Belridge Cricket team extinguish the Western Fury!

A number of lucky Belridge cricket students were selected to play at the WACA against the State Women’s cricket team, The Western Fury, on Wednesday 10 February. The game was organised as a practice match for the Fury prior to travelling to Tasmania to play in the WNCL (Women’s National Cricket League).

The Fury won the toss and elected to bat first. Both their openers batted extremely well, against some solid bowling from our two bowlers Daniel Corry and Harrison Brice, putting on a big 100 run partnership until we eventually got a breakthrough. The Fury were building a formidable target as they reached 2-180 in the 34th over.  Erin Martin (Year 9) and Breanna Giandzi (Year 11) had the opportunity to bowl to some of their cricketing idols, which was a really great experience for them both. Our last 15 overs were really tidy, led by Oskar Le Blanc (3 wickets), Zac Caporn (1 wicket) and Kai Orr (1 wicket). The Fury finished 9-255 after 50 overs.

In response, Belridge had a wobbly start losing two early wickets within the first 10 overs. Daniel Corry and Riley Gillespie steadied the ship and put on a nice partnership before both losing their wicket before the first drinks break. Kai Orr (70 runs) and Matt Carroll (57 runs) batted superbly and put Belridge back into contention to win the match with a big 100 run partnership. Unfortunately, both batsman fell in quick succession which put the tail enders under pressure to finish the game. With 24 balls remaining in the match Belridge needed 34 runs with 2 wickets in hand. Enter Oskar Le Blanc. ‘The Finisher’, as he is more affectionately known now, came in and blundered the attack, catapulting Belridge to a nail biting win with 3 balls remaining in the game.

It was a fantastic opportunity for our students to play against quality opposition at the home of cricket. We thank the Fury for the invitation to play them. A huge thank you to all our students who represented Belridge proudly once again.

Brent Jarvis-Spinks
Health & Physical Education Teacher