Waaia 7-147 (Mitch Cleeland 47, Sam Trower 20, Jedd Wright 3-21, Ben Clurey 2-12) d Katandra 146 (Jedd Wright 59, Andrew Riordan 33, Connor Brown 4-27, Mitch Cleeland 2-22)
STAR PLAYER
Connor Brown (Waaia): Four crucial wickets as Katandra's batting line-up crumbled helped the Bombers continue their miraculous start to the season. Finding the vital scalps of Jedd Wright and Andrew Riordan was essentially what won his side the game.
Last-gasp heroics allowed Waaia to steal a win by the narrowest of margins against Katandra on Saturday and make it a 3-0 start to the Haisman Shield season.
The Eagles seemed to be cruising to an easy win at 2-123 chasing the Bombers’ 7-147, but absolutely crumbled to lose 8-23 and fall a run short, in the game of the season.
Waaia captain Brayden Carey said it was the type of memorable win you dreamed of.
“It's definitely one we shouldn't have won, and one we got away with,” Carey said.
“I reckon a few of the boys would have partied pretty late into the night after that one, you only win games like that once or twice in your career.”
Batting first, the Bombers batted out their 45 overs, but again failed to completely hit their straps, posting 7-147.
Mitch Cleeland was in top form making 47 and opener Sam Trower also found 20, while Eagles captain Jedd Wright took 3-21 off his nine overs.
But while the Bombers found the early wickets of Ben Clurey (two) and Brady Black (19) to leave Katandra 2-42 in reply, Wright (59) and Andrew Riordan (33) added 81 together and put their side in a winning position — or so it seemed.
Up stepped Waaia bowler Connor Brown to change the game, dismissing both star bats in his first over to trigger an almighty collapse of 7-10.
Last-wicket partners Josh McKinnon and Connor Henderson met in the middle needing 15 for victory, but eventually fell one short as the former was caught off Cleeland's bowling for 13.
Carey said bringing Brown on was not necessarily a masterstroke, but more a matter of getting him some overs in a game that felt over.
“Connor Brown had bowled one over early and got hit around a bit, maybe for three boundaries,” he said.
“We got to a point where we thought we'd give him an over or two before we lost. He got Jedd and Andrew in his first over, a double-wicket maiden.
“But we just said you never know what can happen, and a couple of us had been involved in a rep game a while back where we'd taken 5-5 and won by a run.
“Jesse and Mitch bowled well and so did Connor, but we really weren't confident until we had them six or seven down. I find in those sorts of games you need one or two funny run-outs, and we got one of them too.”
Waaia is fourth on the ladder with its undefeated record, while Katandra remains looking for its first win of the season at 0-2.
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