A 16th Victorian Premier Cricket ton from Simon Hill has led the Camberwell Magpies First XI to a drought-breaking win, while our Third and Fourth XI also took the points against Kingston Hawthorn.
In the First XI match at McQueen Park, the Hawks quickly found themselves in some trouble after they won the toss and elected to bat first. Swing king Will Walker had his tail up early and claimed three wickets in his third over to have Camberwell on top, including the scalps of former Magpies Sam Newell and Jake Marnie.
But from 3/13, Kingston Hawthorn gradually rebuilt their innings with a series of strong partnerships through the middle, with Ramneet Dhindsa top scoring with 79. He was eventually caught behind to hand Walker his fourth wicket on his way to the impressive figures of 4/39 off 10 overs, as the Hawks finished at 5/202 off their 50 overs.
In response, Camberwell found themselves in a spot of bother at 3/46 with the innings being held together by 301-game veteran, Simon Hill. When Tom Russ fell for 18 to leave the Pies four wickets down and still over 100 runs away from the target, a partnership of substance was required.
Enter 18-year-old debutant Liam Fitzpatrick, who came to the wicket and immediately set about rebuilding the innings with Hill. In an illuminating showcase of a club legend combining with the new young gun, Hill and Fitzpatrick combined for a crucial 90-run partnership to bring the Magpies to the brink of victory. Fitzpatrick was eventually dismissed for an impressive 41 on debut, while the evergreen Hill (109* off 149 balls) carried on to carry his bat and lead the Magpies to a confidence-boosting five-wicket win.
In the Second XI match at Walter Galt Reserve, Camberwell were sent in to bat first. Unfortunately for the Pies, the batting innings failed to gather any real momentum as the Kingston Hawthorn bowlers applied the squeeze. There were starts made by many batsmen right down the scorecard, but the standout was clearly keeper Griffin McComb whose 57* held the innings together and gave the bowlers something to bowl at with 9/168 at the end of 50 overs.
In response, the Hawks looked well on their way to victory at 3/126. But the Camberwell bowlers fought back to cause a mini collapse of 5/21 to bring the match back into the balance. The game went down to the final over, with Kingston Hawthorn requiring three runs to win and Camberwell requiring two wickets. A run out from Kevin Prior had the Magpies on the brink of stealing an unlikely victory, but the Hawks held their nerve to hit the winning runs off the second last ball.
At Watson Park, the Camberwell Magpies Third XI registered a dominant five-wicket win after castling the Hawks for just 79. Skipper Adrian Vidajic led the charge with 4/12, but it was an impressive team effort all round with the Pies’ fielding group managing to get three run outs.
The case wasn’t all smooth sailing as the Magpies lost four early wickets, but the in-form Josh Nelson (21*) played a steadying hand to hold the innings together and see the team home.
Capping off a strong weekend for Camberwell was the Fourth XI’s second win on the trot. After sending Kingston Hawthorn in at Highett Reserve #2, the Magpies’ bowlers restricted the Hawks to 8/142 off their 45 overs with Josh Nevett leading the way with 3/41.
The Camberwell batsmen were able to navigate the chase easily enough, with opener Sam Windisch anchoring the innings with 59 while receiving strong support from Harris Carlin (35*) and Caleb Johnston (28) on the way to a six-wicket win.
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