By Anthony Probert | posted on February 9, 2019
WILY Railways seamer Tim Edmunds walked the talk against Manypeaks on Saturday, helping his side defend one of their lowest scores for the season with a clinical display of slow to medium-slow bowling that skittled the opposition’s middle order.
Still glowing from coaching the WA Country XI side to victory in the one-day section of the Australian Country Cricket Championships, Edmunds got back on the tools and brought home figures of 4/11 from a five-over day at the office.
The impressive performance with the ball counteracted disaster with the bat for the former Weekender journalist who made nought batting at number nine.
But Edmunds wasn’t the only culprit in an unusually poor batting effort from Railways that managed just 106 runs.
His teammates higher up the order began a collective brain-fade, of which even the likes of Zane Marwick (5) were not immune.
If it wasn’t for 44 runs from opener Mark Natale, 21 from Cohen Marwick and 12 free extras from Manypeaks’ bowlers, the total might not have ticked over into three figures.
The Manypeaks chase got off to a horrible start with openers Regan Poett and Aran Tilbury scoring one run between them.
From there it was only the sporadic contributions among the single-digit dismissals that prolonged the agony as Manypeaks mustered just 58 runs before bowing out 52 runs short in the 29th over.
Cohen Marwick assisted Edmunds in foiling the efforts of Manypeaks’ batsmen with 4/16 from eight overs.
In the match between Mount Barker and Collingwood Park, Jeremy Wood snuck in a century to set up a healthy total for the Bulls to defend.
Woods’ 102 and a couple of 30-odds from Jason Jones (39) and Graham Wright (34) helped the Bulls to reach 4/212 in a rain-shortened match.
Apart from the lone hand of Leroy Van Den Dool (71), Collingwood Park just didn’t have the answers for Mt Barker’s bowlers during their run chase and fell 64-runs short.
Royals continued their ascension in the A-grade competition with victory over Denmark.
A 157-run partnership between openers Mitchell Green (86 not out) and Digby Nuthall (51 not out) delivered a convincing five-wicket win against Denmark.
The win denied the chance for Royals’ batsmen to get their eyes in, but it was a cost they would have been happy to pay in exchange for the win.
Round 14’s A-grade fixtures feature: North County vs Manypeaks, Railways vs Royals, Denmark vs Collingwood Park.
Mt Barker have the bye.