Leading into the first round Gunnedah District Cricket Association match against Kookaburras, Court House captain Farran Lamb thought restricting Cameron Milne’s scoring would go a long way toward a win.
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Lamb was right and the Court House bowlers did their job.
While Milne managed to make a fine 41, Court House’s bowling attack was tight with the fielders backing up the bowlers well to restrict the Kookaburras to a total of 89.
“He’s [Milne] probably their best batsman and we knew if we limited Cameron, we’d hopefully only be chasing a small target,” Lamb said.
“He got 40-odd which wasn't too bad.
“We took our chances and everyone bowled pretty good. That set us up for that total.”
Milne was in a world of his own early on for the Kookaburras.
He opened alongside Tim Kelly as the pair put on 20 for the first wicket before Kelly fell for a duck.
Milne continued to do the majority of the scoring alongside new partner Sam O'Gorman (4). This pairing also put on 20 runs.
The Kookaburras opener shared the scoring more evenly with Pat Rankmore (14) as another 15 runs were added to the total.
The economical Isaac Harris (3-5 from five overs) finally removed Milne before Shane Riordan fell with the score on 73.
At 4-73, the Kookaburras were in a position to post a decent total but Sam Doubleday had other ideas.
The off spinner claimed five of the last six wickets to clean up the tail and gifted his side a reachable total in the process.
“He [Doubleday] doesn’t really turn the ball but bowls a good line and length and tries to get people to try and hit him,” Lamb said.
“He’s a good spin bowler. He benefited from the young pace bowlers doing their job.”
Nathan McDonald (8) fell with Court House on 17 before Alex Beasley (21) and Boyd McCormack (15) got things back on track.
Later in the innings, Court House lost 4/15 as Milne (3/5) did his best to drag the Kookaburras back into the contest but in the end it was just a minor hiccup in the run chase. Harris made a quick 18 to seal the five-wicket win.
Lamb said it was great to see Alex Beasley back in action after reinventing himself following a knee injury.
“Alex Beasley, he opened the batting for us, has just come back from injury,” Lamb said.
“He was one of our key bowlers last year but because he can’t bowl, he’s been working on his batting.
“It was good to see him get some runs and hopefully he keeps it going.”