West Pilbara Cricket teams launch into 40/40 competition

The first round of the West Pilbara Cricket Association’s 40/40 competition kicked off on Saturday.

The first game was played between the Baynton Lions and Rec Club at Bulgarra.

Rec Club won the toss and elected to bat first.

The decision didn’t end well when Shamsher Singh removed Brendan Kuiper for zero runs and Shanaka removed Luke Breman for 12 runs.

A good, steady partnership between Rod Jamieson (32 runs) and Brody Leo (24 runs) took the Rec Club to 80 runs in first 20 overs.

After the drinks break, the Lions bowlers roared back and Sanjay Yadav took three quick wickets in his three overs fiery spell.

Lokendra Ranawat’s two wickets and Ishan Shanaka’s three wickets restricted the Rec Club to 121 runs in the end.

In response, the Lions didn’t start well and lost two early wickets to Richard Anderson and Muhammad Uzair.

Anil Sharma’s 43 runs and an extra 32 runs saved Lions and they chased the total in 35 overs.

The round’s second game was played between Wickham and the Dampier Taverners in Wickham.

Wickham won the toss and opted to bat first. Corey Rutgers (115 runs) and Lochie Smith (78) continued their superb form from the North West Cup and got the Wickham total to 278 in 40 overs.

In reply, Dampier finished with 8/180 in 37 overs when the ground lights went off because of technical failure.

Both the captains called the game off and decided the result on basis of net run rate, which ended up in favour of Wickham.

A new-look Peg’s Creek Crabs team took on last season’s premiers, the Karratha Kats, at Karratha Leisureplex on Saturday.

The Crabs won the toss and elected to bat first.

In a brutish display, Lacklan Seabrook (138 runs from 86 balls) punished the Kats’ depleted bowling stocks, smashing boundaries to all corners of the ground, in a welcome return to form for the Crabs.

With assistance from opener Christian Williams, the pair batted to 18 overs before the loss of the first wicket for 155.

Two quick wickets fell until Jordan Perkusich arrived to continue the assault, knocking out a quickfire 63 runs, with the ever-improving Neville Moncaster (20 no) also contributing with another valuable innings.

A great cameo from Geoff Spence provided a some resistance, taking the team to 3/18.

The Crabs were bowled out with two balls remaining in the innings, getting to a total of 304.

With a capable batting line-up, the Kats proceeded in a modest fashion, sneaking singles and finding the boundary as required.

Jai Jefferies, 15, (1/23 off five overs) opened the bowling for Crabs and did well to restrict the run chase early on.

Once fellow bowler Craig Ryan had a spell, Kats commenced to pull the run rate back with Patrick Richards (32), Matthew Smith (67), Mitchell Inglis (62) and Spence (36) all taking to the Crabs bowlers with ease.

With boundaries flowing, the tension was high as new recruit Amit Bhai (3/52) began to find his rhythm and the stumps.

At the other end, Ryan was reintroduced to the attack and shut the run chase down, ending the Kats’ spirited effort on 279 with a ball remaining.