Seymour Cricket Club welcomed undefeated league leaders Eastern Hill to Chittick Park in the tenth round of the Seymour District Cricket Association for the second Seymour Derby of the season.
In the previous fixture, the Eagles had claimed the bragging rights convincingly by claiming the match by 69 runs.
On home turf, Seymour was determined to put up a fight.
The home side won the toss and elected to get runs on the board in the T20 fixture.
After only putting 38 runs on the board against the Eagles last time, Seymour more than doubled its efforts, setting a respectable total of 97 runs.
Eastern Hill shared the wickets with Benjamin Bryant, Ollie Bryant and Matthew Collard, taking one each, and Rory Kennedy taking two.
The total was still well within Eastern Hills’ reach, but the Seymour bowling attack was in form.
Dallas Bergowicz and Benjamin Bryant were both dismissed in the early teens, and the tide looked to be swinging as Ollie Bryant was out for seven runs.
With the score at 3/66, Seymour needed to keep runs at a minimum, but the Eagles’ Brayden Speechley had other ideas.
The batter hit 32 runs quickly, and even though Seymour picked up the wicket Matthew Collard through a runout, the score now sat at 4/94.
Eastern Hill claimed a regular season double over its rivals in the 17th over, claiming the match by six wickets.
Around the grounds, Tallarook dominated Avenel in their T20 match.
At Avenel Recreation Reserve, the visitors bowled out their competition for 57 runs and chased down the total in eight overs without losing a wicket.
Tallarook vice-captain Kalon Winnell starred in the bowling attack, picking up four wickets for an expense of three runs.
Captain Joshua Rudge hit 27 runs not out, chasing down the total alongside Andrew Dundon, who scored 22 runs not out.
Rudge, the fill-in captain for the game, said it was good to blow out the cobwebs after the break.
“It’s pleasing to get a win on the board straight away after Christmas with a few players to come back in the coming weeks,” Rudge said.
“Getting some captaincy experience with Lach Watts away was great, and the boys made the job very easy.
“Kal and Leigh ran through Avenel, and the youngsters backed them up with some quality, tight bowling.
“You really don’t want to muck around with the small run chases. To chase down their total in eight overs is a big boost to our percentage, with a huge fixture at home against Seymour next week.
“We’ll be looking to pick up a win and push for a top-two spot heading into finals later in the year.”
At Yea Recreation Reserve, the Tigers had a thrilling win against Pyalong.
Biron Hardinge hit a vital 41 runs to see Yea claim a six-run victory over Pyalong, 6/129 to 9/123 off 20 overs.
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