With only one day of cricket remaining in the West Wimmera Cricket Association regular season, Winiam are building their confidence as they prepare for the final and Jeparit is in a strong position to confirm the other place in the final.
Nhill Tigers 133 (T Polkinghorne 40, J Philip 30, B Clark 5/22) v. Winiam 3/100 ( M Purchase 45, B Cramer 39*)
Winiam had already qualified for the grand final before this game, and will be using this last home and away game to refine their game in preparation for another tilt at the ultimate prize.
On the pristine surface at Nhill's Davis Park second change bowler Brad Clark showed that he is in top form when he ripped through the Nhill Tigers" middle order and finished with 5 for 22 from his 10 overs. Grant Eastwell tidied up the tail with 2 of 7 off 1.3 overs.
The best Nhill Tigers' batsmen were Trevor Polkinghorne with 40 and fellow opener James Philip with 30. Brady Alexander contributed a valuable 25 not out after coming in at number nine which set a challenging target for Winiam.
With 24 overs remining in the day's play, Winiam set about whittling down the target, and finished the day at 3 for 100, with Mick Purchase contributing 45 and Brodie Cramer not out on 39.
Next week Winiam will look to quickly score the remaining 34 runs they need for the win and can then either continue to bat to give their lower order batsmen some time in the middle, or declare and take the opportunity to give their bowlers some more practice.
The Nhill Tigers go into their last day of the season with nothing to lose should go for an unlikely win.
This will be the annual Pink Stumps day, with some pink coloured equipment used and money raised for the McGrath Foundation.
Jeparit 4/174 (M Preston 74*, J Preston 41, V Lothian 23*, L Albrecht 2/29) v. Kiata
Across town at the Nhill College oval, Jeparit have nearly done enough to claim the remaining place in the grand final, by scoring 4 for 174 in their 60 overs. This leaves Kiata with the daunting task of needing to convert this into an outright win next week to deny the Redbacks the chance to play in consecutive grand finals for the first time since the mid 1960's.
Two early wickets gave Kiata some hope that they could run through the batting line up, but a 30 run third wicket partnership between Tim Braendler and Jeremy Preston steadied the innings.
Jeparit's Victor Lothian (above) combined with Michael Preston in an unbeaten 92 run partnership which has set Kiata a daunting target.
This was followed by a 37 union between Preston and his brother Michael, and an undefeated 92 run partnership between Michael and Victor Lothian which built up a challenging total for Kiata to tackle next week.
For Jeparit Michael Preston finished not out on 74 and Jeremy was the next best with 41. Lothian continued his good recent form with 25 not out, whilst Liam Albrecht took 2 for 29 for Kiata.
It will take a huge performance by Kiata next week to engineer the outright win they need to overtake Jeparit for position in the final, whereas Jeparit will have the chance to refine their fielding and bowling game in preparation for the next game.
West Wimmera Cricket Association Awards Presentation Dinner
After the games on Saturday evening, the West Wimmera Cricket Association will be holding their 2016/17 season awards presentation dinner from 6.30 pm at Davis Park in Nhill following by an auction of the Pink Stumps gear and other goods and services donated by local businesses. The proceeds will be going to the McGrath Foundation and it is hoped that the total of $3,200 raised last year can be surpassed.
Scores - Day One - Round 6
Jeparit Batting
| A King | ct. L Albrecht | b. J Lees | 1
| | J Preston | ct. T Seymour | b. L Albrecht | 41
| | T James | ct. J Lees | b. L Albrecht | 4
| | T Braendler | ct. L Albrecht | b. T Alexander | 6
| | M Preston | Not Out | | 74
| | V Lothian | Not Out | | 25
| | Sundries | | | 23
| | TOTAL | | | 4 for 174
|
Kiata Bowling
| | O | - M - | R | - W
| | J Lees | 12 | - 5 - | 30 | - 1
| | T Seymour | 12 | - 1 - | 33 | - 0
| | L Albrecht | 7 | - 2 - | 29 | - 2
| | T Alexander | 12 | - 2 - | 34 | - 1
| | L Preston | 7 | - 3 - | 8 | - 0
| | D Colonbera | 6 | - 1 - | 19 | - 0
|
Nhill Tigers Batting
| T Polkinghorne | ct. J Gurry | b. A Merrett | 40
| | J Philip | Run Out | | 30
| | L Dahlenburg | | b. B Clark | 11
| | S Smith | ct. M Purchase | b. B Clark | 1
| | L Smith | | b. B Clark | 0
| | A Dickinson | ct. D Webb | b. J Gurry | 5
| | D Harris | | b. B Clark | 0
| | S Graham | ct. J Gurry | b. B Clark | 2
| | B Alexander | Not Out | | 25
| | B Zimmermann | ct. B Cramer | b. G Eastwell | 4
| | J Harris | | b. G Eastwell | 7
| | Sundries | | | 8
| | TOTAL | | | 133
|
Winiamt Bowling
| | O | - M - | R | - W
| | A Merrett | 7 | - 1 - | 37 | - 1
| | J Gurry | 5 | - 2 - | 26 | - 1
| | B Cramer | 6 | - 0 - | 27 | - 0
| | B Clark | 10 | - 4 - | 22 | - 5
| | B Purchase | 4 | - 1 - | 13 | - 0
| | G Eastwell | 1.3 | - 0 - | 7 | - 2
|
Winiam Batting
| M Purchase | | b. J Philip | 45
| | D Webb | ct. S Smith | b. L Dahlenburg | 0
| | B Cramer | Not OUt | | 39
| | B Clark | ct. & | b. S Graham | 7
| | A Merrett | Not Out | | 4
| | TOTAL | | | 3 for 100
|
Nhill Tigers Bowling
| | O | - M - | R | - W
| | L Dahlenburg | 8 | - 3 - | 17 | - 1
| | A Dickinson | 4 | - 3 - | 10 | - 0
| | S Smith | 3 | - 1 - | 6 | - 0
| | J Philip | 5 | - 1 - | 18 | - 1
| | B Zimmermann | 2 | - 0 - | 22 | - 0
| | S Graham | 4 | - 0 - | 26 | - 1
|
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