A couple of starring performances with the bat got the Swans home in round seven of Goulburn Murray Cricket, at their home ground of Echuca South Recreation Reserve.
BLU won the toss and opted to bat first and, while the top order made starts and progressed to double figures, it couldn’t convert those opportunities into a big innings.
After the middle order collapsed, the Lions were on the brink of an early afternoon, six down and with only 46 runs on the board.
One of BLU’s leaders with the ball this year, Prateer Mehta, showed his all-round value to his side when he all but single-handedly salvaged the innings from number seven.
Mehta found scoring much easier than his teammates and the tail toughed it out to give him time to work.
The Lions’ linchpin would find 50 and get his side towards a respectable total, assisted by defensive innings from Joseph Holloway and Thomas Dicker.
Gregory Pearse also scored freely from number 10, adding 28 not out to Mehta’s 84, BLU’s innings leader departing in the penultimate over.
Pearse and last man Jeremy Felmingham added 10 in the final over, BLU all out with the final ball of the innings for a respectable 185, far beyond where it looked like it might land after the first 15 overs.
Echuca South had bowling contributions across the team as Sachin Peiris, Brendan Lewis and Simon Van Duinen each took two wickets.
The Swans’ chase went a fair bit more smoothly than the Lions’ battling first innings.
Although Clayton Watson and the dangerous Asantha Singappuli fell early, opener Jayden Rosin and Rathika Rajakumara got the majority of the work done in a big partnership with both men making half-centuries.
Joining at 2-34, the pair got the Swans to 110 before some crafty work saw Chakabva whip Rosin’s (57) bails off after a Mehta pearler.
Rajakumara found his deputy over the final stretch in Ben Walker, who made an aggressive 26 from 24, as the Swans’ top scorer posted 67 unbeaten, hitting the winning boundary at the end of the 45th over.
Echuca South would pick up its biggest win of the season by four wickets.
Jeremy Felmingham was the pick of the BLU attack, taking 2-27, while four other bowlers struck once.
The Lions’ first loss sends the Swans above them narrowly on quotient, the pair still trailing unbeaten Moama.
This week South will feel confident on a trip to Tongala, while BLU will hope to rebound at home against a Kyabram Fire Brigade side that has won four straight.
The Game
Bamawm-Lockington United 185 (Prateer Mehta 84, Simon Van Duinen 2-17, Brendan Lewis 2-42) lt Echuca South 6-189 (Rathika Rajakumara 67 not out, Jayden Rosin 57, Jeremy Felmingham 2-27)
17°C