PORT City Leagues Magpies kept the pressure on Macquarie Hotel at the top of the Mid North Coast Premier Cricket League following a three-wicket win on Saturday.
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Magpies made it hard for themselves, but eventually chased down Wauchope’s target of 142 for the loss of seven wickets with eight balls remaining.
Jesse Schmidt (42) led the way after a disastrous start to the innings saw Ben Marron run out for a duck.
Port City captain Gordon Scott was impressed with Schmidt’s ability to “dig in” and get the job done.
“Jesse batted really well for his 40 and had to really dig in; I don’t think I’ve ever seen him work as hard for his runs before,” he said.
“We made it really hard for ourselves, but full credit to Wauchope – they bowled really well and made us work for it.”
Former RSL off-spinner Blake Larance made an impression on his old club, taking three wickets and hitting a valuable 24 in the middle order.
We made it really hard for ourselves, but full credit to Wauchope – they bowled really well and made us work for it.
- Port City Leagues Magpies captain Gordon Scott
Spinning partner Zac Jones finished with 3-27 off eight overs.
“Blake was our man of the match against his old club – him and Zac bowled really well in combination,” Scott said.
“Their top scorer was dropped three or four times and scored a third of their runs, so we should have only been chasing 90 or 100 because our fielding was really poor.”
While disappointed his side couldn’t back up an impressive win over Taree United seven days prior, Wauchope captain Matt Day remained upbeat.
“I was really happy with how competitive we were because I see Port City as the benchmark and the favourites for the competition,” he said.
“They’ve got an awesome attack in Badenoch, Schmidt, Felton and the two spinners, so they’re an all-round team.”
He was disappointed his side again couldn’t take advantage of an impressive start to their innings.
We probably left ourselves 20 runs short, and those extra 20 runs probably would have won us the game.
- Wauchope RSL captain Matt Day
“To be bowled out inside our overs was a bit disappointing because our top order again laid the platform, but the middle order left a few runs out there,” the captain said.
“We probably left ourselves 20 runs short, and those extra 20 runs probably would have won us the game.”
Day admitted opening batsman Robbie Parker was “fantastic” at the top of the order, but he wanted more from the rest of the order.
“It would have been nice to get those guys in the middle that got 10, 12 or 15 to have gone on with it a bit more,” he said.
“There were a few things that didn’t go our way – a few balls fell in gaps and just short, so while I was disappointed to lose, we’ll take a fair bit out of the game.
“We showed we can match it with the best team in the competition.”
