Crucial five-wicket win helps Wandering close the gap to Williams in the UGSCA A-grade standings

Wandering climbed the Upper Great Southern Cricket Association A-grade ladder with an important five-wicket win over top side Williams in Williams in round eight on Saturday. The victory puts them in second spot on the ladder and now only two points adrift of Williams with five rounds left to play in the regular season. A dominant 89-run innings from Rodney Ford had Williams in a strong spot at 6-168 batting first but Wandering’s Bryan Hardie (89 runs) matched his output as Wandering chased down the total in the 36th over. Robert Rose and Bret Titko put on 20 for the first wicket before Titko was trapped in front for 17. However that failed to deter Williams as Ford joined Rose at the crease and they added 92 together before Rose was skittled by Evan Barrett for 27. Ford fell in the 37th over and Wandering snared Justin Wood (2), Michael Cowcher (8) and Toby Lavender (15) in the late stages as Williams set them 169 to win. Ford’s 89 came from 96 balls with nine fours and one six in a dazzling display. Barrett (2-35) and Bill Schorer (2-17) returned the best bowling figures for Wandering. A 97-run opening stand between Jacob Schorer and Hardie put Wandering in a commanding position before Schorer was caught off the bowling of Titko. Lewis Parsons didn’t last long at the crease with Ford trapping him LBW but Wandering were firmly in the box seat at 2-118 in the 23rd over. Hardie’s sparkling knock came to an end shortly after, finishing with a rapid 89 off 71. Middle-order contributions from Bailey Parsons (24) and Blake Warburton (18) guided Wandering home comfortably with 57 balls to spare. Hardie hit eight fours and three sixes and Schorer (24) hit two fours in his 55-ball innings. Michael Foreman was the only multiple wicket taker with figures of 2-49. Meanwhile Lake Grace were comfortable seven-wicket winners over Towns in Lake Grace on Saturday. Towns could manage only 56 batting first with Liam Sweeney (22 off 45) doing most of the scoring but they crumbled all out inside 25 overs. Kael Gray dominated with the ball with 3-9 and was well supported by Kalan Joyce (2-2), Brayden Reynolds (2-23) and Mitchell Smith (2-17). Joyce hit 43 off 62 in the run chase as Lake Grace sailed to a seven-wicket win, finishing 3-58 in the 19th over. Ruben Scheepers (2-18) was the pick of the bowlers for Towns in a tough outing. In the other round eight clash, a dominant Bevan George century helped Cuballing post a massive total of 5-269 in their first innings. George smashed 110 to go with strong knocks from Brock Francis (61) and Grady Francis (33). Jack Blechynden smashed a century for Pingelly-Noonebin but the rest of the batting order failed to fire as they were all out for 217 in reply, falling 52 runs short. Brock Francis was a game-changer with the ball for Cuballing, taking 5-12 in a spell that included four maidens.