He was probably the one bloke who was getting it past the bat.
- Matt Armstrong
A CAREER-best spell from young quick Sam Stephens has put Tallangatta in the box seat against North Albury.
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Stephens took a stunning 6-64 from 23.2 overs to help restrict the Hoppers to just 164 at Rowen Park.
As well as taking wickets at will, Stephens was hard to score off, bowling six maidens, while he didn’t bowl a wide or a no ball.
“He bowled the house down and he did a fantastic job, while the boys behind the wicket helped him out with some good catches,” Bushies captain Matt Armstrong said.
“He was probably the one bloke who was getting it past the bat.
“There wasn’t much movement in the wicket, but he bowled really good lines which brought about most of the mistakes.”
With Ash Borella (35) getting off to a good start, North Albury cruised to 3-114, but then proceeded to lose seven wickets for just 50 runs in a major collapse.
Tallangatta, which was without premiership players James Weighell, Torquil McKillop, Fraser Bremner and Clint Reid, will get coach Trent Ball back for next week’s run chase.
While the Bushies are 1-13 in reply and have lost the wicket of Campbell McKenzie, Armstrong said they were in a strong position after sending North into bat.
“Any runs on the board are tricky but we were happy with that,” he said.
“We chose to bowl and were hoping to keep them under 200.
“At tea they were probably in front, but after tea was better than we expected.”
He said Stephens had developed into a top talent.
“He’s bowled well in patches and been building,” Armstrong said.
“He’s played in England as well and he’s a yard quicker than he was and has a few more deliveries.
“He’s got more confidence and when he’s running into bowl he’s expecting to get people out.”
Albury captain Kade Brown has smashed his first century of the season to put his side in the box seat against Wodonga Raiders at home.
Brown, who reached triple figures on three occasions last season, smashed 116 as Albury declared after 65 overs at 6-349.
Boom recruit Alex Popko also hit his biggest score of the season, making 77, an innings which included 10 boundaries and three sixes.
Aaron Hoskin contributed an unbeaten 43, with Scott McDonald (2-49) the only multiple wicket-taker for the Raiders.
And at Urana Road Oval, New City could only manage 109 against St Patrick’s.
Kane Arendarcikas (3-19) and Jarryd Hatton (3-28) took six wickets between them for Patties, who are 3-70 in reply.
Angus Kilby put up some resistance for the Raiders, top-scoring with 29, while Jack Thomas made 19 before he was run out.
Haydyn Roberts then took the key scalps of Matt Crawshaw (five) and Neil Smith (one) cheaply, before Nicholas Flood stepped up with an unbeaten 33 for Patties.
Crawshaw’s wicket was particularly important, given he had made 114 and 161 in his previous two bats.