Harvey-Benger’s second and fourth grade sides start new season with mixed results as women defeat Hay Park

Harvey-Benger’s second grade started their BDCA season with mixed results in two T20 fixtures on Saturday.

Starting their campaign against Hay Park, Harvey-Benger lost the toss and were in the field on a wicket which was soft — a handful for the batters.

Joryn Scarlett removed the dangerous James Harradine early to leave Hay Park under pressure, being backed up in the next over with Fraser Wray removing Nayte Charles.

Adam Worlley and Taj Franklin-Hicks put together a nice partnership to steady Hay Park before Matt Chave removed both along with Kalani Heal to put the clamps on the home side.

Chave finished with figures of 3-13 from his four overs and was supported by Scarlett who took 2-24 from his four overs, leaving Hay Park with a final score of 6-94.

But, Harvey-Benger never got going in their reply, losing opening pair Haydn Jones and Joseph Cambrea with the score on 33.

Things become harder when Scott Fowler and Francois Roelofsz both departed for a duck, with the side managing only 8-78 in reply.

The team went to Burekup in the afternoon, with captain Matt Chave winning the toss and electing to bat.

Harvey-Benger’s poor batting run continued in the afternoon with the top order failing to trouble the scorers too much.

They found themselves in trouble at 6-26 before Hamish Minton was supported by Fraser Wray to help the visitors get up to a total which gave them a glimmer of hope.

The side finished their innings all out for 92.

Burekup looked to have control and were cruising towards the total but Chave came in to bowl and turned the game on its head by taking three wickets in one over.

Wray removed another the following over and Burekup found themselves at 6-49, with the home team unable to recover.

The first match for the fourth-grade side saw Harvey-Benger record a 35-run victory against Collie at Hay Park.

Winning the toss and batting, Harvey-Benger fell to 3-39 before a brilliant 70-run partnership between father and son pairing Johnny Crognale and Jesse J Crognale.

Collie were also wayward in their bowling, which saw Harvey-Benger’s score reach 7-121 at the end of the innings.

Harvey-Benger restricted Collie to 86 runs and won the match, but the side faced a hard-fought contest in the afternoon against old rivals Eaton.

Bowling first, Harvey-Benger were under pressure as the Eaton openers reached 50 without loss before fighting back to keep the home side to 7-104 at the end of the innings.

The visitors’ batting innings started in rocky fashion, with batters struggling to pierce the field and wickets falling with regularity.

Nicholas Blunt (12) stemmed the bleeding, partnering well with Shane Trebley (37) to get the scoreboard ticking over.

Trebley batted masterfully with the tail to take the match to the final over needing 13 runs, but fell just one metre short of hitting a six and was caught on the boundary.

Harvey-Benger were bowled out for 93, being defeated by 11 runs.

It was a positive weekend for the women’s team, who started their season with a win away from home against 2023-24 grand finalist Hay Park on Sunday.

The home side won the toss and elected to bat, with Harvey-Benger bowlers taking a few overs to find their line and length.

Kirby Martinson was the first wicket to fall off the bowling of Kristy Stalteri when the score was 46 off 10 overs, before captain Megan Minton bowled Michelle Wells for seven.

Trinity Brown snicked up the dangerous Caitlyn Heslewood for three who edged the ball to Fleur Parker, with Hay Park finishing their innings 3-91.

Harvey-Benger’s openers Sam Bozanich and Taneeka De Ridder started the run chase with caution seeing off the Heslewood sisters.

De Ridder was eventually run out for 19, ending a 50-run partnership.

Parker joined Bozanich and the pair continued to work their way towards the total until Bozanich was caught for 30.

Minton (five not out) and Parker (22 not out) brought the game home for Harvey-Benger, reaching Hay Park’s total with 13 balls to spare.