Colts won the toss and elected to bowl first, a perplexing decision that had everyone questioning the captain’s thought process.
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Dalkeith opened the batting with Matt Hanlon and Jacob Shone. Shoney received a ripper of a delivery that resembled a Bing Lee thunderbolt that was caught at second slip in the first over without scoring.
Big Matt Sheather strode to the pitch and set about building a foundation. Matt and Big Matt were solid in defence, frustrating the Colts opening bowlers.
The two moved the score on to 31 before a calamitous run out saw Big Matt sacrifice his wicket. Matty Hanlon was in good form and that left Sheather with little option after the mix up.
Cameron Bourke was next in and together with Hanlon saw off the opening bowlers. Many wondered the logic behind bowling out the two openers as it looked like an early Christmas present for the Dalkeith Batsman.
Robert “The Bird” Gudgeon and Jak Jeffery worked hard with the ball; however Dalkeith went to drinks on a solid 67 with plenty of wickets in hand.
Gudgeon and Jeffery’s persistence paid off after drinks with Jak taking Matt Hanlon’s prized wicket after a very well made 58 in tough conditions. Dalkeith batsman made starts with J Smith, T Milligan and B Franklin, however the never- before-seen-bowling partnership of Tim “Breadtin” Smith and Richie Deebank made sure no one was able to post a big score on a very slow Frank Smith Oval. Dalkeith 9 for 127 after 40 overs.
With only 128 on the board Dalkeith were at long odds. Colts opened with Breadtin and Jeffery. Unfortunately for the Colts Jak was unable to carry his form with the ball to his batting and was caught behind by Wherritt for 2.
Jackson “5 Names” Hedges joined Smith in the middle and went to work. Both batsman made short work of the Dalkeith bowling attack taking the score to 69 before Hedges was caught behind by Wherritt for his second of what would be four catches for the day.
After three starts Nyngan’s premier batsman had very little in the way of runs to speak of. With the Colts needing someone to carry their bat, the man dubbed Breadtin went to work hitting 68 at better than a run a ball.
It looked in the bag at drinks for the Colts however Dalkeith has something left in the tank: Matt Hanlon. Hanlon did plenty with the bat but he wasn’t finished taking three quick wickets for few runs sending a tremor through the Colts’ batting lineup.
Experienced showed however when Richie Deebank walked to the middle and delivered a quick 24 not out to get the Colts home.
Dalkeith 9-127 (M Hanlon 58, R Deebank 2/7, T Smith 2/17 and R Gudgeon 2/25)
Colts 6-128 (T Smith 68, M Hanlon 3/15, B Franlin 2/30.
Read the RSL v Aussie match report on page 11.
