With top of the ladder Rovers and third placed The Court House Hotel Port Douglas Mudcrabs playing off on a hot dry day Sunday, it was always going to be a tough day for both sides.

Port Douglas skipper Nathan King lost the toss on a great day for batting and was asked to bowl by the Rovers captain. Getting early wickets was going to be the key.

Mitchell and Vikinkorpi bowled some very tight line and length overs early with Vikinkorpi taking the first wicket of the day in the second over.

With a new batsman at the crease, Powelly and Benny V were right on line causing a lot of miss timed shots, but the Rovers pair put on a healthily partnership with the help of a bit of luck.

Golden Arm Keith Taylor bowled a lovely delivery to bowl out the number 3 batsmen for a well made 62 providing the breakthrough that was much needed in the hot conditions.

The third session proved to be a turning point when three wickets fell, rewarding the bowlers who had bowled well without luck.

With an hour to play in the last session and 18 overs to bowl, Sheldon Wetz bowled a spell that had begun an hour before and continued for the rest of day. He was finally rewarded with the last two wickets of the Rovers line up.

With two overs left in the day Rovers were bowled out for 193.

Skipper King was happy with the day, "It was a real hot day out there today and to see all the boys putting in the whole way through is great. It was a big plus to bowl them out before the end of the day as all the bowlers had bowled well with not much luck on a very good batting wicket" he said.

So with a healthy run chase on for the Muddies, next Sunday looks to be an exciting day.


The Muddies 3rd Grade team made the long haul down in the clubs sponsored Sun Palm Transport bus at the early time of 6:30am to take on Mulgrave at Fretwell Park.

Captain Doble won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that was classified as "like batting on a flat highway".

Carling and Goodall opened the batting and were looking good, turning the strike over nicely until Jack Goodall got caught on the crease from a full delivery and was given out LBW.

Dave Joyce strolled to the crease and immediately got off the mark with a lovely drive for two. From this point on the fours started to come with a total of seven which helped reach his second 50 in two games.

After a heated time in the middle he was finally caught on 58 after having a partnership of 37 with Simon Cody.

"Batting up here is a bit different than were I am from because of the heat so it is good to get a few off the middle over the last couple of weeks" Joyce said.

Simeon Miglioranza and Haig Varcoe set about making a big total for Mulgrave to chase. After coming together in the 33rd over it only took the pair ten overs to put on an 80 run partnership.

Miglioranza hit four 4's in his unbeaten 52 while Varcoe hit nine for his 52 not out. After both batters had reached their 50's Captain Steve Doble declared the innings on 4/214 looking for a few quick wickets in the last hour of play.

Dave Joyce and Simon Cody opened the bowling and bowled a very cleanup straight line and length making scoring hard for the Mulgrave openers with both finishing their spells of 0 for 4 off over 4 overs.

The change of bowling brought a wicket to Nick Carling with his second ball. Varcoe also received a wicket for his efforts on the second last ball of the day.

Port Douglas finished the day with Mulgrave on 2 for 14 and looking to push hard next week to claim first innings points and a possible outright win.