Sport

Thrilling victory the first of four

AFTER another dominate display from Ashleigh Gardner, Bankstown Sports won a nail-biter against Northern Districts in the Sydney first grade cricket competition to complete four wins on the trot.

In a game that was second versus third, Bankstown won the toss and elected to bat.
After losing an early wicket, Gardner headed to the crease where on a slow outfield, she hit the boundary eight times while clearing it three times on her way to 70 off 41 deliveries.
Unfortunately after the loss of her wicket, Bankstown couldn’t string together any partnerships and were eventually bowled out in the 36th over for 156.
A runout in the first over, thanks to Jannutal Sumona, put nerves through the NDs’ camp as they struggled to get the ball away. Wickets came in regular intervals which continued to slow their scoring throughout the innings. Alice Whelan (2/22) and again Gardner (3/28) were the pick of the bowlers. Needing 6 to win off the last over, Alice held her nerve to allow just 3 runs from it as NDs ended their 50 overs 9/153.
Bankstown’s U18 Brewer Shield team had a strong lead against St George Sutherland who were 6/78 only to finish with 251 from their 50 overs. Mridula Thirupathy was the pick of the bowlers with 3/39 off 8 overs while Felicia Aoina started the innings off well with 2 wickets in an over. Chrissa Stathis, Sarah Lawler and Cynthia Coghlan all chipped in with a wicket each. In reply Bankstown were bowled out for 151 in 33.5 overs with Thirupathy continuing her impressive bowling performance with a half-century to be the top scorer.
The U15 Sixers Cricket League Bankstown Sports side had a fantastic win against Randwick JCC. Bowling first, Bankstown kept Randwick to 4/85 off their 20 overs with Jessica Robertson 1/10, Bree Kurtz 1/13, Katie Abrook 1/5 and Bismah Choudhry all taking wickets throughout the innings. Bankstown chased down the total in the 15th, only losing 5 wickets. Choudhry top scored with 13 off 12 balls, while Katelyn Dancy and Jessica Robertson both chipped in with 8 runs each.
Third grade was washed out while the U13 Bankstown District Cricket Association Mollie Dive girls had a bye.