Tight contest sees Crusaders victory
Posted by Neville Smeda on March 17, 2009
After a successful first-class away win during the week for the Crusaders, the Crusaders hosted Hales at the T&N Smeda Stadium in a one-day league match. Groundsman Jamie McLaren prepared a dusty wicket, looking to give his spinners an opportunity to dominate.
Michael Prince won the toss and chose to bat first, looking to put the visitors under pressure from the beginning. That they did as Prince and Matt O’Shea put on 137 for the first wicket, at a rate of under 4 an over as the visiting bowlers made good use of the conditions. Prince was out for 58 off an uncharacteristic 105 balls, but he set a platform for the remainder of the batting order to have a go. O’Shea picked up the pace before being bowled by the spinner Maloney for 93, but enter teenager Pete Moller and what an innings he played. He smashed an unbeaten 50 off just 26 deliveries which included 7 fours, ensuring that his team got past the 250 mark, eventually getting them to 254/5. Keeper Rohana Ahad hit two boundaries in the final over to take him to 13*.
The innings of Hales began poorly as Ayres clean-bowled Basson off the first ball of the innings, but skipper Bardsley and Cox put on 51 for the 2nd wicket to create some stability. Spinner Chris Hayward was called into action and he contributed with a fairly quick 3 wickets, causing a bit of a collapse. He ended with 3/40 from his 10, almost securing a victory, but Blott was put to the sword by Nolan and Maloney down the order, inching them to within 30 before they were both dismissed. The tail was not able to get to the boundary, allowing for the home team to win by 13 runs. Man of the match went to O’Shea for his steady 93.
Prince was delighted with the victory, “We always knew that this would be a tough one, especially against their supreme bowling attack which kept Matt and myself quiet for most of the innings. Cheers to Hayward who bowled brilliantly, who I think ultimately won the match for us”.
Chris Hayward took his season wicket tally to 15 from just 7 one-day matches. Add that to his 8 wickets during the recent first-class match, the youngster is showing immense promise and has almost certainly sealed the number one spinner’s spot as his.
The team was: Prince(c), O’Shea, Jeremy, Moller, Lothrop, Simpson, Ahad(wk), Hayward, Blott, Fox, Ayres.
