B Grade

With three wins from three to start the season, the Sharks travelled to Scorpion Park to take on Leongatha Town in the first of the seasons two-day fixtures.

With conditions overcast and the turf presenting a nice tinge of green, skipper Kurt Lane finally won a toss and chose to send the home team in.

Tim Niven and Harry Arceo opened and it was evident from the first ball that it was going to be tough work for the batters, the surface providing plenty of movement and some variable bounce.

Tim finally found his range in the fifth over picking up two wickets in the space of three balls with a great catch by Lane and then bowling the Town number three.

Over the next eight overs the Town batsmen couldn’t make headway as Tim and Harry conceded just six runs before Harry struck, his brother Max hanging on to a straight-forward catch to have Town 3/25 off 16 overs, Max delighted to be now allowed back to the family dinner table.

Kurt made a double change bringing himself and Jobe Williams on, the pair continuing to tie up the opposition and at drinks Town were 3/32 off 20 overs.

Following the break, the tight bowling continued as Town looked to steady their innings, but Jobe found the edge and a great catch by the skipper Lane, ably assisted by keeper ‘Tinman’ Finlayson, and it was 4/46.

With the score creeping to 59 off 30 overs, the criminally under bowled Kohen Beaumont was thrown the ball with immediate success, as he picked up a wicket with his second ball, removing Bruce LBW, who had been providing tough resistance.

Kurt got in the act getting one in the next over and the Sharks were on a feeding frenzy when Kohen in his second over picked up two wickets and was on a hat-trick!

Unfortunately, he wasted his chance at glory with a wide ball down leg side, but when Kurt picked up yet another scalp the opposition were dismissed for just 61.

Kohen finished with the unbelievable figures of 3/1/2, Tim Niven an excellent opening spell of 2/10/8 with Kurt snagging 2/12 off his eight overs.

Batting

Lunch was taken, and when we resumed the Sharks had 35 overs to face to finish the day’s play.

Connor Epifano opened the batting with Max Arceo but, as Town had discovered, it was going to be tough work, especially against the new ball.

The Island were in early trouble when Max edged one behind in the first over and when Kohen dragged one back onto his stumps, it was 2/14.

Henry Peppard joined the fray and the pair were looking good as they moved the score to 30, but the Town skipper Ashton found edge of Connor’s bat and he was out for 18.

President Andrew ‘Tinman’ Finlayson was promoted up the order and together the pair began to build a solid partnership, keeping out the good balls and taking advantage of anything loose the bowlers provided, taking the team to drinks with score 3/54 off 20 overs.

The pair passed the opposition shortly after the resumption, and with the skipper keen to get as many ahead as possible by the close of play, Henry played a loose shot trying to lift the tempo and was out for a well-made 22.

Kurt joined Tinman and he quickly plundered 14 and the score was now 5/84 and 11 overs remained.

Tim Niven was up next and after looking good for a few overs, he copped a ball that jagged a long way and kept low, trapping him LBW for a well-made zero off 14 balls in a 26-run partnership that saw the Sharks 6/120 with just five overs remaining in the day.

Angelo was in next, quickly hitting a boundary to get off the mark and the next over unselfishly ran a dangerous single to help get Finno to his 50, much to the delight of the team, the C grade boys having finished joining in as they watched on as well.

Angelo was then roughly adjudged to be out LBW and two balls later Andrew Tolley was inexplicably given out the same way considering how much bat he got on the ball!

Jobe Williams joined Finno to see out the last three overs, but the pair took advantage of the tiring bowlers, picking up thirty runs, including a mammoth six from Finno that almost landed in the new Town change rooms!

Stumps were called with the Island 8/145, The Tinman unbeaten on 63 and Jobe on 12, a lead of 83 and the Sharks eying off a chance at a rare outright victory.