Bushrangers secure wins in lower grade seniors, juniors locked in tight two-day battles

The change of format proved fruitful for the Bushrangers at the weekend, too, claiming a comfortable eight-wicket win at home set up by brilliant bowling.

Winning the toss and electing to bowl, the Bushrangers’ decision was immediately justified, as co-captain James Ladd snared the scalp of Delatite opener Patrick Smith to leave the visitors 1-2 after only eight balls had been bowled.

The visitors tried to rally, with the new partnership yielding 25 runs; however, Ladd’s fellow co-captain, Mark Osborne, soon broke that up, joining the party with his first scalp to leave Delatite two down with 27 runs on the board.

Delatite would add another 20 runs for the third wicket as a similar pattern began to form; however, when Mitchell Cooney struck to leave the visitors at 3-47, it set in motion a brutal period to turn the contest well and truly in Benalla’s favour.

Snaring 3-8 from three overs, Cooney led the bowling attack as the Bushrangers claimed five Delatite wickets while the visitors added 30 runs, slumping to 7-77 in the 17th over.

They would add another 17 for the innings; however, Benalla’s brilliant bowling ensured the home side would be chasing less than 100 for victory, with a target of 95 set for the win after restricting Delatite to 8-94 from 20 overs.

It would be a fairly straightforward chase for the Bushrangers, with opening pair Nathan Delaney and Josh Heylbut adding 53 runs in a solid partnership for the first wicket, erasing more than half of the required total before Delaney fell for 30.

While Heylbut (16) would perish, too, shortly after to leave the Bushrangers two down with 57 runs on the board, Matthew Priest and Cooney saw Benalla safely to victory without further loss, adding 18 and 17, respectively, to both finish unbeaten and hand the Bushrangers an eight-wicket win.

Benalla will look to make it two from two in the T20 format this weekend, when it travels to Norm Minns Oval in Wangaratta to take on the Magpies, who went down to Yarrawonga-Mulwala by 41 runs in their opening 20-over contest at the weekend.

B grade

Benalla’s B grade side has overcome a frustrating start to the season to put its first win on the board for the 2025-26 season, handing Yarrawonga-Mulwala its first loss in the process at Arundel Street Oval on Saturday.

Having gone down in each of the three contests to open the season, the Bushrangers were able to back up some brilliant bowling to chase down the target set by the visitors and clinch a two-wicket win at the weekend.

Asked to bowl after losing the toss, the Bushrangers were immediately among the wickets, with Yarrawonga-Mulwala slumping to 2-10 after the first ball of the fourth over from Angus Hayes (1-14).

The promising start was quickly forgotten, however, as the visitors began to climb back on top, with number four Luke Buerckner playing a brilliant innings to help his side out of a hole as he passed 50.

However, when Craig Williams found the breakthrough to remove Buerckner for 56, and reduce Yarrawonga Mulwala to 3-84, the entire complexion of the contest changed.

Steven Pickering managed to snare his first scalp of the afternoon, leaving the visitors at 4-100, which quickly became 6-103 as Williams claimed his second and third wickets, before Pickering returned to the fray to claim the seventh wicket without Yarrawonga-Mulwala being able to add to its total.

The end came quickly from there, with Pickering, Tyson Williams and Jake Holmes mopping up the final three wickets for 18 runs, with Craig Williams (3-15) and Pickering (3-19) each finishing with three scalps to bowl Yarrawonga-Mulwala out for 121.

With 122 set for victory, the Bushrangers suffered an early blow as opener Chris Lindsay departed for one, leaving Benalla 1-3, and while Craig Williams fought hard, he too was soon back in the sheds for 17, as the Bushrangers fell to 2-39.

Matthew Hadj was solid at number three, doing the bulk of the scoring in a 29-run partnership with Thomas Snell, guiding the Bushies past the halfway mark in the chase before he too perished for 35, leaving Benalla at 3-68.

Despite being in a solid position, consecutive wickets saw the Bushrangers slump from 3-78 to 5-78, as Snell (8) and Oliver Smith (0) were sent packing, and despite a solid contribution of 17 from Pickering, his departure left Benalla teetering at 7-104.

Jordan Smith would see the Bushrangers safely across the line, however, adding an invaluable 19 not out from number eight to secure the two-wicket win for Benalla, its first of the season, as the home side reached 8-123 in the 35th over.

The Bushrangers will look to keep the momentum going when they travel to Stanley Recreation Reserve to take on Beechworth this week in search of their second win.

C grade

Benalla’s C grade side remains well-positioned at the pointy end of the ladder following round five, having accounted for Rutherglen United.

Travelling to Barkly Park in Rutherglen on Saturday, the Bushrangers chased down 118 to claim a three-wicket win, their fourth victory from five games, to remain in third spot on the ladder, level on wins with both Moyhu and Greta above them.

Forced to field after losing the toss, Benalla was initially put on the back foot as the home side reached 100 runs for the loss of just two wickets, with Rutherglen’s first drop, Daniel Moshopoulos, raising the bat for a half-century.

However, when Vaughan Carter snared his second scalp to remove Moshopoulos for 51 and leave Rutherglen at 3-101, it sparked a stunning collapse that brought the Bushrangers right back into the contest.

Carter went on a tear, snaring another two wickets as Rutherglen added just one run, falling to 5-102, which became 6-105 as Nicholas Jacobs claimed his second scalp of the afternoon, before Carter put an exclamation mark on his performance, taking wicket number five for the afternoon to reduce the home side to 7-105.

The remarkable collapse saw Rutherglen lose 5-4 as Benalla derailed the innings, which came to screeching halt as the home side lost its final three wickets without adding a run, two of which were claimed by Greg Hoysted (2-13), to be bowled out for 117.

It was Carter that did all the damage, however, with his eight overs yielding 5-28 to turn the contest in Benalla’s favour.

Despite a few nervy moments with bat in hand, Benalla did enough to post 7-119 in reply, with Grayson Kirk contributing 28 as the Bushrangers’ highest scorer, while Gavin Batchelor was also instrumental, adding 18 in the three-wicket win.

The C grade side will host ladder leaders Moyhu this week at Arundel Street Oval in a blockbuster clash. A win could see Benalla end the round on top of the ladder.

Juniors

Under-16s

An even contest between bat and ball has left Benalla in a solid position, albeit with plenty of work to do, at stumps on day one in its under-16 Eugene Kneebone Shield clash against Wangaratta Magpies.

The Bushrangers, undefeated through three rounds, won the toss and opted to bowl first on day one, a decision that immediately paid dividends after some Harrison Skelton brilliance.

In the third over of the contest, Skelton claimed the scalp of Magpies opener and captain Lenny Sims to leave the visitors 1-6 early. He followed up two balls later to trap replacement batter Harry Dean LBW as Wangaratta fell to 2-6 inside three overs.

A Tom Osborne maiden followed to heap on the pressure, before Skelton (3-21) struck again, snaring his third scalp of the contest in his third over as Wangaratta looked in all sorts at 3-10.

The hot start was tempered somewhat as the Magpies managed to bat their way through the next 10 overs without loss, adding 46 runs to the total, before Xavier De Fazio (1-23) found a way through the defence of Sam Reid to claim his first wicket and leave Wangaratta at 4-56.

Hugh Ross would join the party with his first scalp as Wangaratta lost its fifth wicket with 89 runs on the board, while Ross would claim a second just after the Magpies brought up 100 runs, leaving them at 6-103.

The visitors mounted something of a fightback, with stands of 16 and 30 for the seventh and eighth wickets, respectively, dragging them to just shy of 150, although it would be Ross to claim each of those scalps to finish with 4-20 in a brilliant display of bowling.

Wangaratta would add another 33 runs to post a competitive total of 9-173 from its 40 overs, with Ryder Humphries (1-11) snaring a wicket in the final overs, with the contest left on a knife’s edge ahead of Benalla’s turn with the bat this Saturday.

Under 14s

Under-14 Red vs Under-14 Blue

It was an all-Benalla affair in the under-14 Len Hill Shield at the weekend, with the under-14 Red side playing host to their Blue clubmates at Benalla Showgrounds on Friday evening.

It was the Blue side that won the toss and opted to bowl, with Charlie Bowen and Hudson Pickering opening the batting for Red and adding 30 runs together before Caleb Hein found the breakthrough for Blue to remove Pickering for seven.

Cash Nolen would reduce Red to 2-33 in the very next over, sending Matthew White packing for a duck, while Henry Briggs found another breakthrough for Blue, removing Bentley Parker for a duck to leave Red at 3-52.

Charlie Bowen and Noah Anderson would mount a fightback for Red, however, with the pair adding 55 runs together to drag their side to 3-107 before Bowen retired not out on 52, while Anderson batted on to reach 48 before he succumbed to Lachlan Osborne (1-20), leaving Red at 4-119.

Maxwell Hadj snared his first as Blue began to find wickets with a greater consistency, removing Tyson Williams (7) as Red sank to 5-133, while Jack Davies (1-8) removed Jai Collins (2) in the following over to leave Red 6-137.

Louis Horne would provide 38 valuable runs for Red, helping drag them beyond 180 before he fell off the bowling of Oliver Smith (1-9) in the penultimate over, with his side at 7-181 following his departure, while Joshua Hooper (5) was sent packing on the final ball of the innings by Nolen (2-18), with Red posting a total of 8-183 from 40 overs.

Blue will have their chance with the bat on Friday evening, needing 184 for victory.

Under 12s

Three of Benalla’s four under-12 sides were in action on Saturday, with two of the three picking up wins away from home.

The under-12 Green side travelled to Wangaratta High School to take on City Colts Blue, earning a 20-run win.

Asked to bat after losing the toss, Archer Pickering blasted an unbeaten 43 at the top of the order, well supported by Tom Lambert (19 not out) and Bill Bourke (12), as Benalla posted a total of 7-108 from 20 overs.

Pickering backed up his batting with team-best figures of 3-5 with the ball, while Cailin Delaney was also a solid contributor snaring 2-13, as the Bushrangers restricted the Colts to 5-88 to wrap up the win.

The under-12 Red side also wrapped up a convincing win over Yarrawonga Mulwala Bulls, claiming a 33-run victory at Victoria Park in Yarrawonga.

With the Bulls opting to bowl after winning the toss, the Bushrangers made them pay by posting 5-115 off the back of 25 to Toby Smith and 19 to Jack McKenzie, while Ewan Patel (18) and Luke Conway (16 not out) also surpassed double digits.

Maximus Reynolds (2-6) and Miller Fowles (2-10) led the way with the ball, while Neev Patel (1-2), Smith (1-5), Conway (1-12) and Isla Walker (1-12) all claimed a wicket as the Bushrangers kept the Bulls to 8-82 in reply.

At Arundel Street Oval, the under-12 White side fell seven runs short of victory against Yarrawonga Mulwala Rams.

Asked to bowl after losing the toss, Jagga Schintler (2-2), Fraser De Fazio (2-5), Isaac Frampton (2-8), Elsie Cavill (1-3) and Dustin Nolan (1-8) all claimed wickets as the Bushrangers bowled the Rams out for 66 in the 19th over.

With scores of 15 not out and 13 retired not out to Oliver Ross and Joel Emmanuel, respectively, Benalla mustered just 6-59 from its 20 overs, going down by seven runs.