HIBO are the Southern Lands one day premiers after a productive double header on the weekend, defeating Hilltop on the Saturday and East Bowral on the Sunday.
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Hibo are now undefeated one day champions of the Southern Lands competition.
The standard performances of the weekend were Brad Smith taking ten wickets for 52 runs over both matches and Dave Stevenson’s 100 not out on Saturday against Hilltop.
He achieved his century off the second last ball of the innings and Smith took 6/32 versus Hilltop and 4/20 versus East Bowral.
Hibo v Hilltop on Saturday
SKIPPER Mick Webber won the toss and elected to bat. Brad Webster and Hamish Copland started steadily and took the total to 1/24 when Copland was dismissed trying to increase the run rate.
Dane Stevenson joined Webster and these two took the score 2/49 when Webster was caught for a solid knock of 22.
Another quick wicket saw Hibo at 3/53 and not looking in a great position; however, Stevenson had settled into his innings and was building nicely.
He produced rock-solid defence and took full advantage on any remotely loose deliveries. He gained a valuable ally in Mick Webber and these two batsmen restored Hibo’s fortunes with a partnership of 92 which took Hibo to 4/145.
Webber was then out for a wellmade 28 runs.
He, too, was solid in defence and produced some powerful drives in a valuable captain’s innings. All this time, Stevenson was relentlessly compiling runs at the other end and was building towards his century.
Hibo then went on the attack with overs running low, and lost a flurry of quick wickets in the quest for quick runs before Stevenson was able to push a single and bring up his century off the second last ball of the innings.
Hibo to finish at 7/185. Stevenson’s knock dominated the Hibo scorecard and the Hilltop bowlers in an incredible innings of rock-solid defence, deft glides, cheeky singles and powerful shots all round the ground in a great batting effort.
Hilltop began the run chase aggressively with Steve McNaught and Alex Dobbs going on the attack.
They had 22 on the board in the second over before Brad Smith bowled the dangerous McNaught for 17.
Mick Webber then struck a series of blows on Hilltop’s chances when he sent back the Hilltop skipper, Simon Reid, well caught by keeper Sharwood for 5 and Alex Dobbs for 10, Dean Webb for 8 and Ollie Disher 0 in a fine spell of bowling which yielded 4/26 off nine overs.
Smith was not to be outdone by his skipper and proceeded to demolish the Hilltop innings, claiming the impressive bowling figures of 9 overs 6/32 including Hilltop’s Zoe Moon for 21.
Webber and Smith combining in an emphatic bowling display that saw Hilltop dismissed for 69.
Hibo v East Bowral on Sunday
WITH Mick Webber unavailable, skipper Brad Smith won the toss and had no hesitation in batting.
Hibo lost an early wicket but Brad Webster and Josh Watling stabilized the innings with Webster again batting solidly for another knock of 22 and on his dismissal, Hibo were 2/34.
Watling and Nick Skelly saw Hibo at 4/92 when Watling was dismissed for a well-compiled innings of 45 when he was caught right on the long-off boundary.
As Stevenson had done on the Saturday, Skelly dominated the Hibo innings on Sunday with an impressive innings of 80 which was well-crafted, mixing defence and neat attacking shots before he was last man out, attempting an audacious six.
Hibo were eventually all out for 212 with Stevenson 11, Brad Smith 7, Brad Mitchell 12 and Marcus James 7, all lending Skelly support to add 110 for the last 5 wickets.
Trent Woods 2/31 off 9 and McDonald 2/30 were the pick of the East Bowral bowlers.
The East Bowral run chase began poorly when Smith trapped opener, McDonald lbw at 1/1.
Matt Heyhorn and Charlie Drummer then set about a recovery mission before Smith had Heyhorn caught by Andrew Tivey for 22 and Bowral 2/30 which became 3/43 when Brad Mitchell had Drummer well-caught by the keeper for 13.
From this point, East Bowral lost wickets steadily with only McDonald showing any resistance with a determined 20 not out.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent East Bowral being dismissed for 75.
Brad Smith again led the way with the ball, taking 4/20 off 9 to go with his 6/32 on Saturday.
He received good support from Brad Mitchell with 2/27 off his 9 overs, Marcus James 1/10, Andrew Tivey 1/16 and Dane Stevenson 2/1.
With the one day silverware secured, the Hibo team are clear leaders in the competition and have set their sights on the premiership with three 2-day games remaining against East Bowral, Bowral and Wingello.
