Sport
28 October, 2025
Laane cruises to seven-wicket win
Laanecoorie Dunolly made the most of the overcast conditions at Bryants Oval to bowl Beaufort out for 96, comfortably chasing down the target to record a seven-wicket victory.
Besides some strong resistance from Bulls captain Brandon Walsh, Laane’s opening bowlers of Josh Fitzpatrick and Sam Bartlett ripped through their opponents’ top order, combining for six wickets before Joe Lovel and Nafis Shaikh led the run chase that put Laane over the line.
With the threat of rain looming in the afternoon, Beaufort elected to bat after winning the toss, with the addition of Kriss Ellis opening the innings alongside Joshua Lofts.
Fitzpatrick made Ellis’ return short-lived, dismissing the dangerous opener for a duck in the first over when he was caught by Lovel.
After Fitzpatrick unlatched the door, Bartlett began to mow down Beaufort’s lineup, putting the hosts in a dominating position.
First, Bartlett ended Lyle Aichroth’s innings prematurely at three when Lovel was at it again with another sharp catch. In his next over, Bartlett was at it again, this time grabbing the big wicket of Lachlan Oddie, who got caught by Fitzpatrick after making two.
When Bartlett took his third breakthrough in as many overs after Theo Trevelyan-Clark was caught by Shaikh for two, the Bulls were in a world of bother at 4/13 before completing 10 overs.
With survival at the forefront, Lofts and new partner Walsh began to knuckle down for the visitors, looking to salvage anything from their disastrous start.
The duo weathered the storm up to the drinks break, and while they would’ve liked to have seen more runs on the scoreboard, they did stem the bleeding to be at 4/42 after 20 overs.
Just as a glimmer of hope began to shimmer for the Bulls, Alex Cook faded the glimmer further into the distance by removing Lofts for a hard-fought 19, caught by the continuously influential Bartlett.
New man in Adam Miller picked up where Lofts left off alongside Walsh, navigating the consistently tight bowling of the Laane attack and scoring when the opportunity presented itself.
With 10 runs in the 31st over, the Bulls showed potential they could rescue a defendable total until Shaikh sent Miller to the pavilion for 10 with the help of a good catch from Lachie Condie behind the stumps, putting Beaufort at 6/77.
From there, the hosts made no mistakes cleaning up the tail with Will Chamings taking a pair of wickets from his first two deliveries, with David Kiely caught by Bartlett for two and Dan Quixley gone for a duck after being trapped for an LBW.
Some creative shots from Walsh got the Bulls on the eve of triple digits, but his innings came to an end in the 37th over, top edging a Fitzpatrick delivery to the waiting hands of Tom Hannett, ending his gritty innings at 37.
Fitzpatrick bowled Lachlan Lee with the next ball to conclude the Bulls innings at 96, with Beau Quickley the batter left not out on one.
Bartlett finished with top figures of 3/11 from just five overs that included two maidens, while two late wickets also brought Fitzpatrick’s wicket total to 3/14 from 6.5 overs.
After having limited opportunities to shine with the bat in Laane’s first two matches, Lovel was promoted to start the run chase alongside established opener Tom Hart.
Hart attempted to set the tone early by scoring 12 runs in the first four legal deliveries, but became undone when Trevelyan-Clark grabbed his wicket in the first over, thanks to a catch from Walsh.
Despite an early setback, Lovel and the next man in Shaikh quickly settled into a comfortable groove as they worked their way towards the target.
With his team in desperate need of another breakthrough, Trevelyan-Clark ended the promising innings of Lovel at 21 with the help of a catch from Ellis.
Laane didn’t derail after Lovel’s removal, with Bartlett joining Shaikh in the middle and adding to his bowling performance with some consistent scoring.
Even with Oddie taking the wicket of Bartlett for 19 through a catch from Aichroth, Laane surpassed the Bulls in the 19th over with Shaikh top scoring with an unbeaten 29 and Alex Cook adding 10 late.
Following a rocky start with the ball, Trevelyan-Clark recovered well to record his best figures for the Bulls so far, taking 2/33.