By Doug Barnes

In what was a great weekend for both local cricket as well as statisticians, the Astute Muddies 3rd grade team had a solid win against previous sparring partners, the Mareeba Bandits.

The Muddies team were celebrating the 100th game of Skipper, Steve Doble as well as vice captain, Doug Barnes, 50th game for the club.

Doble didn’t start well, losing the toss, with the Bandits choosing to bat on a road of a wicket and an outfield devoid of grass and unforgiving for fieldsmen.

The Muddies openers;  Matt Shiesser and Ryan Doble bowled in good areas with the latter making a massive breakthrough, removing one opener and the dangerous Payne in consecutive deliveries to pile the pressure on the local team.  The younger Doble finishing with 2 for 29 off his 6 overs.

Keel Sorenson was next to the bowling crease for the Muddies and also had a milestone to achieve.  The spinner bowled with great control and guile to mesmerise the Mareeba batsmen, taking an incredible 5 for 7 off 6 overs and racking up his 50th wicket for the Muddies. Darlington and chipped in with an assorted spell of 2 for 33.  The Mareeba team dismissed in the 28th over for a below par 112.

Centurian Doble and in form batsman Darren Wall strode onto the Kerribee dustbowl confident the total was achievable as long as they could see off the opening bowlers.  Wall didn’t spend time in the middle, LBW to Roy for 4.

Walz joined his skipper in the middle and looked to take advantage of the quick outfield, putting on 15 runs before being bowled.  Darlington came and went quickly leaving the hard work to be done by Doble (31), Sam Evans (23) and Chewy Garbellini who batted with confidence and skill to make 17 vital  runs to win the game.

With Innisfail losing their weekend  match, the Muddies find themselves on top of the C Grade table heading into 6 weeks of travel with away games against Norths, Mulgrave and Uniteds.

Three wins should seal a finals spot so the pressure to finish the year playing solid cricket lays squarely on the Muddies shoulders.