CRICKET: The Hay Park Redbacks claimed a convincing win over the Leschenault Green Caps to soar into the finals to be played this weekend.
The Redbacks have enjoyed their first season with a winning record for some time this year, and can now look to go deep into the post-season.
The victory over the lowly Green Caps was solidified from the beginning, with a huge opening partnership from Steven Florance and Jono Whitney putting them in the driver’s seat.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, the duo made sure the Redbacks were in a commanding position before they were dismissed.
Florance knocked 69 runs from 122 deliveries but Whitney stole the show, belting out 73 from 112 including five 4s and two 6s.
Their partnership was good for 129 runs before Whitney was caught from Luke Slater.
Mark Steven came in at number three contributing 22 runs, while Kris Miller (15), Ross Knoll (10) and Chris Waddingham (16) each gave double figure totals for their side.
The Redbacks batted their overs out finishing with the score of 7/217.
Unlike Hay Park, Leschenault started their innings off terribly.
Losing Ben Parker and Tom Buchanan early, the Green Caps found themselves in a 2/5 hole.
Brody D’Agostino (32), Kurt D’Agostino (24) and Matt Buchanan (27) did their best to keep Leschenault in the game but with minimal support their efforts were fruitless, as their side was dismissed for a mere 130 runs.
Knoll was a star with the ball in hand for Hay Park, finishing with the figures of 4/8.
z Marist defeat Eaton
Marist claimed a strong win over the Eaton Beavers, chasing down the target of 178 runs to win in 32.2 overs.
Eaton batted first and despite a healthy contribution of 71 runs from Clint Hewson, the side wasn’t able to notch a high total.
Batting out their overs, Eaton finished with the score of 7/177 after receiving contributions from Don Seaman (31), Jake Rudd (22), Steven Barron (14) and Shannon Prentice (15) to go along with Hewson’s big knock.
Corey Fitt being dismissed for only four runs shook the Blues early but half centuries to Matt Foreman (51) and Reece O’Connell (52) got them back on track.
Poor bowling from the Beavers can also be credited to them losing the match with Eaton giving up 30 runs from extras, including 19 wides and 5 no-balls.
After missing the finals, both sides now head into their off-season.
z Colts defeat Dalyellup Beach
Colts snuck into the top four by a single point on the ladder after they defeated Dalyellup Beach on the weekend.
Strong contributions from a number of batsmen saw Colts claim an easy victory over the Settlers, who could not get within 100 runs of the target.
Opener Cruize Ciallella set the tone for Colts, notching 40 runs.
But number three Tyler Robertson stole the show with a knock of 83.
Teamed with Murray Goodwin (38), Kyle Davis (19) and Stuart Boyle (25), Colts were able to post the score of 9/234 at the conclusion of their innings.
Unfortunately for the Settlers the runs did not come nearly as easily.
Eight of their total batsmen could not break into the double figures as they were dismissed for 123 runs after 38.2 overs.
Dalyellup Beach and Colts will now head into the finals after finishing the regular season third and fourth respectively.
