Harvey-Benger Cricket Club teams come unstuck against Colts in final matches before Christmas break

Harvey-Benger’ second grade suffered a deflating loss at the hands of Colts on Saturday in Harvey.

The home side won the toss and elected to bat on what looked to be a typical Harvey wicket with a little bit of grass and good batting conditions.

Haydn Jones and Joseph Cambrea opened and Jones started immediately with a boundary, however Cambrea was removed in the first over, bowled by Sam Lockley.

Captain Matt Chave came to the crease and alongside Jones they wrested back some control with a steadying 60-run partnership.

Jones was eventually removed for 29 and that brought Mahdi Saleem to the crease.

Chave and Saleem put on 20 and looked to be taking control of the game when Chave lost concentration and holed out to mid-on for 39 off the bowling of Rory Binnie.

Francois Roelofsz came to the middle and looked to be over his batting demons as he and Saleem tried to reset the innings.

The pair put on 60 to leave Harvey in a decent position with wickets in hand, however they lost a steady flow of wickets in the last seven overs which made putting a competitive total together difficult.

Eventually Harvey-Benger were bowled out for 165 with one ball remaining in the innings.

In reply, Harvey never looked like being in the game with a disappointing bowling performance. Roelofsz was the only bowler to make a breakthrough with the wicket of Flynn Fazey for 22.

Declan Boston (73no) and Paul Jones (53no) put together a chance-less 136-run partnership to see off the game. Although he didn’t take a wicket, Kye McCreery was the pick of the bowlers with 0-26 from six overs.

The team goes to the Christmas break with a 5-5 record and having it all to play for in the remaining four games before finals. They will host Burekup in Harvey on January 6.

Harvey-Benger’s fourth grade were also soundly beaten by Colts, playing away at Hay Park.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Harvey-Benger openers Scott Fowler (37) and Rowan Morrison (12) saw the score into the 50s inside 10 overs before Fowler was bowled.

The fall of Morrison soon after, hitting a hard pull shot straight to square leg, brought about a collapse from the visiting side.

With some poor decision making at the crease, the last eight wickets fell for just 30 runs. Only youngster Eli Underdown (16 off 62 balls) was able to apply himself as Harvey-Benger were all out for 94.

Harvey-Benger went searching for wickets early but struggled to find the breakthrough as Colts’ opening batters Oliver Stewart (34) and Simon Eastman (47no) waited to put away the bad ball.

Scott Fowler (1-3) took the sole wicket on a tough day for Harvey-Benger as Colts reached the required score in the 21st over.

Consecutive losses see Harvey-Benger fall to sixth on the table, but still in striking distance of the top four and potentially finals if they can regroup in the new year.