A blistering six-wicket spell from Nathan Charlton has shot the Junee Commercial Stallions to the top of the Elders Cup ladder ahead of the Christmas break.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Charlton delivered the best over of his life against a lowly Adelong outfit, skittling the Donkeys’ middle order with a five-wicket maiden at the Adelong Showgrounds after skipper Will McGrath made inroads with four early wickets.
Fellow seamer Trent Charlton was no slouch with the ball, tying up his end with a miserly spell of 0-6 from five overs, but it was the elder sibling’s day as Nathan snared a hat-trick with his first three deliveries.
The veteran paceman narrowly missed out on a double hat-trick but was rewarded with another two wickets to complete his over.
“I was pretty stoked to be honest,” Charlton said post-game.
“It was my first hat-trick and I’ve never had five wickets in an over before.”
A stunned Adelong could only watch in disbelief as Charlton rounded out the innings with a final wicket, registering match figures of 6-3 from 1.3 overs as the Donkeys folded for only 19 runs.
The result wasn’t always guaranteed after Adelong rocked their fancied opponents with two early wickets following McGrath’s decision to bat first on a rough track.
I was pretty stoked to be honest. It was my first hat-trick and I’ve never had five wickets in an over before.
- Nathan Charlton
A dogged partnership between Trent Charlton (15) and Stephen Turk (17) steadied the ship before handy knocks from Jay Butler (17) Mick Butler (19) and Shaun McNamara (19) steered the Stallions to a competitive 124 from 35 overs.
Skipper McGrath said he was “happy” with the total as the Adelong ground was “in terrible shape”.
“The grass was very long and there was a lot of running and very minimal boundaries in our innings,” he said.
“It (was always) going to be hard to chase down".
The captain praised his side’s effort in the field and ability to turn their gme around following a disappointing loss to Lotts.
"It's a great win, we needed that coming into the last round,” McGrath said.
“We still haven't had our strongest team together this year so it's going to be exciting when we do".
Junee will now travel to Tumut this week to play against Tumut Plains.
They will be out to prove a point against Junee after going down in an embarrassing defeat in the first round after being bowled out for 15.
The round 11 action begins at 1pm, Sunday December 17 at the Tumut Plains cricket ground.
