By Sue Sorensen

The Under 14 Muddies have missed out on a place in the one day semi-finals following a loss to Atherton South in Tolga at the weekend.

The rain stayed away but the weather was windy and cold.  Muddies player Finn Stanaway won the toss and elected to bat first.  

Muddies openers Daniel Davidson and Rex Hawkes batted for three overs until Rex was caught out for a duck.  

In came new batting partner Tex McDowall who was unlucky to also be caught out for a first ball duck.

Nathan Deuble came to the crease determined to stay and he and Daniel put on a great partnership until Nathan was caught out for six runs.  

After eight overs Muddies where 3/21.  

Finn was the next batsmen and stayed in with Daniel for five overs until Finn was caught for four runs.  

Brayden Wall was keen to make some runs and he and Daniel worked well until Daniel had to retire.  

Keel Sorensen joined Brayden and together they put on a great partnership ticking up the run rate with Brayden smashing quite a few boundaries.    

Keel then retired on 16 runs.  

Ryan Doble strode to the crease with confidence and he and Brayden started smashing the Atherton bowlers around hitting more boundaries  and also a 6 from Ryan.  

Brayden retired for the second time this season on a top-scoring 43 runs. Reuben Allison also had a great batting run on 17 until Ryan was bowled by Atherton's best bowler. 

Under 12s player Ryan Stanaway, who was filling in for the day, was the last batsman and also had to face up to the opposition's top bowler. He was unlucky to be bowled out on his second ball.  

Daniel returned to bat out the innings and finished not out on 21.  

Muddies finished their innings on a great score of 6/148.

With a quick outfield the Muddies knew that they had a job ahead of them to keep the Atherton runs low.

Opening bowlers Ryan Doble and Tex Tool a wicket each in their first overs.  

But Byron Schepp from Atherton was the one to watch and the boys all bowled determinedly trying to remove the opposition's best batsman from the crease without any luck.  

Byron scored 44 runs before retiring.  

Reuben had a breakthrough with a boundary line catch from Keel removing Atherton's opener Riley Sawyer.  

Ryan Stanaway was the one to watch though taking two wickets for 23 from four overs in his first U14 game.

At drinks the opposition score was at 4/101 so the Muddies players knew they needed more wickets in order to win the game.  

Atherton continued to hit boundaries with Muddies chasing balls left and right.

The fielding was what let the Muddies team down and even another wicket from Reuben, followed by a wicket from Keel couldn't slow the runs.

Atherton finished their innings on a winning score of 7/183.