By Ben Vikionkorpi 

Playing at the picturesque Port Douglas ‘Mud Pit’, Muddies B grade won the toss and immediately chose to bat against North’s on a clean-looking deck in Cricket Far North action at the weekend.

This positive start was short-lived, however, with Sam Hodgson losing his wicket on the third ball of the day. This set back the team’s plans and put a dent in the Muddies confidence, reflecting in the batting throughout the early part of the day with a lack of patience and resilience from the batsmen saw the resulting collapse at 6 for 35.

Jordan Butterss steadied the middle of the innings with the top score of 31 for the day, partnering with Ben Vikionkorpi (30 from 50 balls) to bring the total to 99, when Ben lost his wicket.

Kaiden Sorensen and Dave Johnson then combined in a free flowing last wicket partnership to bring the total to 10 for 118. As one of the four quick bowlers in the team, Kaiden is showing everyone how to bat, and is still yet to be dismissed this season.

The Muddies bowling attack started off tight and positively, feeling that 118 would be enough to roll North’s. But a couple of dropped chances early on made the task all that more difficult.

With North’s now feeling more confident than ever, they batted with the intent of taking their time and just whittling away at the total, which they did very well, much to the frustration of the Muddies.

The Muddies bowled tight all afternoon, and everyone put in a big effort, but it wasn’t enough to get over the top of North’s. North’s finished the day at 3 for 100 off 41 overs, needing only 19 runs for first innings victory this weekend.

With Kaiden Sorensen and Ethan McCullough both out on rep duties this weekend, the team needs to bond well and take some early wickets to give themselves a chance of winning.