The cricket season is off and running for Mount Beauty’s first XI side, but the result is far from a dream start. The Power fell to Dederang in the opening round of the Cricket Albury Wodonga District season, with the Demons chasing down their 7/204 total with four wickets and seven balls in hand. Sent in to bat by Dederang, openers Adam Whelan (60 off 64) and debutant Alex Moffit (27 off 53) put on 81 runs at the top, before Gregor McLennan slashed a composed 49 from 44 rocks batting at number four and lasting until the end of the innings. While McLennan was hitting them to all parts, he was rapidly losing partners at the other end. After Wes Dowel was removed for 18, the Power were sitting pretty at 3/128, but golden ducks to Nick Iaria and Todd Jeanes, as well as an injury-forced retirement from Mark Flay after three balls, exposed the tail and the run rate dropped. With a defendable target of 205 to defend, the Power needed to make early inroads, but they came up against the unstoppable force of Dederang opening bat Archie Johnston. Johnston was on fire, smashing 120 from 96 deliveries, and putting Dederang in a strong position early. While Wes Dowel (3/27 off eight overs) was the pick of the bowlers, Johnston had given the Dederang middle order enough space to nudge the ball around and work their way to the total, reaching the target in the 39th over. Lincoln Wilson, Andres Brewer and Moffit also picked up a wicket each. McLennan said losing wickets in clumps stalled momentum during their batting innings. “We had a really good start, we had a new player, Alex Moffit who debuted for us, he’s a really solid batter, and he and Adam Whelan at the other end got us off to a great start.” he said. “We lost a couple of wickets, there was a little pause, then we lost three wickets in succession and had an injury to Mark Flay who was unable to continue. “We had a springboard we could’ve launched in the late overs to get to a really strong score, but in the end we had to just keep one eye on our wickets in hand and weren’t really able to open up as much as we wanted. “We thought 204 was a defendable score, but we were a bit wayward [with the ball] early on, and that cost us. “Archie Johnston had a day out, he was all over the place. “It would’ve been great batting to watch – I didn’t personally enjoy watching it much, but he batted exceptionally well.” The Power will look to pick up their first win of the season when they take on Yackandandah at Mount Beauty this weekend. Meanwhile, the second XI side secured a 139-run win over Dederang, bowling the Demons out for 61 after posting 4/200, while the C grade side will commence their campaign this Saturday.
