Seamer Andy Porter’s maiden five-wicket haul led Brothers to an 84-run Rum City Foods Intra Cup victory over a disappointing East Bundy Magpies at Salter Oval on Saturday.
In a rain-reduced 38 overs per side, Brothers were sent packing for a mere 146 runs, with just three players reaching double-figures, with stalwart big hitter Jarrod Laycock smashing 71, and opener Luke Solano compiling 32.
A Magpies win would have kept them in the race for a top-two finish, but they surrendered meekly against a depleted attack, capitulating for 62 in 22 overs with only two players managing double-figures.
Andy’s five wickets moved him to the top of the competition bowling aggregates.
For the Brethren, opening bowler Brent Smith, who has only recently established himself in the side, made the initial breakthrough and claimed the big scalps of Lennon Childs, Arden Lankowski and Dale Steele in his 3-15 from eight overs.
Andy came on as first-change and cut a swathe of destruction through the innings with 5-26 from six overs, before fill-in player Blake Hornbrook mopped up the tail with 2-3.
Andy has now claimed 20 wickets in nine fixture matches, three more than Norths veteran spinner Bruce Worthington and Waves pace spearhead Mitchell Waters.
In Hervey Bay, 14-year-old rising star Sam Stuchbery backed up his dream senior debut a week earlier by bagging 4-19 from his nine overs, laying the platform for the all-conquering Waves to roll on with a seven-wicket demolition of their hosts.
Hervey Bay could manage only 119 against Waves, who took just 19.5 overs to reach their target, with 18-year-old No. 3 Brendan Grills leading the charge for the second week in a row with a signature unbeaten 47.
In the final round of the Aussie Bundy Big Bash on Friday night, 2020 champions Takalvans Taipans signed off on a disappointing season on a high note, recording their first win with a 20-run victory over finalists Searle’s RV Centre Vikings.
The Taipans lost three cheap wickets, but showed what may have been with Mitch Waters hitting out for an unbeaten 80 from 61 balls and Dale Steele at his best with an also unconquered 61 from 27 balls.
Mitch and Dale also opened the bowling, each taking an early wicket, and the Vikings never recovered, finishing at 5-151.
The Vikings will have to bounce back from two straight losses when they meet Headlands Pies in the final on Friday night.
Softball
It was a red-letter day for the Brothers United club in Hervey Bay Softball, with their Firesticks A Grade Ladies and Heat A Grade Men’s teams each laying claim to minor premierships with three rounds to go.
The Firesticks had a double-header, but they took the tough assignment in their stride, white-washing Terrors 15-0, then backing it up against arch-rivals Waves Tsunamis to defeat them 16-7 and move to 31 points on the table.
They sit five points clear of Tsunamis and Terrors, who now share second position, with Bargara Bullets, who had the bye, a further five points away.
Heat had to dig deep to edge out Terrors 3-2, but it was enough to carry them to 32 points, now four clear of them.
Maryborough also triumphed twice in their A Grade Men’s double-header, outgunning Bargara Bombers 8-3, and upsetting Waves Schooners 7-5, and joining Misfits and Schooners on 27 points in equal-third place.
Four of the other five United sides in the other grades were also victorious, with Crossfire accounting for Waves Seashells 9-2 in B Grade Ladies, Flame burning Waves Cutters 10-5 in B Grade Men, TNT exploding to an 18-4 run-away against Waves Waveriders in Under-16, and Sparks pipping Bargara Bears 5-4 in Under-12.
Their only defeat of the day was 11-3 at the hands of West Tigers in Under-14.
CRICKET BUNDABERG
AUSSIE BUNDY BIG BASH
TAKALVANS TAIPAINS 3-171 (Mitch Waters 89no, Dale Steele 61no) d SEARLE’S RV CENTRE VIKINGS 5-151 (Damian O’Neall 38, Damian Black 37, Trent Seeds 28).
RUM CITY FOODS INTRA CUP
WAVES 3-120 (Brendan Grills 47no, Cornilus Du Plooy 4-1-22-2) d HERVEY BAY 119 (Brent Firth-Meldrum 28, Tom Kidd 27, Sam Stuchbery 9-4-19-4, Luke Owen 3.1-0-20-2).
BROTHERS 146 (Jarrod Laycock 71, Luke Solano 32, Hayden Pope 8-0-28-3, Arthur Richardson 5-0-13-2, Ben Davey 4.5-0-19-2, Arden Lankowski 6-1-21-2) d EAST BUNDY MAGPIES 62 (Andy Porter 6-0-26-5, Brent Smith 8-1-15-3, Blake Hornbrook 2-1-3-2).
DIVISION 2
NORTHS 5-147 (John Van Lierop 59, Shaun Pinney 53, Josh Pole 2-21) d BROTHERS 145 (Jason Welsh 45, Jamie Solano 26, Richie Sharman 4-26, Shaun Pinney 2-29, S Jose 2-34)
WAVES 9-168 (Mat Fleming 38, Jack Munro 31, Damian Black 27, Alex Claridge 4-33, Ashley Pollitt 2-32) d EAST BUNDY MAGPIES 120 (Laurie McCloskey 35, Vince Differ 3-18, Mat Fleming 2-20, Kynan Hard 2-21, Liam Heads 2-39).
DIVISION 3
WAVES 8-225 (Robert Bailey-Rasmussen 102, Dan Unwin 75, Anna Kehl 2-31, Adrian Goddard 2-35, Josh Manitzky 2-39) d ISIS 142 (Adam McCoombe 39, Josh Wormington 4-31, Brock Catasti 2-14, Ryan MacLean 2-24).
EAST BUNDY MAGPIES 5-126 (Eric Petersen 58, Hannah Staines 3-28) d BROTHERS 9-125 (Kevin Bawden 35, Ashley Helmore 29, B Kumarat 2-13, Eric Petersen 2-19, John Richardson 2-38).
UNDER-16
WAVES 4-173 (Kori Pope 88) d HERVEY BAY COLTS 8-114 (Brody Coates 4-16, Lucy Hamilton 2-12).
YMCA 8-79 (Harry Gardiner 2-5, Beau Marshman 2-6, Dustin Collin 2-25) drew BROTHERS PUMAS 3-54 (Patrick Marshman 22no, Logan Woodward 2-18) – match abandoned due to rain.
HERVEY BAY BRUMBIES 7-104 (K Sims 48, Tyler De Martin 4-14) d ISIS EASTS 64 (Nathan Findlay 33, D Carter 3-6, B Scanlan 2-15).
UNDER-14
BROTHERS MUSTANGS 6-133 (Toby Lamond 47, Luke Trebbin 26) d WAVES 5-77 (Kodee Pole 2-10).
MARYBOROUGH 1-113 (G Collins 57no, L Nitschinsk 31no) d ISIS EASTS 116 (Ryan Santacaterina 47, G Collins 3-3, L Nitschinsk 2-19).
HERVEY BAY COLTS 2-82 d NORTH MUNTZ MARAUDERS 5-81 (N Meyer 2-9).
JUNIOR CRICKET 2
NORTHS BUNDY POWER 6-95 (Ashton Lamond 2-4, Tyler Bawden 2-6) d BROTHERS EVERESTS 7-81 (Cameron Manski 3-0, Xander Hills 2-9).
NORTHS TAIPANS 4-116 (Tom Elphinstone 26no, Reece Wingfield 2-21) d ISIS EASTS 5-97 (Zak Onoprienko 21no).
NORTHS MAROONS 5-172 (Beau Donnison 22no, Zayde Kitching 22ret) drew WAVES 3-84 (Nicholas Delacy 26no).
SOFTBALL HERVEY BAY
A GRADE LADIES
UNITED FIRESTICKS 15 d TERRORS 0; UNITED FIRESTICKS 16 d WAVES TSUNAMIS 7.
A GRADE MEN
MARYBOROUGH 8 d BARGARA BOMBERS 3; UNITED HEAT 3 d TERRORS 2; MARYBOROUGH 7 d WAVES SCHOONERS 5.
B GRADE LADIES
WEST PANTHERS 22 d TERRORS 4; UNITED CROSSFIRE 9 d WAVES SEASHELLS 2; BARGARA BANDITS 6 d WAVES BREAKERS 5; BARGARA LEOPARDS 16 d MISFITS 7.
B GRADE MEN
UNITED FLAME 10 d WAVES CUTTERS 5; WAVES CRUISERS 8 d MARYBOROUGH 4.
UNDER-16
UNITED TNT 18 d WAVES WAVERIDERS 4.
UNDER-14
WEST TIGERS 11 d UNITED BLAZE 3; WAVES RIPTIDES 17 d BARGARA BANDICOOTS 2; TERRORS 19 d WAVES TORPEDOES 1; WAVES TORPEDOES 16 d WEST TIGERS 14.
UNDER-12
UNITED SPARKS 5 d BARGARA BEARS 4; TERRORS 15 d WEST JAGUARS 0.
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