General News
18 November, 2019
Pelicans get on the board
A STRONG bowling effort lifted Bookaar to its first win of the South West Cricket season over Heytesbury Rebels on Saturday.
A STRONG bowling effort lifted Bookaar to its first win of the South West Cricket season over Heytesbury Rebels on Saturday.
The Pelicans, who were playing their first match in weeks, produced a disciplined bowling display to restrict the Rebels’ batting prowess en route to a seven wicket win.
They then made easy work of the run chase at the Camperdown Showgrounds, losing just three wickets as they passed the required target in the 30th over.
Pelicans skipper Simon Baker said his side was thrilled to open its account following an extended stint on the sidelines.
“It was just good to get a game in and to get our first win on the board,” he said.
“Everyone was a bit rusty, you could tell by the way both sides started the game, they looked a bit rusty too but it was a short and sweet game.
“There wasn’t a lot of runs involved.”
Bookaar was forced to bowl first but controlled the Rebels’ innings as they claimed early wickets and limited the visitors output from the get-go.
The visitors found it tough to punish the Pelicans, with Heytesbury finding it tough to build a sizeable total as they finished their 50 overs at 7/119.
Fraser Lucas (3/26) and Tim Fitzgerald (2/24) both took multiple wickets while Baker (1/18) and Deiter McDonald (1/24) chimed in with one apiece to complete the innings.
“Our tight bowling at the start set it up for us,” Baker said.
“We didn’t bowl too many short, we just pitched it up and made them hit it along the ground which made it harder for them to score.
“We made them take ones and twos, we gave them nothing to hit aerially with the ground being a bit longer than it normally is.”
With the bat, Pelican openers Tim Fitzgerald (48) and Eddie Lucas (46) combined for an 83 run stand to effectively seal the game before Zach Sinnott (16 not out) chipped in with a handy cameo to finish the match.
“They (Heytesbury) probably just bowled a bit too short and the boys took advantage of that and rotated the strike well,” Baker said.
“It wasn’t much to chase, so once we had a few good overs in it was over really being a small total.”
The win lifted Bookaar to fifth on the ladder, with the Pelicans only percentage outside the top four.
They will be eager to continue their push up the table this week, but will have a task on their hands with Bookaar set to host powerhouse Mortlake at Camperdown Showgrounds this Saturday.
Baker said the Pelicans were looking forward to taking on the Cats but admitted the contest “is a bit of an unknown really” for his side given both clubs are still trying to hit peak form.
“We only have a couple of games under our belts, obviously we had one last week with a month off in between, so we’ll just try to play to our strengths,” he said.
“We just want to make sure we get a good game under our belts and get some continuity in our cricket.”