Victoria dominates ACT

The Victorian boys and girls teams both recorded convincing victories in their round three clashes against the Australian Capital Territory.

Having won the toss and electing to bat, the ACT’s boys team got off to a shaky start, quickly losing openers Samuel Mybuurgh (0) and David Gray (1).

From then, the ACT failed to recover with the Northern Rivers’ Ethan Baxter (3-8), the South East Bayside Breakers’ Campbell Kellaway (2-8) and the Southern Pioneers’ Kevin Seth (2-18) leading the Victorian attack to dismiss ACT for 104 in the 47th over.

In reply, solid contributions from the Northern Rivers’ Ryan O’Keefe (30*), the North East Knights’ Tom Bracher (25*) and the North West Wizards’ Jagadeswararao Koduri (29) saw Victoria reach its target in the 34th over with seven wickets in hand.

“We were happy to bounce back after the loss to Queensland,” Victorian coach Dave Gallacher said.

“After changing up the batting order, we were very pleased with the efforts of Jaga and Tom who put value on their wickets and ran hard in warm, humid conditions.

“We need to bring our ‘A’ game against Northern Territory today to ensure we stay alive in the Championship.”

In the girls division, Victoria won the toss and elected to bat.

An unbeaten 44 from the South East Sharks’ Merinda Hale and contributions from fellow Shark Tiana Atkinson (23), the North East Knights’ Georgia Moorman (29*) and the Northern Falcons’ Emma Sands (27) saw the Victorians reach a score of 3-177.

The state’s bowling attack demolished ACT with the Southern Pioneers’ Jessica Matin (3-2) and Atkinson (3-4) leading the charge in bowling them out for 42 in 24th over.

“The girls grouped together after their disappointment during the previous match and provided an outstanding example of how talented they all are,” Cricket Victoria support staff Di Day said.

“A well structured innings with the bat ensured the opposition were in for a tough challenge.”

As the boys face NT, the girls will today face the Invitational XI, which boasts Victoria’s Arnika McGregor and Leela Rosser.