Seconds lose out in rearranged match

On winning the toss the Instonians captain elected to bat first on a hard track with a fast, dry outfield.

Jordan Marshall and Ben Johnston opened the bowling for Victoria, and had the Instonians opening batsmen troubled on a number of occasions. However, when they managed to induce chances, the catches were dropped.

The batsmen made sure to make the most of their luck. The opening stand lasted much longer than it should, surpassing the 100 mark, with Montgomery eventually being dismissed for 67 courtesy of a catch by Adam McClelland off the bowling of Josh Thornbury.

The wicket only temporarily slowed the scoring rate, as the Instonians batsmen kept scoring at an alarming rate, despite Trevor Marshall pitching in with a further two wickets.

The Instonians innings eventually came to a close, with them amassing a massive total of 201.

Despite the explosive hitting of the Instonians batsmen, this total could have been much less, if some of the multiple chances had been held.

The Victoria innings got off to a good start, with 14 coming off the first over, as Steven Adair helped himself to nine early runs.

In fact Victoria were moving along nicely, scoring at seven an over for the first number of overs, thanks largely to Adair (24), before the first wicket fell in the sixth over with the score on 40.

Adam McClelland joined Parks at the crease and began with a couple of boundaries to keep the score going.

At the half way stage of the innings, Victoria had 62 runs to their name for the loss of only one wicket. Under ordinary circumstance they would have been content, but in this scenario that left them still needing 140 off the next 10 overs.

When McClelland departed for 11, two more wickets fell quickly bringing Jordan Marshall. Marshall immediately gave the innings some impetus, striking the ball cleanly, and finding the boundary regularly.

When Marshall was dismissed for 21, including four boundaries, it was clear that the game was slipping away from Victoria.

Parks, who had been struggling for the necessary fluency throughout his innings, was joined by Thornbury, and despite keeping the scoreboard ticking over at six an over, they were unable to claw the game back, with Parks finishing unbeaten on 47, with Victoria 69 runs short.