Cricket
21 October, 2024
Hoffmann's five leads Laharum to victory
A brutal spell of bowling from Jackson Hoffmann has left West Wimmera reeling, bowled out for 42 in the 24th over as Laharum won by 75 runs at Cameron Oval on Saturday.
After being bowled out for 117, with Max Bunworth 27, Ben Peucker 25 and Harrison and Jackson Hoffmann 12 apiece, it was up to the bowlers to deliver, and Joel Pymer and Hoffmann did just that.
Joel Pymer opened the bowling, conceding one run, but Hoffmann's trapping Jobe Dickinson for LBW on the eighth ball of the match started the damage.
He only conceded one run that over, and the next over, Pymer trapped Jeremy Weeks for LBW to have the Warriors 2/4.
In Hoffmann's second over, he bowled Nathan Alexander for one, and in his third over, had Bradley Alexander caught behind by brother Harrison for three, and when he took the wicket of Shane Kessler for two, suddenly, the Warriors were 5/11.
Pymer then got his second, bowling Joshua Lees for two, and when Hoffmann took his fifth, bowling Liam Albrecht, the Warriors were 7/13.
Luke Smith put up good resistance, scoring an unbeaten 13. Still, it was all Laharum, with Pymer, Jim McInness and Connor Cowan taking the last three wickets to deliver Laharum a massive win.
Pymer finished with figures of 3/16 off nine overs, featuring three maidens.
Brad and Nathan Alexander took four wickets apiece for the Warriors, finishing with figures of 4/28 and 4/9, respectively.
In their match last year in round two, a two-dayer, the Warriors put up 7/403 and bowled them out for 99, so it was a massive turnaround.
The day belonged to Hoffmann with his 5/7, and it was his first five-wicket haul, having delivered a few four-wicket ones in the past, and he said the ball just came out of the hand right.
"It was a good result, and the ball came out of the hand today. It was excellent," Hoffmann said.
"We all tried hard today, and Joel did well with the ball. It's unreal winning again, and everyone is doing well and having fun playing. It's a good bunch of blokes to play with."
Hoffmann said the focus was on victory.
"It was pretty unreal getting my fifth wicket, but I wanted to win today, so I didn't think much about it. It's a good result."
The other two matches went down to the wire. The first was the Colts, who defeated the Tigers by three wickets with three balls to spare at Dimboola Road Oval.
The Tigers won the toss and decided to bat, and despite losing Brenton Hallam and Dom Rose early, Angus Adams starred again, hitting an unbeaten 76. Conor Lawson formed an important partnership with him, hitting 38, with captain Tyler Puls, who was also crucial with his unbeaten 16 as the Tigers made 3/168 off their 45 overs.
Joey Nagorcka, Josh Colbert and Logan Millar all picked up one wicket a piece, with Colbert the pick of the bowlers with 1/24 off nine.
In response, the Colts got off to a great start with Dylan Arnott and Josh McCluskey putting on a 95-run opening stand before McCluskey was caught off the bowling of Angus Adams for 30.
Not long after, Adams got the prized wicket of Arnott for 70, and the Colts were suddenly 2/110.
At the start of the 32nd over, Tyler Puls took the wickets of Colbert and Chris Block, trapping both in front for LBW, which found the Tigers 4/110 and himself on a hat trick. Jake McLean then survived the hat-trick ball.
The Tigers then fell to 7/147, and needing another 22 runs, Joey Nagorcka and Jaxon Crooks saved the day for the Colts. Nagorcka hit the winning runs with three balls to spare. Nagorcka finished with 14 and Crooks with eight.
Tyler Puls, Dom Rose, and Angus Adams took two wickets apiece for the Tigers, with Puls having the best figures of 2/27 off nine overs.
At Murtoa Recreation Reserve, the Bullants secured their first win, defeating Lubeck Murtoa by three runs in a thriller.
The Bullants won the toss, batted, and scored 9/189 off their 45 overs. Jamie Byrne scored 52, and Matthew Combe scored a half-century with 51.
Xavier Shevlin was the pick of the bowlers for the Mudlarks with 3/49 off eight overs.
The Mudlarks innings got off to a bad start, losing Shannon Reddie for four, but a 49-run partnership between William Gellatly and Joshua Hedt put them back in the game.
The Mudlarks were 2/54 when Gellatly fell for nine but managed another 26-run partnership between Blake Downer and Hedt. Downer then fell for 16 with the Mudlarks 3/80, and when Justin Combe caught Hedt for 66 off the bowling of Angus Slatter, they were 4-112.
The Bullants bowled tight, and the Mudlarks had to bat patiently, but regular wickets saw the Mudlarks fall to 8/176 with three overs to go.
The Bullants were able to pull out the win, with Jordan McDonald finishing the innings off.
Matthew Combe and McDonald took three wickets, finishing with 3/24 and 3/40, respectively.
The match between Brim-KSH and Horsham Saints was abandoned due to a wet ground.
