A good all round effort this morning by the Albion Park Eagles Under 13 team saw them notch their second victory for the season with a solid showing over the Kiama Gold team at Con O'Keefe Oval.
Sent in to bat under cloudy skies and dewy outfield, the Albion Park boys did exceptionally well against a tidy bowling attack to rack up 5/171 off their 30 overs.
Kane Rex opened up the batting and played some promising shots, one in particular against a short ball, before he was beaten by an excellent length delivery and bowled. Here followed a great partnership between Kasey Barton and Blake Ison. It was particularly pleasing to see Kasey get going, hitting the ball sweetly through the off side and along the ground, as well as two wonderful leg glances.He was all class today, and eventually retired not out for 37, a great knock. Blake knocked the ball around in his unflappable way, though was dropped once by the bowler. He managed 9 runs before being caught. Josh Peters came in and had the tough ask of facing his cousin Jett for an over, and the battle within a battle was a great sideline of the game. Josh managed 3 before being bowled trying to hit a short ball into the pool. Another lesson learned.
Tom Denyer continued his good season with the bat, scoring 21 before retiring not out, and looked better today in not trying to hit the ball so hard. Liam Cergovski stuck around with his partners and made a good fist of his innings, scoring 5 runs before being bowled by an excellent delivery. Owen Pickering also followed up his good recent form with another innings that took advantage of some of the looser bowling, finally falling off his final delivery for 33 runs. His wristy drives are a highlight for me every week. Rob Denny and Aiden Campion closed out the innings, Rob finishing on 4 not out and 'Wacky' on 5 not out.
With an huge total to defend, the Eagles then went out and put their best foot forward with the ball and in the field. With the risk of rain coming to ruin a potential victory it was imperative that they took every chance that was offered them. The Kiama batters did well in holding onto their wickets, but the drying up of runs on offer meant they were behind the eight ball.
Will Schofield and Kynan Barton bowled the opening four overs and conceded not one run off the bat between them, Will bowling two maidens for 0/0 and Kynan bowling the opener to finish wih 1/0. Both were excellent with full, straight bowling. Rob Denny bwled two good overs following this, and picked up a wicket with another of his perfect deliveries, the left arm over just fading back in to the right hander and taking the stumps. he finished with 1/0 from two overs. Aiden Campion was his usual metronomic self, bowling one maiden in finishing with 0/4 from his two overs. Liam Cergovski showed great improvement after some coaching tips from Anthony Pickering at training on Wednesday, and bowled two excellent overs in finishing with 0/6, while Tom denyer was again consistent and economical in bowling his two overs for 0/2.
After 12 overs only two Kiama wickets had fallen, but then all hell broke loose and carnage erupted. Josh Peters bowled good lines and beat the bat, and finally keeper Adien Campion found the batsman out of his ground and completed a great stumping.The next ball Josh found the edge that was well fielded by Kynan at slip, and as the batsmen tried to sneak a single he threw down the wickets direct for a run out. This was followed by another great piece of fielding from Kynan in the next over which produced another run out. In Josh's next over a pull shot was beautifully fielded by Will Schofield whose throw was pefect to 'Wacky' who took the bails off for a third run out. Blake Ison bowled the next over, and bowled a beauty to beat the bat and hit the stumps for his own wicket.Five wickets had fallen in four overs through good bowling and superb fielding. Josh finished with figures of 1/1 from his two overs, and Blake 1/8 from his two overs.
Kane Rex was only able to squeeze one over in, before Kasey Barton picked up the final wicket of the innings with his first ball, and left Kiama Gold all out for 46.
A great performance in the field would have been satisfying for coach Anthony Pickering who has been drilling the kids in their fielding in recent weeks, and it is pleasing to see results come from that work. The team will be looking to continue their improvement in next week's clash against Shellharbour White.
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