Tatura 50 (Michael Archer 11, Jayden Armstrong 11, Jesse Trower 8-12, Jordan Cleeland 1-8) v Waaia 8-94 (Sam Trower 38, Jordan Cleeland 9, Sean McAllister 4-28, Michael Archer 4-30)
STAR PLAYER
Jesse Trower (Waaia): Had the sort of day bowlers dream of, ripping through Tatura for magical figures of 8-12. The second-best bowling figures on the Haisman Shield's MyCricket database, which kicks in for the 2003-04 season.
A devastating Jesse Trower bowling spell ripped Tatura apart on Saturday, with Waaia to push for an outright win next weekend.
The young Bomber quick was completely unplayable and finished with the ridiculous figures of 8-12 off 21 overs, a spell of bowling that saw the Bulldogs bowled out for just 50.
Trower's figures are the second-best in the Haisman Shield's MyCricket database (complete since the 2003-04 season), bettered only by Numurkah's Tim Arnel's 10-25 taken last season.
By stumps, the Bombers had first-innings points wrapped up, sitting at 8-94 with an outright victory a chance should they repeat the bowling heroics.
Captain Brayden Carey was thrilled his side had continued strong form and won consecutive games for the first time in the Haisman Shield.
“We got off to a really good start, Mitch and Jesse both bowled really well and they just couldn't get any away,” he said.
“We took a couple of really good catches and then Jesse just continued on with the rest. It was pretty incredible what he did.
“We passed the target three wickets down, we didn't throw wickets away, although the wicket wasn't really conducive to scoring quickly. We lost a few wickets though, everyone was trying to score straight away rather than getting into an innings.”
Of Trower's heroics, Carey said it was a case of reward for effort for the hard-working, talented quick.
“He just seems to be super consistent with his line and length and doesn't give anything away,” he said.
“He actually had an opportunity for the ninth wicket but the catch was put down, he would have had 9-9 if we'd held that.
“He's just very consistent and doesn't give scoring opportunities, you can set very simple fields to him. He probably just got that bit of luck that maybe he hadn't been bowling with for a little while.”
Tatura's fightback with the ball was led by captain Michel Archer and Sean McAllister, who took 4-30 and 4-28 respectively as only Sam Trower (38) escaped single figures for the Bombers.
Currently 12 points out of the top six, even an outright win would still leave the Bombers fighting an uphill battle to claw their way back to finals, but Carey said all his mob could do was try.
“We'll have a crack, but Northerners beating Karramomus is probably curtains for us mathematically,” he said.
“We'll just try and win our last few games and spark a bit of interest for players around the traps, and maybe add one or two players for next season.
“If we can win one or two of our last couple I think we'd be really pleased with the season, four to six wins is something we'd be very happy with.”