Mariners blow chance to close gap

Rockingham-Mandurah let slip an opportunity to get closer to the top six after falling by 36 runs to Midland-Guildford.

Despite some fine individual performances in round 11, the Mariners sides were only able to take home one victory last Saturday.

Midland-Guildford batted first and posted a challenging total of 7-253 with an even spread of batting through the 50 overs of the first-grade clash.

Craig Simmons returned for his first match since round 4 after a finger injury and had immediate impact at Lilac Hill with bat and ball.

The Mariners skipper took 4-53 and Dane Ugle wheeled away economically for his 10-over return of 1-33. The Mariners built from 2-26 with Vinnie Poller (41) and Ugle (36) combining for a third-wicket stand of 68. Rockingham-Mandurah slumped to 6-109 but Simmons and Aaron Burrage fought back.

The veteran left-hander smoked 52 from a mere 32 deliveries with four fours and three sixes in a 71-run seventh-wicket partnership.

Burrage made 25 but the tail couldn’t make up enough of the shortfall and were dismissed for 217 in 44.2 overs.

Second-grade were far too good for Midland-Guildford at Lark Hill, putting in a complete performance to claim a seven-wicket victory.

The Swans were kept under wraps throughout their batting innings of 165 as Ryan Done and Ronan Hogarth took three wicket bounties. Hogarth’s 3-53 was a large part of reducing the visitors to 6-60 as spinner Done claimed 3-33.

Matthew Edwards started the Rockingham-Mandurah reply on the right foot with a run-a-ball 31.

Adam France and Nathan Hutchison made sure there would be no stutters from 3-47 with a stylish unbroken partnership of 122 to complete the win in the 34th over.

France slammed 65 not out with three fours and two sixes and Hutchison knocked up 50 not out with four boundaries and two sixes, with both men facing 75 balls.

Joel Marion starred with the bat in a high-scoring third-grade loss at Lilac Hill.

The injured first-grade speedster smashed 109 not out in Rockingham-Mandurah’s response of 8-274 to Midland-Guildford’s 5-317.

The left-hander’s innings came off just 89 deliveries and included 13 fours and three sixes. Support came from Jye Clark (48), Jordan Brokate (41 off 42) and Barend Grove (35 off 40) in the highly entertaining match.

Chris Sherwin played a lone hand in the fourth-grade loss at Lark Hill. He made a swashbuckling 65 off 41 deliveries, striking four boundaries and five sixes.

His contribution made up nearly half of the team’s total of 133 which was chased down by Midland-Guildford in the 29th over for the loss of two wickets.

Anthony Brokate tried hard in his nine overs, four of which were maidens, taking 1-15.

The B-grade women were outplayed by Subiaco-Floreat at Alderbury Reserve.

The Lions made 7-236 and the visitors responded with 7-112 as Sonia Yadav persevered for Rockingham-Mandurah with 2-33 and 26.

The juniors fell on the wrong side of the ledger in narrow losses to Midland-Guildford.

Kai Harrison made 51 and Bevan Kearney struck 42 in the under-17s’ score of 7-131 but Midland chased down the target with six wickets to spare.

Riley Ward top-scored with 32 and Kaelan Skoda snared 3-24 as the under-15s made 7-110, with the Swans edging past with just four balls and two wickets in hand.

This weekend sees the resumption of two-day cricket, with the first grade hosting University at Lark Hill, starting on Saturday at 11.40am.

With just four matches left, it is a must-win game as the students sit in sixth, a game-and-a-half from the ninth-placed Mariners.