Adam Ward’s 54 in the back end of Rochester’s innings propelled the side to a strong total. Photos: Bruce Povey.
After posting a respectable score of 276, minor premier Rochester showed why it can win it all, defending its total against a resistant Kyabram Fire Brigade batting order in the Goulburn Murray Cricket McMahon Shield semi-final.
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On day one of the two-day fixture, Rochy won the toss and elected to bat first on its home deck.
Things looked fairly steady for the hosts to begin with Brandon Byrne and Sean Williams opening the batting and steering their side through the first 12 overs unscathed.
An aggressive Williams (11) got ahead of himself, skying an attempted pull shot off Tom Owens’ bowling which landed safely in the hands of Kaine Herbert.
Byrne continued on, carving out a solid platform for his side with first drop Vibhor Yadav following.
The pair batted for more than 20 overs together, taking its side to the verge of 100 on the board before Byrne (37) hit one into the covers which was swallowed by Rob Salter.
Yadav continued ticking the scoreboard over and raised his bat for a vital half-century as fresh batter Oliver Williams settled into his innings.
It took the young number four nearly 50 balls to hit his first boundary and was dismissed just five balls later when he was caught behind off Jackson Barnett for 14.
Yadav (57) followed Williams back to the shed a couple of overs later when he was caught nicking off to Salter.
This period of play saw Rochy fall into a spot of bother as a mix-up between the wickets between Dylan Cuttriss and Kuldeep Lal (6) brought the latter undone.
Rob Salter led from the front with the ball, taking 3-56.
Photo by
Bruce Povey
Cuttriss was able to notch an almost run-a-ball 21 before he too was dismissed just after the 60th over, while Adam Ward was striking at 100 down the other end.
While Ward kept on blazing a trail, he combined well with captain Angus Martin, with the pair taking Rochy past 200.
Seeing an opening to continue piling on runs, Ward sailed to a swashbuckling half-century, bringing up the milestone with a six.
Yet, Ward got too greedy as the next ball had another aerial shot get caught on the cow corner boundary by Herbert.
With 17 overs remaining in its innings, Rochy managed to squeeze a good amount of productivity from its remaining batters.
Martin had a nice cameo of 30 before Jake Wright (19) and Jesse Cuttriss (14) put the pedal to the metal and brought the innings to a close two balls before its 80 overs for 276.
On Sunday, Fire Brigade took up the bat and would require almost its best batting effort to book a ticket to the grand final.
The chase began well with Miller Griffiths and Tim Nelson making starts and getting the team past 50 with little issue.
Yet, things took a turn after the 20th over when Griffiths (28) was caught behind by a diving Lal and Nelson (27) spooned one straight to mid-on.
Bohden Learmonth at number three picked up where the openers left off and got going with Shannon Fleming providing assistance.
The pair ground it out until the 41st over when Fleming (13), trying to move through the gears, whipped one off his pads and into the hands of Sean Williams.
In cricket, one wicket usually brings two and such was the case of Learmonth (27) who was caught driving one down the ground.
It was a tricky period of play for the Flames following Learmonth’s departure as Brett Andison (20), Herbert (14) and Salter (6) fell in the next 15 overs, none of them able to convert on positive starts.
With 20 overs to go in the innings and still 130 required it’d take a mammoth effort from the Flames’ tail to get it done.
Cohan Hooper (18) and Riley Carver (21) gave it a good crack, but the bowling of Jesse Cuttriss claimed both and snuffed out the small spark of hope.
The last pair standing, Tom Owen and Jackson Barnett fought hard, but there were too many runs left to get with time and chances running out.
Barnett was ultimately bowled for a single run, bringing the Flames’ chase to a close 91 runs short.
Now the ladder leaders have a date with the three-time reigning premier Echuca at Bamawm Recreation Reserve this weekend to decide this season’s winner.
Echuca racked up a similar total to Rochester on day one against Moama, reaching 270 all out thanks to a dazzling 101-run knock from Aidan Young.
Moama battled hard, but was no match for the host, bowled out 86 runs short with Matt Saunders (62) the best with the bat for the Mowers.
