hold a sharp catch and give Backhouse his second wicket. With the game all but finished the boys lost their way for a few overs missing a few chances to end the game, however it was only a matter of time and when Backhouse and Mattress combined for a run out a comprehensive victory was complete.
The day belonged to Mattress with a brilliant century and fantastic catching behind the stumps a true all-round performance from the crowd favourite.
B Grade
B Grade have suffered an 8-wicket loss to Albury at Billson Oval.
Winning the toss and batting on what looked a good deck, Beveridge and Keenes opened the innings. It wasn’t long before the first wicket fell, Bevo gone for 5 in the second over, with some relatively tight bowling and some wayward batting, Albury were taking regular wickets, with the boys unable to build partnerships, with only five batsmen making it to double figures. The youngsters at the back end of the innings showed some fight with Tyler Abley once again being not out in his second game on 14 , but unfortunately Corowa were bowled out for 119.
Quick wickets were needed but Phibbs and Fuge couldn’t get the breakthrough, the latter bowling good areas without luck. Joe Lavis and Ethan Lane took up the charge, both bowling well, but the Albury batsmen were quick to pounce on anything remotely loose. Lane taking the first wicket with the score on 58, Another quick wicket to Joe gave some hope, but it was short lived as Albury continued to attack, passing out total only two down.
The young boys once again were brilliant, and without them, there was no game!
C Grade
An unlikely last-wicket partnership nearly drove Corowa C-Grade (Division 1) to victory on Saturday.
Needing 41 runs as the side chased 163, Cody Kuschert and Jack Bolger fell just six runs short of the target to give third-placed Albury an almighty late-game scare.
The loss was Corowa's first in 10 games and was a good warm-up for the finals in what was a tight game of cricket.
Corowa bowled first and were unable to take wickets until deep into the innings.
But the side stayed on its toes in the field and kept Albury's batsmen to just 167 from 40 testing overs.
Spinner Blayre Smith was the standout, taking two wickets and conceding only 27 runs from his eight overs while Liam McDonell (28 runs) and Danny Osborne (31) were similarly economical.
Max Barraclough also showed promise with the white Kookaburra in his first outing for the side
Wickets started to fall after the 20-over drinks break, with Kuschert holding onto a sharp chance off the bowling of Greg Burgess and Matt Shipard's hands safe in the outfield off Smith.
Battting for time was the key in the run chase but wickets fell regularly.
McDonell (17), Luke Kuschert (19) and Osborne (13) looked good, but all holed out to catches.
The key was Burgess who worked the ball around and ran hard but ultimately fell for 34.
That left the job to the younger Kuschert (one six, one four) and Bolger and silence descended over the chatty opposition as the duo cut and pulled their way to within one strike of 163.
But a good caught and bowled ended Bolger's day and Corowa had to find solace from making Albury work for the win.
Under 16s
The Under 16s will need to be at the best if they are to defend 118 this Friday. Batting first Brodie Eyer batted well making 34 but he only had support from Ethan Lane with 11 and Oliver Collins 11* with Corowa bowled out in the 37th over in the clash with Wodonga Raiders at Ball Park.
Under 14s
A hat-trick by Franklin Murray-Wright was the highlight as Corowa bowled out the strong East Albury team for 130. Franklin was the hero taking 4 for 9 off 4.5 overs and with support from Blake Collins with two wickets and single wicket to Levi Phibbs, Toby Hanrahan & Austin Ross-Anderson the side gives themselves a shot as making the runs this Saturday.
Under 12s
The clash between Blue & White went down to the wire with Blue hitting the winning runs with 4 balls to spare. White batted first and with Callan Corcoran and Nathias Price getting the side off to a good start Lachie Douglas (17*) and Jake Witherden (12) were able to lift the scoring in the last few overs and White finished their 20 overs on 3 for 86. Abe Spencer (1/7) and Josh Kremmer (1/12) were the wicket takers for Blue.
In reply, Nate Jones (10) and Abe Spencer (13) got the team going and with help from Harry Norman (21*) and Archie Rhodes (20) Blue looked home but with Charlie Hall taking 3 for 10 and wickets to Lachie Douglas, Callan Corcoran and Jagger Doody it took until the last over for Blue to hit the winning runs in a great game put on by both sides.
The Division 2 side went down to top of the ladder North Albury at Thurgoona. Batting first George Smith led the way with 18 and with support from first gamer Jack Timms (8), Charlie Kay 9) Darcy Upton (8) and Patrick Colman (7) the side was able to reach 77 in their 20 overs.
In reply the strong North Abury batters made 148 off their 20 overs. It was a very good bowling performance to restrict them to that score with George smith taking 2 for 11 while Jack Timms collect a wicket in his first game.
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, Gentech Seeds, Poolwerx, Corowa Furnishings and Floors, McLardy McShane, Australia Grain Technologies, Moloney Real Estate, Beechworth Honey, Dunns Twin City Cranes, Corowa Distilling & Corowa RSL Club.