Kookaburras appear to have locked in the remaining finals spot after rallying from a disappointing batting effort to secure first innings points in their Gunnedah first grade clash against Mornington on Saturday.
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Holding a four point buffer over Mornington heading into their final round clash, the first innings points should be enough to put them into the final against Court House.
Stand-in captain Cameron Milne was the shining light for Kookaburras, first with the bat and then the ball as a nine man Mornington fell just nine runs short of their first innings 70.
Milne was the linchpin of that, carrying his bat for 44.
He was the only batsmen to reach double figures and at one stage watched five partners in a row depart without troubling the scorers as Kookaburras lost 6-7.
Callum Hayne was the chief catalyst of Kookaburras middle order demise claiming 5-27.
“All he tried to do was keep hitting the top of off-stump,” Milne said.
“He was very controlled.”
Learning from their first innings, Milne’s instructions to his bowlers were to “hit the top of off-stump and be consistent in it”.
“Anything short was easy. You could ride it and hit it for four or two without too much risk. But anything pitching outside off-stump was very hard to hit,” he said.
He was the main destroyer nabbing 7-10.
“I knew if we could get a roll-on on that type of deck, people would come out and get nervous,” Milne said.
“We didn’t do it early and they got away to a bit of a start.”
But once they got that first breakthrough the wickets fell pretty consistently after that until the last couple with the Mornington tail wagging to give them a bit of a scare.
Albion have a stranglehold on the other game as they affirmed their premiership favouritism.
After skittling Court House for just 44, Albion took just eight overs to polish off first innings points but could then only manage 94.
But the bowlers repeated their first innings heroics to have Court House 6-50 at stumps and with a big job in front of them to avoid an outright.
Luke Ryan and stand-in skipper Brad Jenkinson were outstanding for Albion in the first innings with the ball with Ryan picking up 5-25 and Jenkinson 4-15.
“That’s the best I’ve seen Luke bowl all year.
“He was swinging the ball back in. He hasn’t done all year,” Jenkinson said.
The humid conditions and soft deck provided some assistance for the bowlers.
“It was a little bit sticky so the ball was seaming around,” he said.
Needing early wickets if they were to have any hope, Court House couldn’t have asked for a better start with Farran Lamb having Jake Vigor caught in the slips first ball.
Nathan Millar and Zach Martin quickly though gained back the ascendancy for Albion, Millar smacking 29 off 22 before being trapped in front off Boyd McCormack in his first over.
Batting at 11, Liam Herbert was earlier Court House’s top-scorer with 17, he and Brodie Cleal putting on 19 for the final wicket after they found themselves 9-25.