The Nhill Tigers remain undefeated after the end of round four of the 2017/18 season, but they had to work hard to keep their untarnished record.
Kiata went into the second day of the game at 2 for 58, requiring another 74 runs to pass the target of 131 to take the first innings points, and the Tigers needed to take 8 wickets to finish ahead.
Although they lost wickets two wickets in the 60s and another two in the 80s, at 6 for 88 Kiata were still on track, but a stunning performance by Luke Smith cleaned up the Nhill lower order when he took the last three wickets to end the innings 40 runs short of the target and earning a hat trick.
Smith finished the innings with 5 wickets for 6 runs off just over 4 overs.
Nhill then took up the challenge to push for an outright victory when they declared after 28 overs at 7 for 122, setting Kiata a target of 163 runs off 22 overs.
Mitch Dahlenburg made 40 and Ben Pollock 26 to contribute half of the runs in the innings, and Josh Cramer was the best of the Kiata bowlers with 3 for 23.
Kiata accepted the challenge and went for the outright, with the top three batsmen in Simon Mock (37) and Josh Cramer (36) and Liam Albrecht (59) taking the score to 3 for 141, but the loss of five wickets for 9 runs slowed the momentum and they finished just 13 runs short of an unlikely win.
The leading bowler was Ben Pollock with 4 wickets, but with a wicket with his second ball of the innings Luke Smith narrowly missed a double hat trick as he took four wickets in five balls and finished the game with match figures of 6 for 23.
The second game of round four resulted in a win for Jeparit when Winiam was un able to field a team.
Above - Kiata captain Todd Alexander in action at the bowling crease last week.
Round Five Preview
The next round reverts to the one day format and will see the Tigers travel to Jeparit and Winiam will host Kiata, and with harvest getting underway in the district making players unavailable it will be once again difficult to predict the winners.
It is hard to tip against the Tiger given their undefeated record, although if they can get close to their best eleven on the field, the Redbacks are capable of inflicting the first loss for the season on the Tigers.
After their strong performance in their last game, Kiata have earned the right to go into their clash with Winiam as favourites, but the exact make up of each team may be a bigger determinant of the result than recent form.
Jeparit v. Nhill Tigers at Sir Robert Menzies Park, Jeparit
Winiam v. Kiata at Winiam
Round Four Results
Jeparit defeated Winiam by forfeit.
Nhill Tigers 131 and 7 declared for 122 defeated Kiata 91 and 8/150 at Davis Park
Kiata First Innings
Resumed at 2 for 58 - J Cramer 25 not out, J Mock 0 not out
| J Cramer | ct R Dodds | b. A Dickinson | 30
| | J Mock | | b. L Smith | 7
| | J Lees | l.b.w | b. L Dahlenburg | 1
| | D Colembera | | b. M Dahlenburg | 4
| | S Mock | not out | | 8
| | J Harding | | b. L Smith | 0
| | Shanaye Alexander &nbps; | | b. L Smith | 0
| | J Brown | | b. L Smith | 0
| | J Crowhurst | ct B Alexander | b. L Smith | 0
| | Sundries | | | 17
| | TOTAL | | 91
|
Nhill Tigers Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | L Dahlenburg | 12 | 3 | 36 | 1
| | B Pollock | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1
| | A Dickinson | 10 | 3 | 17 | 1
| | R Dodds | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1
| | M Dahlenburg | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1
| | L Smith | 4.1 | 1 | 6 | 5
|
Nhill Tigers Second Innings
| D Garoni | ct J Cramer | b. T Alexander | 16
| | M Dahlenburg | ct & | b. J Cramer | 40
| | B Pollock | ct J Lees | b. S Alexander | 26
| | L Smith | ct S Mock | b. J Cramer | 12
| | R Dodds | ct L Albrecht | b. J Crowhurst | 3
| | B Alexander | ct J Crowhurst | b. J Cramer | 11
| | A Cramer | Run Out | b. J Mock | 1
| | A Dickinson | not out | b. | 2
| | Sundries | | | 10
| | TOTAL | | 7 (dec) for 122
|
Kiata Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | T Alexander | 5 | 0 | 20 | 1
| | L Albrecht | 6 | 2 | 14 | 0
| | J Lees | 3 | 0 | 13 | 0
| | J Brown | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0
| | D Colembera | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0
| | J Harding | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0
| | Shanaye Alexander | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1
| | J Cramer | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3
| | J Crowhurst | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1
|
Kiata Second Innings
| S Mock | ct B Alexander | b. B Pollock | 37
| | J Cramer | ct A Cramer | b. L Smith | 36
| | L Albrecht | ct A Cramer | b. B Pollock | 59
| | J Lees | ct A Cramer | b. A Dickinson | 2
| | J Harding | Run Out | | 4
| | D Colembera | Run Out | b. A Dickinson | 1
| | J Mock | ct A Cramer | b. B Pollock | 2
| | J Brown | | b. B Pollock | 0
| | Shanaye Alexander &nbps; | not out | b. | 1
| | Sundries | | | 7
| | TOTAL | | 8 for 150
|
Nhill Tigers Bowling
| | O | M | R | W
| | L Dahlenburg | 3 | 0 | 21 | 0
| | A Dickinson | 8 | 1 | 55 | 1
| | L Smith | 3 | 0 | 17 | 1
| | B Pollock | 8 | 0 | 57 | 4
|
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