Three of the best from Garden not enough for Echuca

Garden homed in on the opposition’s stumps in the spell, picking up the first two wickets bowled and trapping Wood leg-before-wicket to complete the trifecta.

The match-up came in a milestone round for the league, with teams contesting 35-over matches rather than the regular Twenty20 contests.

This was the second meeting between last season’s grand finalists this campaign, Mooroopna avenging its title loss back in round five.

Echuca sent Mooroopna in, but the Cats’ batters were out to make the most of the longer format, not giving away their wicket cheaply.

Lauren Hall and Maggie Egglestone effectively balanced defence and attack, Hall making 39 and Egglestone 20 from their 40 balls each in the middle, both retiring unbeaten.

New pairing Ebony Sleeth and Gemma Boyd also proved resilient, Echuca finally making the breakthrough shortly after Mooroopna passed 100.

Boyd departed for a dynamic 21 from 16 balls, the Cats enduring a slight down period as Sleeth and Kelsey McDonald were removed in quick succession.

From 3-115, another strong partnership, this time between Amani Issell and Poppy Vandermeer, got Mooroopna to 172 before the first of Garden’s breakthroughs sent Issell back to the sheds on 40.

With the few balls remaining, the Cats added four additional runs for a final total of 6-176 from their 35 overs.

Garden’s hat-trick highlighted the bowling innings, earning her best figures of 3-25, while Gillian Noelker took 2-21 and Grace Riddell 1-26.

Echuca had plenty of work to do to run down 177 for victory, but in the longer format still only required a manageable five per over.

Noelker and opening partner Maisy Byrne put on a credible 37 for the first wicket before Charlie Nicholson removed Noelker for 10.

Substitute player, visiting from the Northern Territory, Narelle Gosstray, who played with Noelker at the recent over-40s National Championships, joined Byrne at the crease and the two added an additional 21 runs.

Gosstray held her place after Byrne’s dismissal but the Echuca middle and lower order wasn’t able to chip in as it might have in other games this year, and only 24.4 overs into the innings, she was left stranded after running out of partners.

Gosstray, who actually has family connections with Mooroopna, led the way against the Cats, making 35 not-out, while Byrne chipped in 30 as Echuca was all out for 116.

Gemma Boyd starred among the Cats’ bowlers, taking 4-13.

Echuca came into this game short-handed, both Garden and Gosstray stepping in to fill gaps, but will require an improved performance if they are to topple the unbeaten Cats later in the year.

Echuca will return to action on January 12 after the Christmas break, taking on Cooma at Victoria Park.

Moama vs Cooma

Moama didn’t require the additional overs provided by the round, making short work of Cooma to win by eight wickets.

Batting first, a short-handed Cooma was torn apart by the Mowers bowling attack and removed in just 12.1 overs for only 30 runs.

Ruby Harman made 5 at the top of the order but was followed by five consecutive ducks, Willow Parker (10) the only other Cooma scorer of note.

Delaney and Sadie Laffy put in identical 2-1 bowling performances, while four other bowlers chipped in with a wicket.

Moama made short work of the small total, losing two wickets along the way but reaching 2-33 in 5.2 overs.

After the Christmas hiatus, Moama will host Nathalia on January 12.