With each of the last three games shaping like a semi-final, Bayswater-Morley has posted a substantial score on the first day of the WACA First-Grade pennant match against Joondalup at Hillcrest Reserve on Saturday.  At stumps the Bears had reached 7/298, a satisfying total considering the score at the tea break [2/142] was more than doubled in the last session.

The star of the innings was veteran opener Chris Hall, who survived for 81 overs before being bowled by the best ball of the day, a reverse in-swinging yorker from Jim Boyland, just short of a deserved century.  His knock of 98 covered five hours during which he faced 253 balls and hit nine boundaries. It was the third consecutive time he has reached the nineties without converting to three figures.

He was well supported early by opening partner Rob Morgan and newly promoted Kim Lawrence in partnerships of 64 and 50 respectively.  The innings was then substantiated by a stand of 105 with Rhys May, who scored 63 in his most mature performance of the season.  After the loss of Hall, Brendan Mills with 38 at a run a ball, and Ryan Phillimore with quick-fire 21, lifted the run rate to push the final total to near three hundred.

Although none of the Joondalup bowlers was unduly expensive, the only one who displayed any penetration was Boyland, who was rewarded with the figures of 4/71 from his 20 overs.  Given that the visitors batting line-up has proven quite brittle this season, Bayswater should be able to defend the target if their powerful attack is on song next week.

Meanwhile, Bayswater-Morley have been rewarded for the nurturing of its abundance of talented youth, with the news that Cameron Robb has been named in the Australian Under Seventeen team, and Luke Waterhouse, Sam Baird, and Stephen Smith, have been selected in the State Schoolboys team to contest the National Championships in Canberra in March.

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