By Matt Zell

Breelong club President John Alchin has turned back the clock with a masterclass of outswing bowling against Eumungerie in the Bendigo Bank ABC Shield on the weekend.

The Saudi Express ended up with the enviable figures of 8/25 off 8 overs as the newcomers recorded a 42 run victory at Eumungerie Sports Ground.

Winning the toss & electing to bat, openers Nathan Tuena & Liam Zell again combined nicely with a 67 run partnership.

Tuena was the first to go for 33, wickets then fell at regular intervals as the search for quick runs commenced. Zell was the 4^th wicket to fall for a well compiled 49, Kel Anforth worked beautifully with the tailenders to finish on 17 not out with Alex Sutherland being the next highest run scorer with 12.

At the end of 40 overs Breelong had amassed 9/156. Pick of the bowlers were A Billing (2/11) Mack Shipp (2/16) & Gavin Seaman (2/18). 

This seemed 80 short of what was required as Eumungerie flew out of the blocks being 24 after just 3 overs.

Enter the man of the hour, after dismissing both openers the tide had begun to turn in the hosts favour with a 34 run partnership between the Shipp brothers before Alchin struck yet again with the crucial wicket of Adlai Shipp for 17.

He was followed back to the sheds by brother Mack the very next over by rookie of the year favourite Tom Eason for a swashbuckling 37.

With the game in the balance at 4/58 Alchin then cut a swathe through the middle & lower order, taking wickets in his 4^th & 5^th overs along with another 2 in his 6^th & 8^th to all but end any hope for the hosts.

Tim Johnston & Jay Thurston then sent a scare through the Breelong camp, combining for an energetic 41 run stand before Henry Johnson had Tim caught behind for an impressive 28 to leave Eumungerie 42 runs short.

Alchin with 8/25 was the star, Eason & Johnson both picked up 1 each. The competition will now take a 2 week harvest break with games set to re-commence Saturday 27^th November, we hope the rain stays away so the crops can come off during this period.

In other results, USC Marthaguy recorded an impressive win against Town Services on Friday night. Whilst the match details are a little unclear at the time of going to press, Marthaguy batted 1^st & made 140 then bowled Town out for approximately 40.

Coonamble recorded their first win since re-entering the competition with a 43 run victory over Coonabarabran. Dwayne Hammond took 5/19 for Coonamble with Nick Willoughby the only Coonabarabran batsman to show any resistance, making 49 out of his team’s total of 76.

Aaron Page top scored for Coonamble with 34 & was supported by Andrew Wheelhouse & Dwayne Hammond who both made 14. Daniel Budden was the pick of the Coona bowlers with 3/19.

Coonamble team captain Tyne Chapman praised Elvy McEwen for “cleaning up” on the bowling and congratulated the other boys for competing for every ball while on the field.

Enjoy your week & we will be back in a few weeks with more cricket news.