Geraldton cricket: Bluff Point in danger of missing finals as Shayne Bidwell brings up 600th wicket

Wanderers made it six wins from their past seven Geraldton Bendigo Bank Cricket League games at GBSC1 on Saturday. Their hefty 113-run win over Bluff Point means the Pointers are at risk of missing the finals after they were in minor premiership contention before the Christmas break The highlight was Shayne Bidwell’s 600th A-grade wicket, becoming only the third player in the league’s 60 years to achieve this after earlier this season becoming one of only four batters with 10,000 runs. Wanderers’ Kade Gillingham won the toss and batted and his side made 9-188 after being 7-108. Matt Russell (2-43) took early wickets, including one that featured a leaping Matt Reid to remove Gus Heberle. Mitch McAuliffe (2-20) shone later with a stunning one-handed caught and bowled to shift Matt Partington. There were middle-order runs from Gillingham (29), Clayton Bruce-Cherry (19) but neither went on, with Gillingham run out off a direct hit from Sam Millet. When Partington fell Bluff Point would have been hoping to keep the chase to well below 150. But instead, they were frustrated by the tail as Damien King (50 not out) counter-attacked, latching on anything short to bring up his highest score in the competition. He found support from Jason Partington (28) before Sam Solomon (15 not out) helped add 28 for the final wicket as the last three batters put on 80 runs in 18 overs. The Pointers managed only 75 in reply, their a sixth defeat from their past seven games and the opposite of Wanderers’ record. Curtis (17) was a lowly top score. There was no answer to Bruce-Cherry (5-23) and Bidwell (3-19) was also deadly with Russell, caught by another Wanderers legend in Matt Gallop, being his 600th. Matt Partington (2-7) finished it off helped by Heberle’s full-length diving catch in the covers that sent Jeff Meekin back. It put Sportsmans right back in the hunt for finals as they followed up their T20 success with a crushing win over Chapman Valley-Northampton. Invited to bat first, the Rams folded for just 60 with only Nigel Routledge (19) offering stout resistance with Brad Roworth (5-15) on song and support from Andrew Korol (2-15) and Xavier Bochat (2-19). Sportsmans replied with 123 eclipsing the target with a 43-run stand between Jarrod Jupp (23) and Aaron McAuliffe (30) before being given a licence to swing for quick runs with Roworth (15) and Bochat (18) also contributing. Mitch Marsh (3-45) was best of the bowlers with help from Zak Williamson (2-7) and Theo Bennett (2-13). Sportsmans are now 10 points behind Bluff Point with one game to go and with the Pointers having a bye in the final round will be watching on nervously when Sportsmans face Towns this weekend.