Sport
10 March, 2026
Maryborough and Clunes tight contest set
Maryborough looks primed and ready for their upcoming finals voyage, needing 27 runs on day two to secure first innings points after an impressive bowling display against Clunes.
Outside of a hard-fought 36 from Ahmed Rehman and a classy fifty from veteran Mark Allen, the Owls swooped the Magpies in the first innings, with four-wicket hauls from Elliot Ashburn and Ben Hoban bowling the visitors for 124.
A 44-ball 52 from Mitch McClure powered Maryborough’s first innings response, ending day one on 2/98.
After their team won the toss and elected to bat, Brenton Jones and Thomas Hardy opened Clunes’ innings.
The partnership only lasted two balls, as Ashburn delivered Maryborough’s dream start by castling Jones for a duck.
The new man in Brett Coon looked to maintain his recent fine touch with the bat, but couldn’t stop fellow young gun Oliver Cassidy from bowling Hardy for naught after he faced 25 deliveries.
A Jasper Trickey induced run-out brought about the demise of Coon, ending another promising innings for 10.
Things only got better for the Owls when the returning Jude McGuire became the third Clunes batter to have his stumps rattled by Maryborough’s opening tandem, removed by Ashburn for a duck.
After losing their first four wickets for 17 runs, it seemed almost inevitable the Magpies would be bowled out for less than 100 for the fourth time in five innings.
That was until Rehman and Allen joined forces. Facing extended stints from Ashburn, Tate Williams and Trickey, the pairing clawed Clunes back to a salvageable position, routinely dealing with good balls while punishing loose ones to the boundary.
The partnership added 68 runs to the total before Rehman’s fine innings came to an abrupt end, gift-wrapping a catch to Cassidy, which he gladly accepted, giving Hoban a wicket with his first ball of the innings.
Despite Rehman being gone for 36, Allen and the new man in, Dylan Davies, lasted past the lunch break, with Allen reaching his first half-century of the season.
The former Ken Gibbs medallist’s knock came to an end shortly thereafter, becoming Ashburn’s third victim thanks to a catch from Troy Bursill behind the stumps after making 52 with seven fours and a six.
Allen’s departure sparked a lower-order Clunes collapse, compounded when Dylan Davies hit an Ashburn delivery straight to the waiting hands of Oliver Bennett, gone for 15.
Paul Coon and Noah Davies survived some tidy overs from Ashburn and Cassidy before Paul Coon was bowled by Ben Hoban for four at the beginning of a new spell for the stalwart Owl.
That spell would cause the demise of Clunes’ innings, with Hoban getting returning captain Mitch Coppick to be caught by Cassidy for a duck and bowling Eric Downs in back-to-back balls, finishing the innings on a hat-trick with Clunes all out for 124.
With his previous season-best figures of 4/21 in his last encounter with Clunes, Hoban improved to 4/7 off 5.2 overs with his showing on Saturday alongside Ashburn’s 4/32 after being impressively consistent over 19 overs.
The Owls started their run chase with a lineup alteration, with McClure joining Bennett to open the batting.
The new tandem wasted no time attacking Clunes’ score, belting 65 runs in the first 11 overs and forcing the ball out of the Magpies' leading wicket-taker Noah Davies.
Rehman slowed the Owls’ progress in the nick of time, completing a caught and bowled of Bennett after he scored 23 before bowling McClure in the next over for an entertaining 52 that included six fours and two sixes.
Hoban and Liam Radlof batted out the remaining eight overs in different manners, with Hoban protecting his wicket to finish the day on four not out, while Radlof belted three late boundaries to stay unbeaten on 18.
Rehman is currently the only wicket-taker for Clunes with 2/10 from six overs.