A clinical performance from Harry Pearce at the death helped Cavaliers hand Orange City its first loss of the Orange District Cricket Association season at Wade Park on Saturday, the young quick bringing an end to some almost-heroics from Warriors duo Shaun Grenfell and Ed Morrish to secure his side’s 18-run win.
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The Warriors were seemingly dead in the water 20 overs into their chase, languishing at 7-55 in reply to Cavaliers’ 8-179, before Grenfell (78) and Morrish (35) dug in.
They added 97 for the eighth wicket, pushing their side within reaching distance of an unlikely, come-from-behind victory before Pearce returned to the attack and swung momentum back in Cavaliers’ favour.
With the pair set and looking more than capable of smashing the nine an over needed for the last five, Pearce struck, removing Morrish with 28 left to get and then picking up Grenfell with the score at 160.
He cleaned up Jackson Coote (3) two balls later to seal the victory, one which catapults Cavaliers into second on the ladder.
“Harry bowled well, it was time for Ed and I to go needing nine an over but he bowled good lines, built pressure and it paid off for him. He’d bowled well early in the innings too,” Grenfell said.
"Ed and I always thought we could get there, but I think the task just got a bit too big in the end.
“We gave ourselves a chance and the fight Ed showed in particular was great, he batted fantastically, but it shouldn’t have to come to a 100-odd stand that late to give ourselves that chance.
“It’s not that guys were throwing their wickets away, Cavaliers bowled well but even so you shouldn’t lose seven wickets in a session. I think we just needed to work a bit harder during the tough periods, which is what we’ll take away from it I think.”
The task just got a bit too big in the end.
- Orange City's Shaun Grenfell
Chris Brown (44) was Cavaliers’ best with the bat earlier in the day, while skipper Matt Corben (28) and Brad Wright (18) also made handy starts as the maroons posted 8-179 from their 40 overs.
The maroons looked home and hosed after rolling through Orange City’s top and middle orders, Scott Kennedy removed Shaun Churchill (0) and Nathan Rosser (8) early before Pearce ran out Adam Cowden (10) and picked up Darren Barrett’s (6) scalp too.
The Warriors were 4-35 at that point, and Alex Wiegold (1-20) and Wes Lummis (2-24) did a beautiful job backing up their opening bowlers and keeping the pressure on.
Wiegold had Joey Kay (0) caught behind with the score at 48, before Lummis lured Lachie Coyte (3) and Shaun Kirby (0) into edges in consecutive balls, which Corben duly pouched – he finished with four behind the stumps.
Grenfell and Morrish battled away for 19 overs, lifting their side to 7-132 with five overs left.
They took 15 from the next nine balls before Pearce struck, he finished with 4-26 from his 7.4 overs.