Bacchus Marsh is on its way to finishing its first season in the Ballarat Cricket Association strongly.
After winning the toss and batting on Saturday against Buninyong the Bulls got off to a tricky start. Opener Alex Porter never got going as he was struck in the pads and given out leg before wicket for just seven of 46 balls.
His partner James Lidgett however was fantastic, making 130 off 226 balls, only striking seven fours and two majors, due to a slow outfield at Maddingley Park.
Coach Paul Baker said it was one of his star batters finest knocks.
“I’ve been back at the club for three years now and I think that’s the best that I’ve seen him bat in my time back,” he said.
“He averages about two tons a year, that was his third this year. It was really tough to bat on, he faced well over 200 balls and a batsman of his calibre would normally finish with a bigger score but the ground itself was very slow and was so hard to score boundaries on.”
Lidgett is the fourth highest run scorer in the BCA this season, with 437 runs at an average of 54.63.
Batting at eight, Armi Wakefield was then able to make a quick cameo performance of 33 from 38 balls to boost the Bulls score to 7-244 from their 80 overs.
“He was probably the difference between us finishing around 200 or getting to 240,” Baker said.
“His innings was really good, he chipped in well, I thought he gave us that extra boost so I was very pleased with his knock.”
Barker said he was pleased with reaching 244 on Saturday, as he said it was above his par score.
“We were happy, the ground was very slow so anything over 200 we thought was a bonus on Saturday,” he said.
“240 was a good day, we batted well all day so I was quite happy with that.
“[Next week] I think we just need to bowl in the right areas and field well, it’s going to be hard to score on but that’s not to say it can’t be done. But I’d like to think we’ll give it a good shake.”
After moving across from the Gisborne and District Cricket Association this season, the Bulls have been competitive. While finals are now off the cards, Baker said finishing the season strong will be very important.
“We’re aiming to try and finish with two wins which would give us six for the year, if we were able to do that in our first year in the Ballarat league, that would be ok,” he said.
“It’s probably more than we expected, it’s a tough competition and the learning curve has been quite steep but the boys are finding their feet a bit now.
“It’s been pleasing, it’s been a great season actually.
“After playing in the GDCA forever, the switch to the Ballarat has taken a little while.”
