Boundary-scoring Jones, Paul not enough to save Gunnedah third grade

Last Saturday was yet another day when virtually everything went wrong for Gunnedah in third grade cricket at McAndrew Park.

Bective East tallied 311 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 40 overs, before dismissing Gunnedah for 83 in 32.1 overs.

With very few Gunnedah third graders available, a couple of them stepped up to second grade while Gunnedah forfeited its fourth grade contest with Bective East at Carroll Community Ground.

Gunnedah consequently fielded almost an entire team of fourth graders in the third grade fixture, which was a complete disaster from the outset.

The opening delivery was a full-toss which was dispatched to the boundary, and the remainder of the first over yielded two runs off the bat and 10 wides which meant the over comprised 16 deliveries.

The remainder of Bective East’s innings featured only three wides while there were 24 byes, seven leg-byes and three no-balls.

Mark Burgess scored 36 in an opening stand of 76 before he was run out in the 11th over, and then Brad Hoad scored 44 in a 74-run stand.

Partnerships of 40 and 54 followed, before Henry Haling fell 11 runs shy of a century when his exit in the 34th over made the score 5-259.

Haling was Paddy Paul’s fourth victim, and Shiran Ranasinghe claimed the remaining two wickets as Bective East charged towards 300 before scoring 13 runs in the final over.

A late cut for four from Jono Middlebrook took Gunnedah’s total to 10 from the last ball of the fifth over, before Luke Sevil bowled Russell Johnston with the next delivery.

Middlebrook lobbed a catch to point before Ranasinghe hooked a catch to fine leg, and then Jack Canham was bowled as the hosts crashed to 4-14.

Sevil had 2-2 in his first six overs, before his final two overs cost 14 runs.

Lachlan Jones hit five fours in his 22 before becoming one of Todd Burgess’s five victims, with Jones caught while the other four were bowled.

Paul, who top-scored with 33 not out, scored most of his runs in boundaries and was at the non-striker’s end when the final five wickets fell.

Bective East 7-311 (Henry Haling 89, Brad Hoad 44; Paddy Paul 4-43) defeated Gunnedah 83 (Paddy Paul 33 not out; Todd Burgess 5-10, Aidan Walker 2-10) by 228 runs.

Chief wicket-taker Todd Burgess bowls for Bective East while Gunnedah’s Paddy Paul backs up.