Sportsmans get back in the hunt for finals after back-to-back wins over Rams, as Pointers miss their chance

Sportsmans got themselves back in touching distance of finals after completing the double over Rams on the weekend to move to 5-5 for the season.

After they cruised to an easy win over the Rams on Friday night, the two teams squared off again at Mazzucchelli Oval on Saturday and won their game against CVN thanks to even batting and spin magic from Dan Welsh (5-32).

Sportsmans have been inconsistent with the bat throughout this year but put together one of their most assured innings this season with their top seven batters all passing double figures.

Darcy Ingle (37), Riley Barham (34), Yeates (28), Jarrod Jupp (25 not out) and Flynn Dillon (42 off 20 balls) made the most significant contributions, although none converted their starts to completely take the game away from the Rams.

Zak Williamson (2-27) and Mitch Marsh (2-33) shone while keeper Kurt Crudeli held four catches but Sportmans would have been pleased to post 7-218 the first time they’ve crossed the 200 mark this season.

The Rams have struggled with their batting all season and after a bright start from openers Cody Slootmans (23) and Axis Hutchinson (15) looked in trouble at 3-58.

However Jack Dawson (44) and Taj Satie (36) put on 67 for the fourth wicket before both fell in quick succession to the spin of Walsh before Nigel Routledge (40) took the Rams to within striking distance, getting the equation down to 29 runs off 6.3 overs with four wickets in hand when he also fell to Walsh.

But the Rams suffered a collapse of the tail as they lost 5-4 to close at the innings with Walsh the star with his 5-32, holding his nerve to seal a terrific victory.

It sees Sportsmans in fourth place, just two points behind Wanderers in third with the top three set to play finals.

In the other game Bluff Point missed out on the chance to top the ladder over Christmas after going down to Wanderers by 49 runs.

Muir Park has proved a sticky wicket to bat on in recent weeks for both men and women which no doubt influenced Jay O’Brien’s decision to send Wanderers in to bat after winning the toss.

It looked to be a good call early as the Wanderers were reduced to 3-23 thanks to Carl Shilling’s (2-25) early incision and two brilliant direct hit run-outs from O’Brien at mid-off.

Wanderers rallied through Jim Hyde (38) and Kade Gillingham (25) but then Hyde fell to Mitch McAuliffe, caught after mistiming a lofted drive to mid-off, while Gillingham tried a cut too close to his body to be caught behind off to O’Brien (2-32) with Clayton Bruce-Cherry (15) falling to Jayden Pinto to be 6-99.

But Jason Partington launched a stunning counterattack coming in at five with 97 off just 74 balls with 14 fours and two sixes.

He worked the tail including a 49-run partnership with Mitchell Thompson with Thompson only scoring four while he put on 38 for the last wicket when in the final over he was caught on the pull, off Antonio Paradella, to fall just short of a well-deserving century and guiding Wanderers to 225.

The Pointers started the chase well as O’Brien (41) attacked and put on 51 with Ryan Forrester but Mitch Thompson (3-33) bowled both Forrester and Shilling to halt the Pointers’ momentum.

Pinto (18) was out to Clarkson (3-40) who also claimed the key wicket of O’Brien, finding some extra bounce to have O’Brien fending straight to slip.

The slide continued with the wickets of Aaron Joss and Matthew Russell before Matthew Reid (29) stemmed the bleeding but ran out of partners and was the last to fall, bowled by Hyde, as Pointers lost 7-71 to finish all out for 176.