REGULAR pressure and consistent line and lengths were the staples of Belvoir’s seven-wicket win against Albury in provincial first grade at Kelly Park on Saturday.
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The visitors could manage only 100 before the Eagles made it to 5-335 thanks in part to centuries from Josh Warren-Marmo (146) and John Spencer (102).
Belvoir pounced after Alex Popko fell to the bowling of Eagles’ Brad Freake for one.
Brad Horn fell at 2-21, putting Albury’s two best batsmen back in the shed.
Ben Whiteside (34) put up a resistance, but catches kept flying to the slips and they stuck.
Keegan Jenkins (15) helped Albury to the century mark, but the damage had already been done, with Freake and Jack Holt taking five wickets between them.
Belvoir started their innings in similar fashion, falling to 1-9 and 3-45 after an accurate start from Dave Tassell (1-45) and Jenkins (0-34).
Warren-Marmo and Spencer resurrected the innings with time to spare then went ballistic once the target of 101 had been long passed.
Warren-Marmo hammered the Albury bowlers with multiple chances going down in the outfield. Seventy eight percent of his runs came in boundaries, and included fifteen sixes.
Any ball pitched up was dispatched to, or over, the boundary as the partnership reached 239 before it was broken.
Spencer’s century included more than a dozen boundaries and was tinged with emotion as the score approached 300.
Eagles captain Michael Russell said the important element of the day was the team.
“We spoke before the game about wanting to play a team effort,” he said.
“It’s about 12 mates walking on to a field together and our performance showed that."
Warren-Marmo said he wanted to take responsibility in the middle.
“We were in a spot of bother so I took it upon myself to be out there when we hit the winning runs,” he said.
“We’re three and zero and have to keep building before Christmas.”
Warren said Albury’s hesitation was a turning point.
“We played proper cricket shots and they were tentative,” he said.
“There were a lot of edges which played into our hands.”
Knuckling down was crucial after the loss of early wickets.
“It’s a team rule we don’t want to lose quick wickets in a row,” Warren-Marmo said.
“I said to John we had to knuckle down and get through five or 10 overs, then I knew we could pick them off.”
