Sport
17 October, 2025
Magpies and Bulls battle for opening win
Clunes and Beaufort will hope to get their first win of the new A grade season at the other’s expense when the two teams clash at Bull Millgate Oval this Saturday.
Starting their campaigns with losses to Laanecoorie Dunolly and Colts Phelans respectively, the Magpies and Bulls will be keen to channel their bright spots with the ball into a more complete batting innings.
Outside of a swift opening stand from Brendan Ingram alongside Brad Stevenson and a resilient 10th wicket partnership between Fred Penhall and Dylan Davies, Clunes struggled to generate sustained momentum against Laane’s vaunted bowling lineup.
Even after Laane opened their run chase superbly, Clunes showed incredible determination to give themselves an outside chance of defending 107, with Noah Davies and Brett Coon causing havoc to Laane’s middle order before they eventually got over the line.
If their quicks can maintain that form with assistance from Stevenson and recruit Ben Handley, they could generate some serious questions of a Beaufort batting lineup that was bowled for 119 against the Colts last weekend.
Reliable opening runs from Kriss Ellis and some late hitting from Nick Stabbins were the highlights for the Bulls with the bat.
Minus a late 84-run partnership between Rhys Egan and Luke Tatchell, Beaufort’s bowling attack looked potent, headlined by Brandon Walsh, Lachlan Oddie and Jarrod Blandford.
However, the Bulls will need to the 26 extras they allowed against the Colts, which included 16 wides.
While the final result remained the same, the Bulls and Magpies played some hotly contested matches last season, particularly in the one-day format.
In the opening round of the 2024/25 campaign, a four-wicket haul from Coon coupled with three wickets from Dylan Davies limited Beaufort to 188 despite several batters getting off to promising starts.
The Magpies’ run chase couldn’t come out of second gear in large part due to some routinely consistent bowling from the Bulls, leading to a 35-run win.
Beaufort had a more comfortable time in their second one-day encounter with Clunes last season thanks to an unbeaten 83 from Lachlan Oddie guiding the Bulls past the Magpies’ total of 181.