A gutsy Gala performance including a fine fielding display secured a 60 run win to keep alive their Championship title hopes.
Gala made a competitive 188 for 8 but in reply tight bowling and some brilliant catches ensured a youthful Grange 2nds were bowled out for 128.
In a rain affected match which reduced the overs to 40, Gala got off to the worst possible start as Sid Ponneri and Jack Halls were both dismissed in the first over without a run being scored.
Finlay Rutherford (28) and Duncan Millar (24) put together an excellent partnership of 59 to pull Gala back into the game but another collapse saw Gala reduced to 72 for 5.
Once again Gala fought back as Upul Indrasiri (33) and Dinesh Tharanga put on another 59 run partnership and when Indrasiri departed Tharanga batted onto the end of the innings with support from Ash Rhode (13) and a nine-ball knock of 18 by Jamie Crooks.
Tharanga finished 40 not out, while Freddie Peet took three for 32 for Grange.
In reply, Grange lost Jonathan Brock for seven but Gala struggled to pick up many more wickets, while still keeping their opponents from scoring runs with some high tempo fielding.
Grange reached 72 for 2 off 22 overs to keep themselves in the game, but then lost three quickfire wickets including top scorer Scott Blain (38) to a sharp caught and bowled by Jack Halls.
Rhode then produced a brilliant catch to help dismiss Haris Ali, quickly followed by Ponneri running out Raman Sanghera with a fantastic direct hit.
Finlay Rutherford also took an excellent high catch in the deep as Grange were eventually well short of Gala’s target.
Halls finished with a fine 3 for 18 from his six overs but it was Tharanga who won the Kinalba man of the match award on Gala’s sponsors day. The club thanks all sponsors and supporters for backing Gala CC this season.
Gala (20) beat Gen!us Grange 2 (6) by 60 runs
Umpires : D. Smith and S. Sheikh
Scorers : B. Robertson (Gala) and Grange scorer
Gala won the toss and chose to bat first.
Innings of Gala
| S Ponneri | Caught M Chohan | b F Peet | 0 | ||
| F Rutherford | Caught A Aniruddhan | b Ala Docherty | 28 | ||
| J Halls | Ct. & Bld. | b F Peet | 0 | ||
| + | D Millar | Caught R Sanghera | b F Huddleston | 24 | |
| U Indrasiri | Caught M Chohan | b F Huddleston | 33 | ||
| * | J Irvine | Caught Cal Swanson | b Ala Docherty | 0 | |
| D Tharanga | Not Out | 40 | |||
| A Rhode | Caught A Aniruddhan | b F Peet | 13 | ||
| J Crooks | Caught R Sanghera | b H Ali | 18 | ||
| R Irvine | DNB | ||||
| S Paterson | DNB | ||||
| Extras | 6b 2lb 20w 4nb | 32 | |||
| TOTAL | for 8 wkts (40 ovs) | 188 |
| Bowler O M R W F Peet 8.0 1 32 3 H Ali 8.0 0 36 1 M Chohan 3.0 0 10 0 Ala Docherty 8.0 0 33 2 F Huddleston 8.0 0 47 2 A Aniruddhan 5.0 0 22 0 | Fall of Wickets 1 – 0 S Ponneri 2 – 0 J Halls 3 – 59 F Rutherford 4 – 72 D Millar 5 – 72 J Irvine 6 – 131 U Indrasiri 7 – 162 A Rhode 8 – 188 J Crooks |
Innings of Gen!us Grange 2
| J Brock | Caught D Millar | b D Tharanga | 7 | ||
| S Blain | Ct. & Bld. | b J Halls | 38 | ||
| J Donaldson | Caught R Irvine | b U Indrasiri | 9 | ||
| F Huddleston | LBW | b S Paterson | 16 | ||
| Ala Docherty | Caught J Halls | b A Rhode | 3 | ||
| H Ali | Caught A Rhode | b U Indrasiri | 5 | ||
| * | M Chohan | Caught F Rutherford | b J Halls | 9 | |
| R Sanghera | Run Out (S Ponneri) | 0 | |||
| A Aniruddhan | Caught J Irvine | b D Tharanga | 9 | ||
| F Peet | Bowled | b J Halls | 3 | ||
| + | Cal Swanson | Not Out | 7 | ||
| Extras | 6b 3lb 13w | 22 | |||
| TOTAL | All Out (37.1 ovs) | 128 |
| Bowler O M R W R Irvine 5.0 1 11 0 D Tharanga 6.1 1 23 2 S Paterson 8.0 0 31 1 U Indrasiri 8.0 1 16 2 A Rhode 4.0 0 20 1 J Halls 6.0 1 18 3 | Fall of Wickets 1 – 16 J Brock 2 – 40 J Donaldson 3 – 73 F Huddleston 4 – 84 Ala Docherty 5 – 87 S Blain 6 – 102 H Ali 7 – 102 R Sanghera 8 – 102 M Chohan 9 – 110 F Peet 10 – 128 A Aniruddhan |