By Joanne Trewick

Having finished day one in a strong position against the Innisfail Storms, the Muddies boys were looking forward to keeping their convincing lead and edging their way up the leaderboard before the fast approaching semifinals.

Muddies began the day-two play at the Mud Pit on  7/126, leaving them 32 overs but only 3 wickets to lose.

Batsmen still in were Finn Stanaway and Daniel Davidson, and they faced an over and a half together before Finn fell to an LBW shout from one of Innisfail’s top bowlers.

Nathan Deuble joined Daniel at the crease and they set out to unleash some pent up batting energy having had to wait out the first day without facing.

The going was tough however, with an outfield that was still thick and making even the best shots just singles, they managed to get a couple of 2s in and a 4 from Nathan had the crowd cheering.

Daniel retired at 50 balls with a score of 20, bringing Levi Trewick (the retired batsman from day one) back out.

 Team mates watched with bated breath as Levi faced his first ball, having retired on 49 runs for his allocated 50 balls last week, an early dismissal would have been particularly disappointing.

Levi did come through, making that all important run on his first ball faced and acknowledged the cheering of his team mates with a wave of the bat.

He and Nathan continued to frustrate the Innisfail bowlers by steadily adding to the run rate, until it was Nathan’s turn to retire and Daniel paired with Levi for another couple of overs before being caught out, still leaving him as second top scorer for the game with 24 off 74.

Levi had been building momentum with some flying fours and now paired again with Nathan, the challenge was on for the two of them to bat out the remaining overs but it was not to be.

After belting a soaring six that sailed well past the boundary off of Innisfail’s opener, the next ball Levi was out, LBW on 77 off 85.

The game was over without having given Nathan a chance to improve on his score of 19.

The whole team was very happy with their batting efforts having amassed 155, plus the generous sundries (55), gave them 10/210.

Muddies had marked this game with maidens from the outset last week, (3 from Levi, 2 from Rex Hawkes and Curtis White, 1 from Reuben Allison); along with tight bowling and strong fielding from the rest of the team so Innisfail knew increasing their score of 65 would not be easy.

Our boys did not disappoint, with Levi, Tex McDowall and Nathan taking the final three wickets in only 13 overs leaving Innisfail all done on 11/87.

Standout performances from the scorebook were Daniel with 2 catches and assisting a run out, Levi 3/5, Ryan Doble 2/11, Nathan 1/5 and Finn 1/10 – though it was a strong team effort by all bowlers and fielders – our absolute best ever with not a single poor performance from anyone keeping the pressure well and truly on the Storms.

It was a well deserved and convincing win for the Muddies but with so many overs left, Coach Lee elected to send Innisfail back into bat a 2^nd innings, to increase points in the season’s competition.

The weather was beginning to look a little bleak with players slipping and sliding around the pitch in drizzly rain.

Most of the team took an over each and it was Finn who gained the all important wicket before the rain put a stop to play and the boys had to run for the covers and call it a day.

Next week the U14 boys head to Tolga for one of the few remaining games of the season.

Wish them well!