Numurkah was sent into bat after Tatura won the toss and elected to bowl, and for the most part of the day, it seemed Tatura had made the right call to field at Numurkah Showgrounds.
Matthew Price and Dustan Ebborn dug their heels in to forge a solid opening partnership of 45 to give the Blues the early pole position, but Tanner Miller and Blake Armstrong dismissed the openers within seven balls of one another to flip the momentum in Tatura’s favour.
Jess Petherick and Jayden Armstrong then took their turn at findings avenues of apprehension for the batters to deal with, resulting in Raguvaran Aravinthan saluting for 17, and Jahlan Lau trapped LBW for a three-ball duck.
Petherick’s pace continued to puzzle Numurkah, with Kyren Dawson knicking off for 16 in the same fashion Aravinthan was caught behind, while namesake Riley Dawson also caught the edge off Petherick after a solid stint for 25 off 79.
However, a lower order resistance from Liam Gledhill kept Numurkah chugging along towards a defendable target, scoring a much-needed 50 not out to raise the bat, and raise Numurkah’s total to 181, before Mitch Grandell went out via hit wicket in the 66th over to hand Tatura it’s 10th and final pole of the day.
Numurkah coach Matt Cline said it was “an up and down innings” to witness as a lower order bat.
“Our openers got us off to a really strong start, but we fell in a hole a little bit, some of the boys will want their time again with their shot selection,” he said.
“But then obviously Liam Gledhill showed his class with a very important 50 and he guided us through a very tricky period to get us to a solid total.”
With time left in the evening to play, Tatura padded up to get a start on the run chase as the game sat evenly poised - if anything, the extra overs had Tatura slightly better favoured.
However, the small window is a danger zone, and Numurkah paceman Cline had the power to change the trajectory of the match.
He did so in six short balls.
Two dot balls to Joshua Macansh began the innings, with Macansh entering the clash with hot form after a 96 the week prior.
But on the third ball, Cline knocked the stumps out of the ground, and Tatura’s plan to dig in for 11 overs for the day had already been marked with its first blemish.
Coach Daniel Coombs scratched a mark on middle stump line next, after he too produced a solid stint at the crease in round six with a score of 41, but after well-placing a shot in a gap for two, Coombs mistimed a shot aerially, and was caught in the field by Gledhill, leaving Tatura stunned at 2-2.
Tatura entered survival mode for the following 10 overs, hoping to make it to the end of the day without any further damage.
Opener Lachlan Magee and number four batter Baxter Plunket offered no more than a straight bat or a leave through to the keeper, each facing 30 balls before stumps to make scores of two and four respectively.
As the umpires tipped over the bails to signal the end of day’s play, Tatura’s 2-8 scoreline paints a dangerous picture for the fifth-placed outfit, despite its clinical innings with the ball forcing Numurkah to finish its batting stint 14 overs early.
Cline was rapt with the start the Blues had made on Tatura’s batting line-up, but knows the job isn’t finished just yet.
If Tatura can settle its nerves and find a groove after the opening spell of day two, the target total is certainly achievable, but the late day carnage by Cline has Numurkah entering next Saturday with all the momentum, in what is set to be a mouthwatering showdown.
“I wouldn’t call it a blessing in disguise (to go all out), but it’s a tricky period to bat for five to ten overs,” Cline said.
“We knew if we could get a couple quick ones we’d have the momentum, and I was lucky enough to be the person who got those.
“That said, I was confident anyone in our bowling attack could do the job also.
“The game’s very evenly poised, it’s on a knife’s edge.
“If we bowl well, we’ll keep that momentum with the ball but the Armstrong boys are classy and they’ve got some other handy bats so it’ll be a tough battle and could go the distance.”
THE GAME SO FAR
Numurkah 181 (Liam Gledhill 50 not out, Dustan Ebborn 29, Lachlan Magee 3-28) leads Tatura 2-8 (Baxter Plunkett four not out, Lachlan Magee two not out, Matt Cline 2-7)
