Sport
28 October, 2025
Maryborough’s bowlers swoop Magpies
Maryborough took full advantage of a sublime first innings bowling performance to overcome Clunes by seven wickets.
Despite another fantastic innings from Mitch Coppick ending in a well-deserved 50, the Owls’ attack, led by Oliver Cassidy, Elliot Ashburn and Martin Dell, restricted the Magpies to 105, which Maryborough chased down in the 24th over.
Clunes won the toss and elected to bat first at Ron Sinclair Oval, with the returning Mark Jenkin making his team’s intention known by smacking the first ball of the innings for a boundary.
Unfortunately for Jenkin, his tenure was short-lived, removed in the second over by Cassidy for five when he was caught by Ben Hoban.
That brought the debuting Ahmed Rehman to the crease alongside opener Brendan Ingram, with the pair quickly threatening to settle in for the long haul.
Cassidy changed that in the sixth over when Hoban caught another of his deliveries, this time to get rid of Ingram for four and place some serious pressure on the Magpies at 2/14.
As the new partnership of Rehman and the next man in Mitch Coppick began to thrive, a diving catch down the leg side by wicketkeeper Troy Bursill from the bowling of Ashburn removed Rehman for three and put Maryborough well and truly on top.
Ashburn quickly had a second victim, dismissing Mark Allen for four when the Clunes A grade games record holder was caught by Cassidy.
After the Magpies entered the drinks break at 4/50, Coppick began to accelerate, hitting some marvelous boundaries, especially with his cut shot, while Brett Coon did well to give Coppick most of the strike.
As the partnership between Coon and Coppick jeopardised Mary-borough’s command of the contest, the former was run out by Alex Burrow for four, with Clunes now at 5/81.
Dell added another blow two balls later, getting the wicket of Ben Handley for a duck, thanks to Cassidy’s second catch of the day.
After Coppick brought up his 50 in the 26th over, Dell finally got the wicket the Owls wanted three overs later, with Coppick caught by Cassidy to bring his splendid innings to an end.
Cassidy and Ashburn precisely cleaned up the tail, with Cassidy ending the dangerous Noah Davies for six thanks to a catch by Bursill and bowling Sam Williams for six before Elliot Ashburn took the final wicket to end the Magpies' innings in the 33rd over after being bowled out for 105.
Coppick’s top-scoring 50 was the only Clunes batter to reach double figures, with Fred Penhall left unbeaten on nine.
After missing the Owls clash with the Colts, Cassidy made up for lost time, taking figures of 4/23 from eight overs, while Ashburn ended on 3/15 and Dell took 2/7 from three overs.
Looking to defend 105, Clunes needed a quick breakthrough against the new opening partnership of Hoban and Dell to dig into Maryborough’s batting depth early.
It only took until the second over for Davies to strike, with Hoban caught by Penhall behind the stumps for four to put some pressure back on the Owls.
After a fiery flourish that included belting 16 runs in the space of four balls, Dell also fell to Davies in the sixth over, bowled for 17.
The gauntlet was thrown down to Oliver Bennett and Alex Burrow to steer Maryborough out of danger at 2/28, with the duo adding 31 runs as the run chase began to gain traction.
However, it was that man again Davies who was keeping Clunes in the match, this time removing Burrow for 19 thanks to a catch by Williams.
Even with the bowling of Davies, a 47-run partnership between Bennett and Kristopher Bagley ensured Clunes couldn’t get any closer, with the Owls taking their second win of the season.
Bennett and Bagley ended not out on 37 and 19 respectively, while Davies shone with the ball for the Magpies, ending on 3/21 from six overs.