Adelong Donkeys bested the Lotts Family Hotel Gundagai team on Saturday at Adelong 8/188 (40) – 10/119 (31), putting Gundagai in a precarious position as finals approach.
Adelong Donkeys won the toss and elected to bat.
Ethan Birks grabbed 21 runs off 58 bats, and Jacob Hardwick ran a similar 22 off 20. Tyron Gorman went for a duck, and Adelong slowed down with Aidan Turnball only getting 3 runs off 11 balls.
Ben Hardwick brought it back, getting 57 runs off 73 balls, and Jordy Maher got 55 off 26 balls. Alex Smith from Gundagai clipped Riley Rosetta early, only allowing him to get a single run before being bowled out. Jace Wilson got 17 runs off 23 balls before the sides swapped.
It wasn’t a good start for Gundagai, with Kalem Makeham only getting three runs, Charlie Braun out after one, and Alex Smith only getting two runs, putting pressure on Gundagai.
Caleb Lindley-Kell brought it back with 15 runs off 43 balls, and Thomas Ferguson put up a fight with 54 runs off 60 balls.
Clayton Smith got 28 runs off 29 balls, but Gundagai would face three ducks in a row. Gundagai only made six more runs after that.
Craig Ferguson of the Gundagai Cricket Club said, “The middle order got away from Gundagai, and then they lost a couple of early wickets.
“Adelong won the toss and batted first and scored 188.
“Jordy Maher is a really good bowler, but he was supported by Jacob Hardwick. Jacob got a five for us. He got five wickets in the day. Between Jacob and Jordy, they claimed nine of the 10 wickets between the two of them.
“Jacob and Ben Hardwick did quite well, too.”
Playing the Mankadders on the weekend, Craig said it’ll be nice to have two Gundagai Association teams playing against each other on their own turf wicket.
Unable to beat Adelong at the past game has stunted the team temporarily and Craig said he hopes it’s not “telling at the end” as the Donkey’s were above them on the leaderboard.
“I’m forever the optimist, but I think it’s top four,” he said.
“Gundagai are fifth, Coolac fourth, Adelong third, with Wyangle second and Tumut Plains on top.”
A predicted race for third and fourth, Craig said first and second place are “pretty well secured” as two big heavyweights in the competition.
“Plains probably deserve to be, especially in that first place,” he said.
While Craig said Wyangle has always been a steady and strong team, Adelong, Coolac and Gundagai have been jostling for the elusive third and fourth position.
“There’s plenty to play for in the next couple of weeks because mathematically, they can still make the top four. But so can all the other sides too,” he said.
“Unless they start stringing a few wins together, it’s going to be very hard to justify Gundagai making the finals.”
With a lot of good talent in the team, Craig said they need to turn it into a few wins to get more points on the ladder and putting pressure on the other teams. Without doing this, it will all come down to the last round of the competition, a position that Craig said they knew all too well.
“If we can get our strongest side available for selection, I’m sure Captain Clayton Smith will be able to put together a more than competitive side, but it’s making sure that we can get all those players who have been playing to be available for selection,” he said.
“They’ve just got to win, and winning is a bit contagious too, so if they can string a couple of wins together, I’m sure the boys will get excited to be in a competition.”
It was a disappointing result for Gundagai, but they are looking to right their wrongs against Murrumbidgee Mankadders on Saturday at Stan Crowe Oval, starting at 1:00 pm.
– Jack Murray
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