Heading into the middle first, Benalla lost Michael Honman without troubling the scorers while James Carboon dug in before being caught on 16.
In between the dismissals, Jack Fullager departed for a duck and if not for Benalla’s tail wagging — thanks to Conor Brodie (19 not out), Craig Williams (18) and Tom Webster (11) — the Bushrangers wouldn’t have made it anywhere near their 7/98 total at the end of innings.
It left a massive effort to be done with ball in hand — one that proved too much of a task for Benalla.
Yarrawonga-Mulwala sailed home to the chocolates, losing just four wickets on the way to a dominant win which sees it go atop the Wangaratta District Cricket Association ladder.
A-reserve endured an identical struggle on the way to a similar defeat, as Yarrawonga-Mulwala restricted the Bushrangers to 8/88 before chasing down the total for a comfortable seven-wicket triumph.
Jasper De Fazio (22) and Matthew Priest (2-36) were the standouts for Benalla.
B-grade came closer in its fixture against Yarrawonga-Mulwala, but fell 86-runs short of the mark during its chase while an unbeaten 86 from Justin Triffitt was the highlight of C-grade’s loss to Merton.
The under-16 Bushies made the trip to Wangaratta to take on the Rovers United Bruck Green team at the WJ Findlay Oval.
Skipper Max Cullen called correctly and sent the Rovers into bat first, on a tricky wicket.
Wickets fell at regular intervals for the Rovers thanks to the opening bowling pressure from Ty Begnone, Flynn Weeks and Jakob Decker, which allowed James Martin to claim the prize wicket of Harry Jones at 2-58.
Bayleigh Dervish claimed 1 for none from his one over, but Seth Arnold bowled well to fill his boots with 3 for 4 from two overs.
This remarkable finish to the innings restricted the hosts to 6-84 from their 20 overs.
Both the Maxs, Woods and Cullen, opened up strongly before Woods fell for 10.
While Cullen was building into a fine Captains innings, his partners were falling around him, and the Bushies were never able to wrestle back any momentum.
Cullen eventually retiring on (30no) and the Bushrangers only able to manage 6-73, falling 11 runs short in the run chase.
The under-14 Bushies were at headquarters against the talented Rovers United Bruck Yellow team and batted first after winning the toss.
Opening pair Mitch Cooney and Jonty Priest started positively and rattled the score along quicky, both retiring not out with Priest (26no) and Cooney (29no) giving their teammates a wonderful platform to launch onto the remaining overs.
Lucas Ham (22no) and Cooper Binion (16no) picked up where the openers left off finishing at 4/122, setting the Hawks a daunting total of 123 to win from their 20 overs.
The run chase started with positivity from the young Rovers.
Reid McNamara & Xavier Dodgshun both retiring before the talented Ed Jones was dismissed shortly after, immediate pressure was then placed on the middle order by some wonderful tight bowling and fielding by the home side.
In a thrilling finish to the game, the Rovers were closing in on victory late in the match, but the young Bushies held their nerve, winning by 1 run, restricting the Rovers to 5/121.
Pick of the Bushrangers bowling Sath Kancherla with 1/8, Angus Richardson captured 1/9 and Josh Hart 2/17 from his 3 overs.
The Bushies now break for Christmas with training resuming on Tuesday, January 4, with a round of one-day games for the Royal Hotel A-Grade, GMCU A-Reserve and the Sportspower B-Grade on January 8, with the Rose City Mowers C-Grade and all junior grades resuming on January 15.
