The West Gippsland Wombats over 70s had a matchup against the Australian Cricket Society (ACS) at the Outtrim Oval last week.
ACS won the toss and sent the Wombats into bat.
Carl Muscat and Fred Debono added 37 runs in ten overs before Debono 15 (20) was caught and bowled by Ian Gibson.
Following that, Muscat 14 (30) retired.
Seven overs later, Neil White 20 (23) was run out and Keith Houghton 22 (30) retired.
In the 20th over the Wombats were 3/90 when Rod Pallot 10 (14) was LBW to the bowling of Terry Martin.
In the 25th over the Wombats lost two wickets for one run when the combination of Michael Fogarty and David Breheny dismissed Brian Mitchell 7 (16), who was caught and Pieter Loos 14 (15), was stumped.
The Wombats were 6/137 when Gavin Sharp 11 (26) was run out.
In the 39th over, Mike Newton 18 (30) retired, and Jon Martindale 6 (15) was caught by Phil O’Meara off the bowling of Breheny.
John Moore then scored two runs off two balls.
On the 3rd ball of the final over, Graham Davey 12 (17) was bowled by Kim Boehm, and Jim Armstrong could not score off the next 3 balls.
Both Armstrong and Moore finished the innings not out.
The Wombats’ final score read 8/169
ACS bowling: Kim Boehm 8-1/27, Noel Sharpe 8-0/41, Ian Gibson 3-1/15, Terry Martin 7-1/19 David Koch 4-0/21, David Breheny 7-3/26, John Smith 3-0/12
ACS got off to a bright start, scoring 56 off the first 10 overs before O’Meara 32 (30) and Gibson 20 (30) both retired.
At the 20 over mark, the score was 0/100, with both Stuart Stockdale 19 and Martin 24 having retired after facing 30 balls.
The unlucky Ken Penaluna, who didn’t score off nine balls was the only ACS wicket to fall, when he was out LBW to the bowling of Pieter Loos.
Noel Sharpe 21 (30) and Boehm 41 (29) both retired.
When ACS had scored 173 and ultimately reached the target in the 32nd over, Breheny 6 (12) and Ian Hammet 3 (6) were still at the crease.
The Wombats bowling Pieter Loos 5-1/17, Fred Debono 1-0/2, Graham Davey 3-0/23, Keith Houghton 3-0/5, Brian Mitchell 5-0/26, Carl Muscat 5-0/23, Neil White 5-0/22, Mike Newton 4-0/29, Rod Pallot 3-0/21
Although defeated by a much better team on the day, hopefully the Wombats will regroup and play better against Endeavour Hills/Bayside next Tuesday.
-John Moore
