It’s a different story on turf, as Warragul found out.
The Wild Dogs were undone by Sale-Maffra in Round 3 of the Gippsland Cricket League, succumbing to the Sharks’ three-pronged spin attack of Dylan Bolton, Isaac Love and Jack Rietschel.
The trio took nine wickets between them, leading Sale-Maffra to a 43-run win.
With the Warragul District Cricket Association mainly a hard wicket competition (with only four active turf pitches currently), the Wild Dogs struggled to adapt on a Stratford wicket offering some purchase.
The home side batted first, and recovered from an indifferent start after falling to 2/8.
Stefano Di Bartolomeo and Charlie Morrison then got together for a partnership, and put on the best part of 100 runs, combining for 98 for the third wicket before Morrison departed for 38.
Di Bartolomeo continued on for some time, and top-scored with 65 in a match reduced to 46 overs due to irritant rain.
The Sharks hit and ran toward the end, trying to squeeze out as many runs as possible, and ended with 165 on the board.
James Wilcock got the first two wickets for Warragul, and finished with figures of 2/14.
Left arm wrist spinner Harvey Jupp was the pick of the bowlers however, taking 2/24 off 10 economical overs.
The reply started positively for the visitors, with the score ticking along to 1/59.
The match turned though once the spinners came on though.
Off spinner Isaac Love got one through James Vela, who scored 26, before Sale-Maffra skipper Bolton took the next two wickets bowling the same style.
The pair then repeated the dose, before Rietschel joined in to see the Wild Dogs well out of contention at 7/103.
Yashan Samarasinghe played a mightily fine hand in the conditions, scoring 51 at nearly a run-a-ball (54 balls) from first drop, going through six partners in the process.
He became Bolton’s fourth wicket, and soon after, he took his fifth to end with figures of 5/30 off 10 overs with three maidens.
Love finished the job, taking the final wicket to make his bowling card read 3/19 off 7.5 overs as Warragul was skittled for 122 inside 32 overs.
The accuracy of Sale-Maffra’s spinners was noteworthy – five of the nine wickets to fall to slow bowling were either bowled or lbw.
The victory keeps the Sharks unbeaten in Senior Men’s GCL for season 2023/24.
ONLOOKERS were treated to a thrilling finish just down the road in the other game.
Playing in Lucknow, Bairnsdale got over the line against Latrobe Valley by just one wicket.
The travelling side decided to take a punt and bat first at a venue that saw the host club score just 96 runs in 39 overs the previous day.
Local knowledge may have proved decisive for Bairnsdale, who were able to bowl in helpful conditions as the visitors nudged their way to 9/161 from 49 overs.
Latrobe Valley Captain Nathan Freitag took conditions out of the equation, shouldering the run-scoring and batting through most of the innings for a tremendous 75 not out.
His effort was easily the best of his teammates, with the next highest score 22 from Number 10 Luck Thornton.
The partnership of 38 between Freitag and Thornton took Latrobe Valley from a mediocre score around 120 to a competitive total given the circumstances.
An earlier partnership of 62 for the third wicket between Freitag and Tom Robertson (20) also allowed the innings to stabilise after the visitors were 2/12.
Bairnsdale bowlers cashed in, with most returning tidy figures.
Chris Hammond took 3/19 off 10 overs with three maidens, while Ricky Tatnell (2/38) and Brodie Anderson (2/26) were also serviceable.
Frank Mostert gave little away, going for just 24 off 10 overs with four maidens.
As they say however, never judge a game until both sides have batted.
Needing someone to ignite things with the ball, Latrobe Valley found an answer in Mitch Harris.
The bustling quick knocked over two of the biggest wickets in the Bairnsdale camp, cleaning up Rohan Blandford and Mostert to see the home side in early trouble at 2/5.
Blandford, fresh off a century the day before for Meerleiu, managed just three, while left-hander Mostert failed to trouble the scorers.
Thornton then got in on the act, taking the next two wickets to see the score 4/28, which quickly became 5/29 when Harris again disturbed the timber.
Watching on from the other end was dependable opener Brodie Anderson, often the one called upon to provide a cool head under pressure.
Anderson had done this for a period, getting to 24, however, when he fell to Lee Stockdale the score was 6/47 and Bairnsdale was staring down the barrel of defeat.
Nick Adendorff and Tatnell then came to the rescue, putting on 72 for the seventh wicket.
The latter peeled off 42 batting at eight, while the former knocked them around for 29.
Their effort took Bairnsdale within 42 runs of victory before the match took a dramatic turn.
Tatnell and Adendorff were dismissed within three runs of each other, leaving Bairnsdale 8/122, and then 9/127 after Freitag bowled Ryan Halford.
With the game seemingly in Latrobe Valley’s favour, it was left to Bairnsdale stalwart Reagan Kyle to call upon all his experience.
Kyle succeeded and saw his team through in the 41st over with an unbeaten 23.
Number 11 Steve Bertino held his nerve, scoring one of the more important 12 not outs he is ever likely to make.
The pair put on 35 for the final wicket to win the match.
Leading bowlers for Latrobe Valley were Harris (3/37), Thornton (2/16) and Freitag (2/14).
LEONGATHA had the bye.
There is one more GCL match before Christmas (Sunday, December 10).
