Hallora hauls past Parkers in division four
by Samuel Laffy
Hallora (1/81) def. Western Park (78)
In the opening game of the division four schedule, Hallora proved far too strong for an undermanned Western Park at Athlone, with the Kangaroo' new ball attack in phenomenal form.
The challenging mind conditions meant the shiny Kookaburra was hooping around corners and Michael Buzasi (2/11 off 6) and Davis McConnell (3/11 from 8) were nigh on unplayable.
Perhaps unluckily, two of the rarer dismissals occurred for the Warriors, with Raman Gautam's stumps disturbed by a delivery that curled into the stumps after passing his bat, and Rich Kelly finding his bat moved by the cyclonic gusts to also find himself bowled.
Lukas Black (a resolute 11) and Jack Sim (a belligerent 20) lifted the total, but Western Park could only post 78 before being bundled out.
In reply, Daniel McDonald notched his first half-century of the summer and raced to 60* as Hallora reached 1/81 in just the 17th over.
Jindivick (2/140) def. Garfield-Tynong (5/137)
Jindivick, meanwhile, shrugged off some of the lethargy displayed pre-Christmas to snare an eight-wicket win over Garfield-Tynong, with the Jumping Jacks putting on easily their finest display of the summer.
Having restricted the Titans to 5/137 – a total made possible thanks to a lusty 45* from Trevor Bush – Jindivick were ably led by Tim Jeffrey, the all-rounder blasting an unbeaten half-century in just his second appearance of the summer.
Tobias Hart (12 from 36) provided able support in a 45-run opening stand that saw off a testing spell from Ashley Kronert, but after he departed Jeffrey pressed the accelerator.
All up eleven fours and a six flowed from his blade and his 89-ball 81* helped Jindivick seal victory at 2/140 in the 30th over.
Drouin (7/117) def. Ellinbank (115)
In the final encounter of round 13, Ellinbank were left to rue a missed opportunity to leapfrog Western Park into the top four as they slumped to a three-wicket defeat at the hands of Drouin.
A promising start to their innings from Liam Finnegan (30) and handy contributions from Logan Joyce and Jaipal Singh (a pair of 23s) at one stage had the scoreboard reading 4/96 and the Eagles would have been confident of posting a challenging total for opponents.
However, Harvey Mylius (3/12) and Isaiah Glover (3/2 off 3.2) decimated the middle and lower order, triggering a horrific collapse of 6/19 that saw Ellinbank dismissed for just 115.
Singh (2/33) and Lochlan May (3/21) did what they could to restrict scoring and induce mistakes from the Hawks in their pursuit, but Lochie Downie's boundary-laden 39 opening up provided the rest of Drouin's line-up with enough impetus to reach 7/117 in the 26th over.
