Mariners’ hopes all at sea

A poor day at the office has all but scuppered Rockingham-Mandurah’s finals hopes in all four grades of the WACA pennant competition.

Round 13 losses to South Perth in all four grades means the juniors will have to hoist the Mariners’ flag in finals as the under-15s and under-17s secured victories.

John Murphy and Tony Coulson accounted for nearly three quarters of the firsts’ tally of 200 in attempting to get near Souths’ 332.

Coulson made a second straight half century by compiling 68 with seven boundaries during a sixth wicket stand of 137.

Murphy has stood up during the club’s lean post-Christmas trot and achieved his first A-grade half-century scoring 75, which was his sixth score above 30 in his last eight digs.

The second-year player stands to be one of the chances in the Martin Baird Medal, the player’s player award announced on March 8 at Lark Hill, if he can produce in the last two rounds of the season.

The third grade’s gallant season will likely see them miss the top six, but it did not sink without a fight.

Defending 214, the match fluctuated to the home side Mariners, then the visitors, before Rockingham-Mandurah nearly engineered a miracle.

Three wickets in quick succession saw Souths drop from 6-209 to 9-211 before they crawled to the line.

Fourths made only 86 but followed up with 6-114 to avoid outright loss, something second grade could not escape at Richardson Park, making a second innings score of 123 to lose by an innings and 11 runs.

Kyle Gardiner helped his under-17 teammates comfortably knock over South Perth for 109 in a 108 run win.

The spinner’s 4-30 takes his 2013/14 haul to 43 wickets across both juniors and seniors.

Griffin Polglaze left a trail of destruction through South Perth’s under-15s, taking 5-12 to show the way for Rockingham-Mandurah in a character-filled 34 run win.

Adam France backed up his important first week 42 with 2-11 and Wesley Steele chipped in for 2-17.

Next week the juniors will chase results against Perth in the morning before the seniors take over in the afternoon.