SATURDAY morning’s showers impacted on round 12 of the WACA grade cricket with Rockingham Mandurah District Cricket Club’s third and fourth grade one-day games called off.
The Mariners first and second grade games were played as one day fixtures on Sunday.
The side made the long journey up the freeway to Joondalup on Sunday and after winning the toss, captain Craig George had no hesitation in putting the home side in to bat.
The decision looked as though it had backfired when Joondalup’s openers put on 85 in the first 20 overs.
But within a space of two overs momentum began to change with Tony Coulson producing two identical run outs.
Both times the batsmen looked comfortable between the wickets but Coulson was able to throw down the stumps from side on.
With the introduction of spin the run rate started to slow and it was suddenly the Mariners who were back in the game as Joondalup limped to 3/150 at the 40 overs mark.
But Joondalup stepped up to another gear as they used the last 10 overs to power to 6/236 at the end of their innings.
Mariners’ Ben Edmon-dson was the leading bowler with 2/58.
In reply, the run chase started poorly with the loss of captain Craig George in the first over.
Brayden Sutton, 37, and wicketkeeper Sam Whiteman, 50, started to get the run chase back on track but the target proved too much for the Mariners as they were bowled out with three overs to go for 199.
Brendan Diamanti chipped in with a solid 39.
It was a disappointing result for the Mariners that has put a large dent in the side’s finals hopes.
Second grade had a disastrous start in their fixture at Lark Hill, losing 3/7.
Liam Thomas, 81, and Dudley Cortland, 60, produced a 116-run partnership to put the Mariners back in control after the poor start.
Rod Shemald, 25, then helped push the score to a competitive 213 for the bowlers to defend.
Despite Joondalup getting off to a good start, the Mariners’ bowlers kept working away to take regular wickets.
Jake Rogers, 2/10, Liam Mead, 2/30, Daniel Whiting, 2/32 and Liam Thomas, 2/38, all chipped in and bowled Joondalup out for under 200 giving second grade a hard-fought victory.
THE vicious storm that lashed the coastline on January 21 continues to cause trouble for the Rockingham Mandurah District Cricket Club.
The scheduled match against Wanneroo was abandoned on the day as the wicket was deemed “unprepared”.
But Wanneroo officials have called for an investigation after a number of Twenty20 matches were played on the ground the very next day.
Wanneroo officials have sent a scathing email to WA Cricket after the match was declared a draw despite the visitors’ strong position in the match.
A decision on the protest is expected later this week.
After batting first the week before in the two-day match, Wanneroo posted a massive 357 and were looking to capitalise on their strong position on the second day of play.
But with the match abandoned due to the pitch conditions, Wanneroo were not compensated for their strong innings with the sides sharing the points.
In a radio interview last week, Wanneroo coach Andy Oram said he had been at the ground on Friday at about 10.30am and the conditions were good.
Rockingham Mandur-ah officials have called these claims rubbish and are said to be disappointed with the attack on the club.
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