TOP KNOCK: Brad Wright was the best with the bat for Cavaliers on Saturday with his 44. Photo: STEVE GOSCH 0216sgcrick7
CENTRALS’ Dan Sandford took a season-best eight-wicket haul in his side’s Orange District Cricket Association first grade match against Cavaliers on Saturday.
Playing at Wade Park in the opening day of their two-day match, Sandford took 8-46 from his 16 overs to help remove Cavaliers for 223.
Included in Sandford’s 16 overs were five maidens, three of which were wicket-maidens.
Centrals captain Jarrod Simpson was impressed with the paceman’s efforts.
“He got a good rhythm going,” Simpson said.
“We locked up the other end. They were having trouble scoring off him and Hutch (Chris Hutchinson).”
Cavaliers won the toss and elected to bat but lost Stu Middleton (13) cheaply before James Ryan (40) and Richie Venner (34) put on 59 for the second wicket.
From here Cavaliers lost a steady flow of wickets to be 7-128.
Brad Wright (44) and Leon Lincoln (38 not out) helped the Cavaliers total along to 8-190 and Charlie Foran (17) also chipped in at the end to push the total to 223.
Cavaliers captain Richie Venner said Sandford was in good form with the ball.
“Dan Sandford bowled extremely well to get eight wickets,” Venner said.
“We let him find the right spots and we probably didn’t attack him early enough.”
The skipper added his team still wasn’t batting as well as it should be.
“We’re fairly lucky our tail wagged,” he said.
“We were looking at 180 or 190 total for a while. We were looking pretty good at about 2-80 but then we were 7-128. We just consistently lost wickets and never built partnerships.”
Simpson said he was impressed with his team’s bowling.
The Centrals captain took 2-50 from his 16 overs but also praised Hutchinson.
“Hutch bowled well. He didn’t get the rewards. He did what we needed him to do,” he said.
While Centrals’ bowling may have been on target, they let themselves down in the field.
“We bowled well, we just didn’t field well. We dropped Brad Wright twice before he was on 10,” Simpson explained.
“In the end I think we dropped eight catches. You make those and that turns their total into maybe 130.
“We dropped something like three catches in four overs which didn’t help.”
Centrals had nine overs in the middle before stumps were pulled and they were 2-32.
Hutchinson (10) was caught off a Liam Gough delivery and Will Richard was given out leg before wicket, also off a Gough ball.
Nick Dunlop (19 not out) started well but will be replaced for the second day due to work commitments.
Simpson (1no) is the other unbeaten batsmen
Gough took 2-22 from his five overs and Stu Middleton finished at 0-8 from four.
“It’s pretty evenly balanced,” Venner said of the match.
“It will be up to whoever digs in.”
The two sides will return to Wade Park this Saturday for the second day’s play.