After an opening day that saw 15 wickets fall at Bamawm Recreation Reserve last weekend, it was quite the opposite on day two, as BLU frustrated the Echuca attack.
Resuming at 5-41 with Kade and Gregory Pearse at the crease, BLU were determined from the outset to not throw wickets away.
While just 13 runs were added for the sixth wicket, with Gregory Pearse falling for 14, the BLU batsman absorbed 58 deliveries in his knock as he looked to help his side survive.
The seventh wicket fell to leave the home side down 7-47, with the other not out batsman overnight, Kade Pearse, departing for just six runs at the hands of Charlie Hinks.
But yet again, Pearse had occupied time at the crease, with his six runs coming off an astonishing 70 deliveries, leaving him with a strike rate of just 8.57 as the visitors struggled to knock over the BLU tail.
Alex Wagner (3 off 24) was dismissed by Rory Carlile (1-15) to have BLU languishing at 8-58, and it looked as though the end was in sight.
But Noah Turner had other ideas, producing a tough, gritty knock in the hope of salvaging something for his side in the dying stages.
Turner contributed a team-high 39, which came off 103 deliveries in an incredibly patient innings, putting on a 38-run stand for the ninth wicket alongside Jeremy Felmingham (13) before his partner was dismissed.
Turner would be the last wicket to fall, sent packing by Aidan Young, as Echuca bowled BLU out for 103 to wrap up an incredibly hard-fought 31-run victory.
Matthew Hinks, who did the damage on day one with the ball, finished with 5-20 as Echuca’s best bowler, while Aidan Young (2-23) also claimed multiple wickets.
The Game
Echuca 10-134 (Kobyn James 55, Matthew Hinks 21, Luke Thompson 5-20, Werner Brand 3-27) d BLU 10-103 (Noah Turner 39, Gregory Pearse 14, Matthew Hinks 5-20)
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