Towns regain spot at the top in Bluff Point mauling as Bidwell just misses out on a fairytale century

Towns recovered from a poor T20 showing to demolish Bluff Point and retake their spot at the top of the Geraldton Cricket League. Following their first loss of the season on Friday, Towns regained the competition lead with a 100-run win over Bluff Point at Muir Park. Towns won the toss and sent the Pointers into bat and made early inroads, thanks to an opening burst from Austin Breen. He removed Callum Joss, who carved one straight to backward point, before two balls later he found the edge of Matt Russell’s bat to leave Bluff Point 3-27 after Tom Forsyth had Louis Pepper caught and bowled. It didn’t get much better from there as Ringo McKenna ripped through the middle order removing the dangerous Carl Shilling with a sharp return catch before beating Jayden Pinto’s ugly swipe to bowl him for eight. Sam Millet was out for an eight-ball duck as McKenna got one to shape away from his defensive prod with the Pointers sinking fast at 6-60. It was soon 8-72 with Aaron Joss and Ryan Forrester falling to Kodi Giltrow with only Jay O’Brien offering any resistance with 45 off 110 balls before he was the last man out trapped in front to Breen as they folded for 94. Breen finished with 3-17 off just 4.3 overs, while McKenna continues to shine this season with 3-14 off his 10 overs offering nothing on a blustery day. In reply, Callum Marquis was run out in a horrible mix-up with Nathan Podmore being sent back halfway down the pitch and came out short despite a desperate dive. But Towns were never under much pressure chasing such a small total, Sam Crouch fell for seven but Podmore guided Towns most of the way top scoring with 45 off 53 balls with seven fours and just 12 runs required when he fell. Towns passed the score but lost three for two in a middle-order collapse as Bluff Point looked to keep the scoreline respectable. But runs from the tail with McKenna (31) and Jai Russell (27) helped Towns to a percentage boosting 194. In the other clash, Shayne Bidwell became just the fourth man to pass 10,000 runs with an outstanding 96 runs but ended up on the losing side thanks to Andrew Korol’s five-for. Chasing an imposing 197 for victory after Clint Yeates’ second 50 in as many days, Wanderers looked in cruise control putting on 97 for the first wicket as Bidwell breezed past the 42 required for the 10,000 mark. It came less than 24 hours after Yeates achieved the feat in the T20 match on Friday, with Yeates needing 315 innings and Bidwell 326. With just 26 runs from his first four innings, Bidwell looked at his best smashing 12 fours and going better than a run a ball in what would have been a sublime century. Had Bidwell found another four runs, it would have been his 22nd century, the same as Yeates - a remarkable juxtaposition from the two stars. But Andrew Korol had other ideas, bowling Bidwell four runs short of a ton and sparking a spectacular collapse as Wanderers lost 7 for 21 with Korol taking five - all of them bowled as well as grabbing a run out to help Sportsmans steal the win. In the South Midlands League, Moora Knights fell to a heavy defeat to the Gingin Red as Jamie Mullins was the only batsman to pass double figures with 58 in their total of 114. Dandaragan Bears also had a big loss as they made just 107 after choosing to bat first, which Lower Chittering passed just two wickets down. Watheroo won a tight battle with Bindoon as they managed to take the last five wickets for just 15 runs in defence of 196 to win by nine runs.