Scholz stars in Under-16 Showcase match

Stars won the toss and elected to bat and made 5-227 from their 50 overs and in reply Renegades could muster only 146 all out in 40.4 overs.

The Stars began their innings well as Hugh Ferdinand looked to attack from the start and the majority of his scoring shots were boundaries.

The breakthrough for the Renegades came in the 12^th over as Harry Wardlaw was caught behind by Zac Macciocca off Conor McGuire for 11 with the score on 61.

The Renegades built up the pressure after the first wicket and made it hard for Ferdinand and new batsman Elliott Brandon-Jones to score.

This brought them a second wicket with the Stars on 84 as Ferdinand was caught by the skipper, Connor Rutland, for 55 off Jay Vine for 55, an innings which included seven fours.

Brandon-Jones was joined at the crease by Shubham Bhargave and the pair built an important partnership which ended only because they both retired not out on 50 and 49 respectively.

Brandon-Jones hit four fours and a six while Bhargave scored six fours.

It was not till the 43^rd over that the Renegades took their third wicket and it was their eighth bowler, Charlie Loveridge, who got the breakthrough but by this time the Stars had already scored 200.

He had Mitchell Perry stumped for nine and in his following over (the 45^th) repeated his success as he had James Boyce stumped for two with the score on 204.

The Renegades picked up their fifth and final wicket as Daniel Thompson was bowled by Jack Trevethan for three with the Stars on 210.

Wicketkeepr Noah Croes and Daniel Scholz shared an unbeaten 17-run partnership as the Stars posted 227-5 from their 50 overs.

Loveridge was the pick of the Renegades’ bowlers claiming 2-13 with the miserly economy rate of 1.86.

In response, the Renegades lost an early wicket as Donovan Toohey was caught by Croes off Perry in the third over for a single with the score on nine.

Rutland and Daniel Ingleton then shared an important 53-run partnership before Ingleton was bowled by Joshua Murray for 19.

With the captain playing well there was still a chance of chasing down the imposing target.

However, the Renegades struggled to negotiate Scholz’s bowling and their remaining eight wickets fell at regular intervals and they went from 62-2 to 146 all out.

The Renegades could muster only 146 runs all out in 40.4 overs which resulted in an 81-run win for Stars Metro.

All the Stars bowlers finished with good economy rates but the standout bowler was Scholz who ripped through the Renegades’ batsmen to finish his 10 overs with remarkable figures of 7-32.

Two of his wickets were stumpings, one was bowled and the remainder caught.