The C grade of the Horsham Cricket Association resumed after the Christmas-New Year break, with eight of the ten teams still in the running for the finals with five rounds remaining.
The B-grade commenced two-day matches, with the Bulls setting themselves up well against Horsham Saints.
B Grade
Blackheath-Dimboola 8/147 (R Somers 34 not out, S Polack 31, B Cramer 24) v. Horsham Saints
Blackheath-Dimboola were asked to bat first on the turf at the Dimboola Recreation Reserve on Saturday by the Horsham Saints captain, who won the toss, and after batting out their sixty overs have set a target of 147.
The innings highlights included a second-wicket partnership of 58 between Brodie Cramer, who made 24 and Sam Polack, who made 31, and an innings-high contribution of 34 not out by Robert Somers.
Archer Laverty, with 19 and Jordy Laverty, with 12, also contributed significantly to the total.
The game will resume next Saturday when the Bulls will attempt to prevent the Saints from overtaking this score, and while they are outside the top four with only three games remaining (including this one), they will need a good result if they are to feature in the finals.
B-Grade Ladder
| | Points | %
| | Lubeck-Murtoa | 46 | 2.0663
| | Horsham Saints | 39 | 1.4963
| | Colts | 27 | 1.1037
| | Laharum | 27 | 0.9945
| | Rupanyup-Minyip | 24 | 1.5748
| | Blackheath-Dimboola | 24 | 0.8836
| | Bullants | 21 | 1.1613
| | Jung Tigers | 6 | 0.3750
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C Grade
The C grade competition resumed after the Christmas-New Year break, with both local teams needing some good form over the next few rounds to consolidate a place in the top four and play finals.
With five rounds remaining, only two and a half wins are separating the top eight teams, so every game will be important in deciding the teams to contest the finals.
Blackheath-Dimboola 96 (N Schorback 37, S Glover 23, L Hutchinson 15) lost to Natimuk 2/109 (I Schorback 1/13, L Schorback 1/20)
The Bulls went into this round in second place on the ladder, but with an eight-wicket loss to Natimuk, they have slipped to fifth place, but with only percentage between them and fourth place, they are still well in the mix for finals.
Batting first, Blackheath-Dimboola started strongly, with Nathan Schorback once again leading from the front, making the top score of 37 and sharing in an opening partnership of 56 with Steven Glover, who made 23.
The second wicket partnership was also productive, taking the team score to 81 before Luke Hutchinson was dismissed for 15.
Unfortunately, they lost their last eight wickets for just 15 runs and finished with 96 runs from thirty overs.
Natimuk made light work of this total and only lost two wickets in the twenty overs it took them to score the winning runs. Lilly and Isobelle Schorback took one wicket each, with Nathan Schorback taking one catch and Glover making one stumping.
Next week they face a challenge when they host the competition-leading Homers on the Les Howland oval.
West Wimmera Warriors 7/142 (J Crowhurst 40, J Gurry 31, L Wilkinson 22) defeated Laharum 9/125 (X Bone 3/14, J Gurry 2/15, J Crowhurst 2/18)
The Warriors resumed their season with a trip to the foothills of the Grampians to take on Laharum and came away with a comfortable win.
Batting first, the Warriors made a steady start, with Jordan Gurry making 31 at the top of the order and Lachie Wilkinson putting on 22 in the middle of the innings.
Some big hitting in the closing overs by Jack Crowhurst, who made the high innings score of 40, saw the Warriors finish with 142 for the loss of seven wickets from their forty overs.
Three wickets with their team total on just one run had Laharum on the back foot early, but some solid batting mid-innings had them back threatening the target.
Eight bowlers were used, with five of them taking wickets, as the Warriors made their way through the Laharum batting line up and at the end of their forty overs, they finished just 17 runs short.
Xavier Bone was the best of the bowlers with three wickets, Jordan Gurry and Jack Crowhurst took two each, and Ash Dickinson and Dehne Charry took one each.
This result was the Warriors back in the top four in third place, but they will still need more wins if they stay there.
Next Saturday, they will be at home to Natimuk.
C-Grade Ladder
| | Points | %
| | Homers | 42 | 1.5549
| | Quantong | 39 | 2.1801
| | West Wimmera Warriors | 36 | 1.5709
| | Natimuk | 36 | 1.3530
| | Blackheath-Dimboola | 36 | 1.0145
| | Laharum | 33 | 1.0787
| | Lubeck-Murtoa | 30 | 1.1009
| | Horsham Saints | 27 | 0.9733
| | Jung Tigers | 12 | 0.2692
| | Colts | 9 | 0.3447
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A Grade
The West Wimmera Warriors’ A-grade team had a bye on Saturday for the first day of a two-day match, so they will also have a break next weekend.
Regardless of their results in this round, the Warriors will remain on top of the ladder going into round fourteen the following week.- Scores, ladders, and fixture courtesy of the Horsham Cricket Association’s MyCricket website at the time of publication.
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