Country Week cricket: Peel registers first win against Eastern Goldfields | day two

Putting their round one loss to the West Pilbara behind them, the PCA outfit was buoyed by a spread of strong batting performances but it was bowler Chris Phelps guiding the team home with his figures of 3/19 off nine overs.

Electing to bat first Peel appeared in trouble when opener Ben Doudle went down for eight runs, but a solid partnership between Waroona’s Jayden Derosa (24) and Singleton’s Bryce Evans (30) helped steady the ship.

Scoring runs proved difficult in the face of some restrictive bowling from the Goldfields side, but 36 from Wesley Steele and a further 34 (off 37 balls) from Mat Thomas gave Peel the late lift they needed to reach 162 runs before being ousted in the 49^th over.

Mandurah’s Sach In made sure the Goldfields would begin their chase on the wrong foot when he clean bowled Carl Salmon to leave them in a 1/3 hole, and Evans’ run-out on Adam Hickey followed shortly after.

Middle order batsmen Blake Willis (27) and Josh Harper (37) dug deep to give their side some life, but Phelps sent both back to the pavilion before also claiming Dylan Trow for a duck to spark a collapse that would effectively end the game.

The Goldfields fell short on 134 runs, while Peel’s first win drives them into second on the ladder heading into Tuesday’s day off.

Busselton-Margaret River proved too much for Peel’s second side in round two, handing them their first loss of the campaign.

Peel looked to be on fire in the match after their opponents opted to bat, with Kyle Ralph and Zac Moody cleaning up the top order to leave Busselton-Margaret River at an ominous 5/22.

But Michael Walker (42) and Chris Dudley (44) teamed up for a 78-run partnership to help their side to 162 runs before being dismissed.

Peel failed to chase the total despite solid efforts from Dylan Gray (26) and Elliot Foote (38), with the side crashing out on 139 in the 47^th over.

PCA 3

Peel’s thirds moved into first position in their pool thanks to a strong over Albany in round two.

Batting first, a collapse in the middle order threatened to put Peel’s hopes of a second win to bed before they were rescued by some outstanding late contributions from Tyrone Allen (50) and Louis Baker (41).

The pair helped guide the PCA side to 8/185, which they would defend on the back of strong bowling from Daniel Debono (3/18).

The win keeps the squad unbeaten from two games.

PCA 4

The fourths were dominant in their round two win over Collie on Tuesday, putting their opposing batting order to the sword with some stunning bowling.

Collie was all out for just 51 runs with several Peel bowlers chiming in including Daniel Best, who snared two wickets from his two overs without coughing up a run.

Mitchell Searston (2/4), Nicholas Ranford (1/6), Brad Ranford (2/7), Andrew Harley (1/4) and Jordan Hodgetts (2/13) all posted impressive figures.

Hodgetts also led the way with the bat for Peel with an unbeaten 57 runs as they cruised to a win with a score of 173.

Peel’s fifth side fell well short of a win when they took on Newman in their second game of the carnival.

Newman blasted their way to a score of 219 on the back of contributions from Darren Reid (39), Elliot Lawrie (38) and Robert Green (37), while Mitchell Steele led the way for the Peel bowling attack with 4/37.

The PCA fell well short of the required total when they were all out on 115 in the 41^st over.