It was a slow, agonising death for Western Suburbs’ batsmen on Saturday as Kurri-Weston medium pacer Alex Seamer dominated with the ball at Coronation Oval.
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On a wicket playing a little low and slow, Seamer was the standout, taking 5-37 from 23 miserly overs that included 13 maidens.
Chasing a total of 235, Wests came up well short, dismissed for 140 off 66 overs.
Wests skipper Tom Irwin played a lone hand, scoring a patient 59 – the only Wests batsman to pass 20.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to give credit to the opposition, and they were too good,” Irwin said.
“From what I’ve seen Kurri are going to be a real force this season. I’d put them in the top two, that’s how impressed I was.”
Irwin was reluctant to criticise his own players, saying they put a high price on their wickets.
“We batted 66 overs so we faced a lot of balls,” he said. “It’s not as if we were playing rash strokes.
“But they built pressure really well with in-out fields and their bowlers were bowling at the top of off stump. They were very hard to get away and the pressure built.
“At one stage there we faced five or six maidens overs in a row.
“And at the same time Alex Seamer bowled unchanged for two hours … maybe 16 or 17 overs in succession.
“The bowlers at the other end gave him good support with terrific line and length bowling, so it was a top team effort from them.”
Opener Justin Lantry (16), Damien Trappel (11) and Riley Harrison (18) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures.
While Seamer was weaving his own sort of magic at one end, left armer Jack Sylvester gave sterling support with 2-31 from 15 overs, while Isaac Barry grabbed 2-43 from 13 overs and Sam Dalibozek 1-14 from seven overs.
In other matches Norths picked up an bonus when they managed outright points against Easts at East Maitland Park in a thrilling finish with three balls to spare.
At the start of the day Norths were 1-49 in reply to Easts disappointing first innings total of 138, but got off to flyer with Lincoln Mills on fire.
The early runs put them in a strong position to push for extra points, with Mills finishing with 121 after an opening partnership of 185.
Norths finished their first innings at 242 – a lead of 104.
Easts struggled again in the second innings to score 166 with Brendan Allen top scoring with 46. Jordan Callinan picked up four wickets to complement his five wicket haul in the first innings.
Norths needed 66 to win outright and did it midway through the final over.
Ironically Easts were a man short in the field when one player had to leave.
City United were impressive in claiming major points against newly promoted Port Stephens at Robins.
After scoring a healthy 6-303 last weekend, City’s bowlers did the job nicely on Saturday, restricting Port to 114 and 90 respectively.
“It was a really good, all round effort,” City skipper Matt Trappell said.
“I don’t think we put a complete game together like that all last season.”
Tim Burton (5-50) and left arm spinner Nick Bower (5-38) took all 10 wickets in the Pythons’ first innings, with off spinner Michael Heinrich grabbing four wickets in the second.
“It’s early days but it’s good to put in a strong batting performance and then have the wickets shared around. We couldn’t have asked for more.”
For the Pythons, Joshua (28) and Jarrod Moxey (39 and 50) were best with the bat but they will need greater support in the games ahead.
Next highest score in either innings was 13, with Port’s batsmen really struggling against quality spin.
Raymond Terrace’s bowlers dominated Thornton”s batsmen, restricting them to 116 in reply to the Terrace’s 152.
Nick Savage starred with 6-36.