Lake Albert v Kooringal Colts
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A DRINKS break proved to be the turning point as the Kooringal Colts remained on top of the ladder going to the Christmas period.
Chasing Kooringal's total of 144, Lake Albert looked to be cruising to victory before drinks entered the Wagga Cricket Ground.
With 82 runs on the board for the loss of two wickets all momentum the Bulls had built up through Kurt Robertson and Isaac Cooper soon disappeared.
Ben Webster dismissed Robertson for 46 just after the interval and had Cooper (20) following soon after.
Needing another 62 runs before drinks, Kooringal's bowlers were able to get on a roll as Lake Albert lost 8-50 to fall 12 runs short of its target.
After being disappointed with his team's batting performance, with Webster top scoring with 31, captain Keenan Hanigan was relieved to get away with the win.
"Coming off at drinks we were in a bit of trouble but I said if we could bowl our best 20 overs from here we had faith in ourselves to get over the line and in the end we bowled extremely well after the 20 overs," Hanigan said.
"They were two out at drink and Kurt (Robertson) was still in, and he's a class player.
"We got him straight after drinks and everyone grew another notch and got confidence out of that and then kept getting wicket after wicket."
Webster shared the bowling honours with Dave Bolton and the returning Adam Skow.
All three picked up three wickets, with Hanigan impressed with Skow's performance in his first match of the season.
"Skowy had a massive input in the result and played extremely well as did Ben Webster and David Bolton," he said.
"They all got three wickets are were too good for them in the end."
To score another win after not playing their best cricket was Hanigan's most pleasing aspect of the Colts' performance.
After a late adjustment to the ladders, the win places Kooringal second on the ladder heading into the break.
South Wagga lead by one point with Wagga City less than a point off the Colts in third.
"We are definitely looking to improve our batting and in the end we just got enough runs at the end and got lucky," Hanigan said.
"It wasn't looking good there but we stuck to it and got the result in the end.
"We know we didn't play our best cricket so will take a bit of confidence out of that too."