Many years ago, there was a popular song about “Jonah in the Whale, and Noah in the Ark”.
“What did they do, when everything looked so dark?”, the lyrics asked.
The answer: They shouted, “You’ve got to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative . . .”
That’s precisely the advice followed by Donald-Jeffcott’s Noah Berry when he took to the crease against St. Arnaud’s “A” grade at the Jeffcott ground on Saturday.
Building on his incredible batting form so far this season, the classy right-hander blasted 20 fours and 5 sixes in an unbeaten innings of 190.
In the process he shared partnership with Cooper Anderson 54, Lachy Jones 10, and Daniel Atkins 22 not out, and the 40 overs innings closed at a mammoth 3/288. Wicket-takers for St. Arnaud were Jacob Patching 1/39 (8), and Kynan Torney 1/38 (4).
The Saints’ reply began promisingly, with Bruce Hando scoring 44 and Colin Crooks 10. Jacob Patching followed up with 35, and Ned Gorrie 11, but with four players failing to score, time ran out with the total at 9/72. Sharing the wickets for Donald-Jeffcott were captain Eddie Landwehr 2/20 (8), Daniel Atkins 2/16 (6), and Dion Hawkes 1/31 (8). Noah Berry rounded off a memorable day with a catch and a stumping behind the wickets.
Visiting Birchip, St. Mary’s won the toss and elected to bat. It was an innings that ended on 38 in just 20.1 overs, after Birchip’s Lachy Randall had crashed through for figures of 5/7 (6.1), Connor Lee 4/18 (6), and captain Jonty Randall 1/4 (4). The only St. Arnaud players to spend time at the wicket were Nick Germano 12, and Bailey Watts 11. Birchip wasted little time (15 overs) in reaching 3/40, chief contributors being Lachy Randall 19, and Ty Colbert 17 not out. Wicket-takers for St. Mary’s were Leigh Somers 2/9 (4) and Colby Schmidt 1/5 (4).
The decision by Brim K.S.H. to bowl first on its home wicket proved to be a winner – for Marnoo. All of the visitors’ top four were among the runs, Brylie Cameron leading the way with 71, and being supported by David Lang 32, Nic Baird 30, and Jimmy Duxson 10, while Baxter Cheesman remained 16 not out, and the total climbed to 9/194. Brim K.S.H. wicket-takers were Royce Bennett 4/36 (8), Dale Stephan 2/25 (7), Charlie Dean 2/33 (7), and Lachie McGinniss 1/37 (8). In reply, Brim K.S.H. came agonisingly close to matching Marnoo’s score, but fell 4 runs short at 8/190. Captain Isaac McPherson “led from the front” with 8, while Matthew Crisp added 25, Royce Bennett 20, Leigh Dovaston 14, and Mark McPherson 10.
“B” Grade
Charlton’s strong start to the season continued when it dismissed Brim K.S.H. for 93 at Charlton Park, where top scorers for the visitors were Ethan Schilling 23 and “fill-in” 15. The six Charlton bowlers to share the wickets were Patrick Soulsby 3/15 (7), Patrick Sait 2/11 (8), Hugh Sait 2/19 (8), Angus Soulsby 1/8 (4), Elliott Fitzpatrick 1/15 (6), and Angus Johnson 1/0 (0.1). Losing just one wicket, Charlton then hit the front with a score of 95, with Patrick Soulsby scoring 30, before Hugh Sait 37 not out, and Darcy McCallum 11 not out, finished the job. Barry Schilling took the one wicket to fall.
Hosting the Watchem Panthers at Hopetoun, Southern Mallee Giants scored 118 in 35 overs, the innings being dominated by the home side’s captain Jack Flavel, with 73. Zach Robins was next best with 11. Good bowling figures for Watchem were those of Austin Dean 3/23 (8), Sam Milne 3/17 (7), and captain Seamus Lowry 2/26 (8). The Giants then had no answer for the bowling of Watchem’s Jack Moore, 6/12 (7), while Jaiden Cook also took 2/8 (3), and Kybe Bellinger 2/13 (2.4), and the innings ended at 10/37 in 14.4 overs.
At Anzac Park, Birchip Swans turned on a solid batting performance with 9/183 in 39.1 overs. Among the runs were Darcy Reid 48, Cameron Bennett 36, captain James Paley 34, and two fill-ins with scores of 18 and 10. St. Mary’s wicket-takers were Jack Evans 3/48 (8), Riley Adams 2/39 (8), Nick Toscano 2/33 (6.1), Hugh Nixon 1/32 (8), and Sailor Knorrp 1/3 (1). Then, losing the top three wickets for no score, St. Mary’s struggled to a total of 101, thanks to the efforts of Gary Fernandez 32, and Nick Toscano 28. Doing the damage for Birchip were Darcy Reid 4/8 (8), Cameron Bennett 2/23 (8), James Paley 2/32 (8), Joel Emonson 1/18 (7), and Jack Knights 1/5 (2.1).
See all the photos in the issue.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 6 February 2024.
