Roos produce dominate display

Wodonga batted first with Nick Grant taking the first over having an immediate impact with a chance put down on the very first ball, then the wicket of Mason Prenter out LBW with the third ball of the innings.

Patrick Lavis put the pressure on from the other end with many shots going in the air before Grant bowled Johnson leaving Wodonga at 2-9 inside the first 5 overs.

The Wodonga batsman then put Corowa slightly on the back foot until Mark Athanitis struck in the 13th over taking two wickets thanks to some Tyler Abley magic in the field with a beautiful diving catch at mid-on.

Abley then came into the attack with immediate impact taking a wicket on his first and last ball of his first over.

A small fight back from Wodonga left them at 6-66 until Nick Grant had enough and put the innings to bed, taking the last four wickets to leave him with incredible figures of 6-14 of 8.1 overs including two maidens.

His efforts alongside Mark Athanitis’ 2-16 and Abley’s 2-17 left Wodonga in pieces leaving Corowa with a total of 80 runs to chase.

Corowa openers Matt Wilson and Shaun Smith came out flying until Friday night's rain caused Smiths bat to get stuck in the grass whilst pushing for a second leaving him run out for 28 runs off 17 balls leaving Corowa in a comfortable position at 1-43.

A few hiccups with Wilson attempting to hit one into the river and Paddy Lavis done by a slower bowl left the boys at 3-50.

Jarred Lane and Kade Wilson then came to the crease playing some classic strokes putting on a partnership of 32 runs to take Corowa over the line in the 20th over with 7 wickets in hand.

Lane finished with 24 not out off 33 deliveries and Kade Wilson 13 not out.

Their efforts supported by Smith's 28 and Wilson's 11, led the Corowa boys to a much-needed victory after earlier forecasts looked troubling.

Corowa now sit seventh on the ladder with four wins and look to build into the final two games until the Christmas break playing Belvoir away next week, then St Pats at Ball Park.

B Grade

An important game against lower placed Wodonga on Saturday was the task for B Grade.

Winning the toss and bowling on a juicy wicket, Wodonga got off to solid start before the first wicket fell on 58.

Wodonga continued to frustrate the bowlers with some ordinary but effective batting with most of the scoring in the air behind the wicket.

With the bowlers not getting it quite right on occasions, to their credit everyone stuck with it, and continued to toil away with no luck.

A steady flow of wickets from 2 -120 to 7-188 helped peg back the score, but Wodonga was able to finish off well to make 7 down for 208 off their 45 overs.

The pick of the bowlers was big Gus with 2-23 from his nine and crackers Eales with 2-34 from his nine.

The run chase was going to be a tough one, Crackers gone early and Keenes not long after.

Joe Lavis and Nugent then took up the challenge with a superb partnership before Lavis fell 3 short of his 50 in a brilliant knock.

Nugent continued on his merry way, punishing anything lose either to or over the boundary, with Bott providing a perfect foil, ticking over the strike.

A couple of wickets then brought Chester and Nugent together, needing only a few to win Chester held his nerve in a nervous situation to help get the Roos over the line.

With Nugent finishing not out on 124, in one of best tons you will see under the conditions and circumstances gave us one of the most satisfying wins of the season.

C Grade Div 1

A second loss in a row has seen Corowa C-Grade (Division 1) slip to fifth on the ladder in the nine-team competition, soundly beaten by a strong North Albury outfit.

North Albury smashed 216 from 40 overs with its batters hitting the ball hard – high and low – to counter a slow outfield and Corowa not helping its chances by dropping several catches.

Corowa’s bowlers made a promising start when Danny Osborne claimed North Albury’s captain for just six, taking the glove with a well-aimed short ball with Caleb Kuschert completing the catch.

When Greg Burgess (two catches) reeled in a ripper at full height in first slip off the bowling of Kuschert to claim North Albury’s other opener and Osborne struck again with Jackson Hargreaves completing the catch, the boys in blue were buoyant.

But a fourth-wicket partnership of 65, which benefited from some of the aforementioned grassed chances, moved the visitors to a commanding position at drinks.

Leg spinner Karvan Silva (3/38) eventually claimed the wicket of the visitors’ No.3 – who made 77 – and some quick wickets followed, Baxter Macfarlane snaring two catches and Matt Goodall two wickets.

But the North Albury tail wagged and a huge target of 217 was set.

Several of Corowa’s batsmen got a start but they lacked the power of the North Albury line-up and the damp outfield was always going to make the 5.4 required run rate daunting.

Silva blasted an entertaining 23, Goodall hit two fours in his 20 and John Conroy chipped in with 21 in his last game for the club before moving to Mildura.

Corowa scraped to 136 before being bowled out in the 39th over and have a bye this week so won’t resume until January 11.

C Grade Div 2

The C2 side were on the road again taking on Baranduda Blue on Saturday.

Another lost toss would see the Corowa team bowling first.

Eli Lavis was first to strike with the final ball of the first over and when Jordan Wilson got a wicket with his first ball the Corowa team were well on top early with Baranduda reeling at 2/4.

In the third over we were treated to one of the fielding highlights of the day when Lloyd “The Glue King” Grantham threw the stumps down with one of four direct hits the Corowa team had for the afternoon and Baranduda was in all sorts at 3/5.

Grantham and Burdon then came into the attack both collecting an early wicket to keep the pressure mounting on the Baranduda team.

Marc Playford who was looking as fit as ever after playing the rain card on Friday night rolled into the attack got his first wicket after a great diving catch from Nathan Anic.

The Godfather of the team Sir Douglas Lavis tormented the batsmen with a great spell of swing bowling.

Baranduda was all out for 143 with another great catch this time coming from Jonathon Perry which would see Playford, Grantham and D Lavis all snaring two wickets a piece.

Chasing 144 for victory Lachie Raggett was in the mood to get this chase over as quick as possible. Smashing the Baranduda attack to all parts of the ground which included 5x6s and 5x4s in his knock of 55 from 33 balls.

Young Rhylee Barber was also looking in good touch early before he got out to a sharp catch.

The Corowa C2 team chased down the total with 7 wickets in hand and 18 overs remaining thanks to Nathan Anic 25* and Pat Mitchell 20* steering the ship home.

Next week will see the final game before the Christmas break for the team which will be a home game out at Balldale against Wodonga Maroons.

The team and their families will be going to the Balldale Pub at the conclusion of the game for a few beverages to celebrate the first half of the season.

Under 14s Div 1

Losing the toss yet again we were sent into bat by the second East Albury side.

It was a humid start to the match with a ground that had retained a bit of water.

That didn’t deter Harry Norman and Jagger Doody who got us off to a steady start with the ball moving a bit early.

Jagger was battling well facing some tight bowling however fell to a good ball from Caleb Anderson in the 9th over.

Charlie came to the crease however didn’t stick around long before being bowled off stump again bringing Archie to the crease at 2/31 in the 14th over.

Harry and Archie combined well putting the East Albury bowlers on the backfoot as they went about building the score to have us at 2/59 at the main break.

That momentum was short lived however as Archie was run out on 20 with the score at 3/65.

That brought Dougy to the crease however he didn’t get to a ball that removed his leg stump.

At 4/65 in the 24th over things were looking a bit shaky as Cal Corcoran made his way out to the middle.

Batting at a different spot this year Cal came out with a really positive attitude and got off the mark quickly and started building his innings whilst Harry was continuing on his way at the other end.

Harry and Cal steadied the innings before Harry skied one with the score on 94. Harry made a valuable 39 run contribution to the team score and his partnership with Cal was an important one.

Abe Spencer took over from Harry joining Cal at the crease and came out firing.

Cal and Abe were on top of the bowling attack and set about building a 49-run partnership before Cal was run out in the 38th over on 46 as the boys looked to lift the scoring rate with wickets in hand.

Finley Douglas went in knowing we needed to keep the scoring going and he was able to make 6 not out at the end of the innings.

Abe took over from Cal as the aggressor and with Fin got the team to 150 before he was out for 11 being Oliver McLellan to the crease for a short 1 not out cameo and the team finishing their 40 overs at 7/151.

Rain on Friday stopped the Under 16s, Under 12s Div 1 & Div 2 from getting started.