Brendan Handley produced two outstanding batting performances in Bundaberg Cricket at the weekend but experienced mixed results for his efforts.
Brendan scored an unbeaten 74 for Headlands Pies to be man of the match in the Aussie Bundy Big Bash final at Salter Oval on Friday night, but it was not enough to prevent a seven-wickets loss to Searle’s RV Centre Vikings, who claimed the title for the second time in its three-year history.
The South Queensland Country representative star backed it up on Saturday for his club Norths in the Rum City Foods Intra Cup, compiling a classy 73 to lay the platform for an upset seven-wicket triumph over Waves.
The loss was Waves’ first in the competition this season as Headlands chased down a daunting target of 244 with two overs to spare.
Back to the Big Bash, Headlands Pies had been the form side, but they never recovered after slumping to 4-41 after Vikings captain and South Queensland Country paceman Nathan Van Eekeren fired out Sam Lowry, Matt Jackson, and captain Simon Kelly in quick succession in his return from injury, before finishing with 3-22 from his four overs.
Brendan led the fightback with his gem of an innings, with Chris Duff providing great support with 27 in a partnership of 81, and their total of 5-129 at least looked competitive against an out of form Vikings batting line-up.
But dropped catches cost the Pies dearly as Lennon Childs and Scott Irwin put Vikings’ stamp on the game with 41 and 38 respectively and an opening stand of 76.
A mini-collapse of 3-29 gave the Pies a sniff, but Vikings ultimately charged home with an unbroken partnership between 2020 Queensland Schools Open representative wicket-keeper/batsman Eddie Ryan and the potent Trent Seeds, who blazed 18 from just seven balls to lead them home with an over to spare.
It was the second year in a row that the Pies had fallen at the last hurdle after being beaten by Takalvans Taipans 12 months earlier.
Less than 24 hours later, it looked to be business as usual for Waves when they recovered from the loss of a wicket on the third ball of their innings and another two wickets with the score on 62 to reach 3-169 with half-centuries to Luke Owen (64) and Tim McIntosh (54).
However, their remaining wickets tumbled for just 37 runs as veteran spinner Bruce Worthington moved to the top of the wicket-takers list for the season with 21, claiming the big scalps of Michael Loader, Luke Owen, Tim McIntosh, and Ryan Norton in his 4-61.
Norths stumbled to 2-43 in their chase, but instead of their usual collapse, they dug in, with Brendan Handley and Chris Napper combining in a partnership of 109, with the former taking control until he holed out off Waves skipper and spinner Chris Duff.
Chris Napper then found another great ally in former Sunshine Coast player Josh Winen in just his second game for the team, with the pair adding the 92 extra runs required, with Chris finishing with 69 and Joshua smashing an also unconquered 55 from 37 balls.
Waves had already wrapped up the minor premiership, while Norths, who were without their bowling spearhead Nathan Van Eekeren, finally put it all together, staking their claim to third place with two rounds remaining, and proving themselves as contenders.
But they are only in front of fourth placed East Bundy Magpies on net run rate, and they face the Magpies in a match which could determine third position in the penultimate round this Saturday.
On Saturday, the Magpies posted their first win of 2021, bouncing back from heavy losses to Waves and Brothers to account for the winless Hervey Bay by five wickets.
Hervey Bay frustrated East for a long time, batting for 42 overs but managing just 136 despite a defiant 84 from opener John Kosmidis who carried his bat through the entire innings.
Magpies captain and Queensland Country all-rounder Arden Lankowski claimed an early wicket and returned to tear through the tail to finish with 5-16 from his nine overs.
However, Magpies’r recent batting frailties continued as they crashed to 4-60, before recent signing, former Waves young gun Matt Gauld, arrested the slide with 37, then long-serving club champion Dale Steele hit them home with an unbeaten 38 from only 27 balls.
SOFTBALL: Waves Tsunamis moved to second behind United Firesticks on the Hervey Bay A Grade Ladies ladder by bouncing back from a 16-7 drubbing by them a week earlier to draw with them 6-all at Brothers Sports Club on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Bargara Bullets remain in fourth and last position despite producing by far their best performance of the season to blitz their hosts Terrors 12-2 in Hervey Bay in the other match of the round.
In the Men’s A Grade competition, United Heat powered on at the top of the table with a 10-0 whitewash of Waves Schooners, while Terrors consolidated second spot with a 10-2 blitz of Bargara Bombers and a 1-all draw with Misfits.
It was a tough day at the office for the Bombers after they were also beaten by Maryborough 4-1 in the first match of their double-header.
PARKRUN: Long time Bundaberg football (soccer) star and local school teacher Robert Thatcher won Bundaberg Parkrun’s fourth birthday event on Saturday, backing up his victory on course debut a week earlier to clock 19min18sec for the 5km and win by almost three minutes from Bundaberg debutant Rohin Power.
The Bargara Parkrun was again taken out by Richard Koech, who won the first ever Bundaberg Parkrun back in 2017, recording a time of 19min35 sec to prevail to 12 seconds from Oliver Wightman in another closely contested event.
Here are all the scores:
CRICKET BUNDABERG
AUSSIE BUNDY BIG BASH
Final: SEARLE’S RV CENTRE VIKINGS 3-130 (Lennon Childs 41, Scott Irwin 38) d HEADLANDS PIES 5-129 (Brendan Handley 74no, Chris Duff 27, Nathan Van Eekeren 4-0-22-3).
RUM CITY FOODS INTRA CUP
NORTHS 3-244 (Brendan Handley 73, Chris Napper 69no, Josh Winen 55no, Julian Bond 26, Mitch Waters 9-0-23-2) d WAVES 243 (Luke Owen 64, Tim McIntosh 54, Michael Loader 36, Bruce Worthington 9-1-61-4, Laird McKay 8.1-2-39-3).
EAST BUNDY MAGPIES 5-138 (Dale Steele 38no, Matt Gauld 37, Lewis Williams 44-3, Cornelis Duplooy 43-2) d HERVEY BAY 136 (John Kosmidis 84no, Arden Lankowski 9-4-16-5, Dale Steele 6-1-19-2, Ben Davey 9-1-36-2).
DIVISION 2
BROTHERS 5-192 (Jamie Solano 77no, Andy Porter 47, Alex Claridge 7-0-30-2) d EAST BUNDY MAGPIES 9-170 (Troy Cross 47, Chris Baker 36, P Mudalige 33, Dylan Heycox 8-0-38-3, Sam Pearson 4-0-20-2).
NORTHS 7-223 (Jaden Bond 60no, Dan Hunt 39, Richie Sharman 37no, Sean Stuchbery 8-0-22-4) d WAVES 5-209 (Sean Stuchbery 93no, Jason De Papi 44, Chris Napper 8-0-24-2).
DIVISION 3
WAVES 1-132 (Dan Unwin 67no, Nick Laffey 45) d YMCA 8-130 (Travis Price 53, Greg Brady 29, Ryan Maclean 4-0-13-4, Jake Kleidon 8-3-12-2, Troy Coates 8-2-30-2).
EAST BUNDY MAGPIES 5-138 (Eric Petersen 83, Evan McLean 30, Adam McCoombe 5-0-34-3, Adrian Goddard 6.2-0-28-2) d ISIS 9-137 (Adrian Goddard 35, B Kumarat 7-0-44-3).
UNDER-16
NORTHS MARYBOROUGH 5-221 (Curtis Farrell 69, Matthew Parker 48no, Alex Wondrock 29no) d ISIS EASTS 5-198 (Jackson Rehbein 101no, Nathan Findlay 33, Luke Murray 3-28).
WAVES 6-168 (Sam Stuchbery 44, Lucy Hamilton 39, Daniel Cavanagh 2-12, Josh Kelly 2-13) d YMCA 7-116 (Ronan Dempsey 29, Sam Stuchbery 4-14, Brenton Catasti 2-21).
UNDER-14
WAVES 5-129 (Levi Faint 49no, Noah Hensel 33no, C Steel 2-13, Jett Sim 2-32) d ISIS EASTS 64 (Noah Hensel 2-0).
BROTHERS MUSTANGS 6-160 (Henry Hirst 30no, April Mathiesen 26no, Trent Kapernick 3-16, Ethan Hamel 2-6) d NORTHS MUNTZ MARAUDERS 81 (Jack Tyers 3-4).
MARYBOROUGH 3-138 (Harrison Murree 37no) d HERVEY BAY COLTS 5-94 (Grace Collins 2-12).
JUNIOR CRICKET 2
NORTHS BUNDY POWER 3-182 (Jacob Irwin 39, Lachlan McDonald 27no, Zach Hamel 26no) d ISIS EASTS 110 (Archie Webster 28, Zach Hamel 3-5).
NORTHS TAIPANS 143 (JAXON Hill 40, Nicholas Delacy 4-10) d WAVES 116 (Thomas Delacy 26, A Stevens 2-6).
Norths Maroons 6-182 (Brayden Jenner 54no, Zachary Honor 2-19, Ashton Lamond 2-22) d BROTHERS EVERESTS 6-102 (Ashton Lamond 24no, Ted Henry 2-4).
PARKRUN
BARGARA
Results Bargara 5km Parkrun on Saturday – 197 Participants – Top 10: 1 Richard Koech 19:35, 2 Oliver Wightman 19:47, 3 Phillip Wedel 20:29, 4 Tyler Lawson 20:30, 5 Jack Milbank 20:54, 6 Rob Kerby 20:59, 7 Phil Hodge 21:06, 8 Lauren Maher-Allan 21:36, 9 Rebecca Marshall 21:45, 10 Jethro Stone 22:00.
Bargara Parkrun is a free weekly timed event held every Saturday morning at 7am at Nielson Park Bargara. Newcomers always welcome. To register, go to https://www.parkrun.com.au/register/
BUNDABERG
Results 4th Birthday Bundaberg 5km Parkrun on Saturday – 115 participants – Top 10: 1 Ron Thatcher 19:18, 2 Rohin Power 22:05, 3 Lachlan Runge 22:44, 4 Adam Harradine 23:52, 5 Darren Farmilo 23:56, 6 John Locke 24:10, 7 Unknown, 8 Byron Gear 24:43, 9 Jeff Irwin 24:48, 10 Mitchell Lawn 25:03. First female: Therese Ryan (11th) 25:08.
Bundaberg Parkrun is a free weekly timed event held every Saturday morning at 7am at Queen’s Park, end of Hope Street. Newcomers always welcome. To register, go to the Parkrun website.
SOFTBALL HERVEY BAY
A GRADE LADIES
BARGARA BULLETS 12 d TERRORS 2; UNITED FIRESTICKS 6 drew WAVES TSUNAMIS 6.
A GRADE MEN
MARYBOROUGH 4 d BARGARA BOMBERS 1; UNITED HEAT 10 d WAVES SCHOONERS 0; TERRORS 10 d BARGARA BOMBERS 2; TERRORS 1 drew MISFITS 1.
B GRADE LADIES
WAVES SEASHELLS 7 drew WAVES BREAKERS 7; MISFITS 12 d WEST PANTHERS 7; BARGARA BANDITS 11 d TERRORS 2.
B GRADE MEN
TERRORS 6 d BARGARA BULLS 2; UNITED FLAMES 13 d WAVES CUTTERS 6; MISFITS 4 d MARYBOROUGH 1.
UNDER-16
WAVES DRIFTERS 16 d UNITED TNT 9; TERRORS 16 d BARGARA BRONCS 4.
UNDER-14
UNITED BLAZE 11 d WAVES RIPTIDES 10; TERRORS 15 d BARGARA BANDICOOTS 4; UNITED BLAZE 12 d WAVES TORPEDOES 4; TERRORS 17 d WEST TIGERS 2.
UNDER-12
WAVES MARINERS 8 d UNITED SPARKS 2; TERRORS 13 d BARGARA BEARS 1; WEST JAGUARS 12 d BARGARA BEARS 8.
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