SWAN Hill and District Cricket Association’s three A-grade two-day games have each taken different directions after open day’s play on Saturday.
The round four match ups have St Mary’s Tyntynder eyeing an outright win, Nyah District setting a big chase and Swan Hill off to a rocky run chase.
St Mary’s Tyntynder v Ultima TUF
ULTIMA TUF are in a battle to avoid their second consecutive outright defeat entering the second and final day next Saturday after St Mary’s Tyntynder have bowled them out already for 51 runs to claim a first innings win.
Ultima TUF batted first and openers Will Nelson and Akashdeep Singh Sra put together a promising 27 runs approaching the 10th over.
But once Bulldogs opening paceman Matt King took the scalp of Nelson (24 off 52 balls), the wickets tumbled.
Nelson was the only batsman to register more than seven runs in their first batting innings as the Roodogs lost their last nine wickets for just 24 runs.
Ultima TUF’s innings only lasted 36.2 overs of the day’s 80 overs of play.
Singh Sra (7 off 66) and captain Jordan King (5 off 24) showed a bit of resistance with the bat, but St Mary’s Tyntynder bowlers proved dominant.
On a pitch where the ball kept low for the most part, all five of their bowlers went for two runs or less an over.
Dom Violi secured figures of 4-17 off 11 overs, while Bailey Talbot (3-2 off nine) and Jacob King (2-5 off 2.2) also took multiple scalps.
In reply, Bulldogs’ opening batting pair of Jonty Chaproniere and Riley Daniels made short work of the chase with a 125-run stand.
Opening bowler Sam Hinton found the breakthrough denying Chaproniere (87) of his first century of the season, falling an unlucky 13 runs shy.
The 11-boundary innings, which included two 6s, was brought to a close after Chaproniere hauled out to the man on the boundary.
The Bulldogs remain in a dominant position with Daniels (42 not out) and Jack Shannahan (10 not out) still at the crease at 1-149.
Nyah District v RSL
NYAH District took advantage of a weakened RSL bowling attack, setting 302 runs to chase at stumps on Saturday’s opening day of two-day action.
The Blues entered the contest without opening bowling pair Patrick and Brenton Caldwell, leaving Michael Harrower to stand up alongside the returning Cameron Cook.
The duo started strongly and combined as Harrower took the catch off Cook’s bowling to dismiss Bailey Codling for 16 runs.
Second and third wicket partner-ships of 101 and 98 runs were to follow, exposing RSL’s lack of strike bowlers in the line-up.
Demons captain Joel Walsh came in at number three and continued from his century last round, top-scoring with 87 runs, including 10 4s and four 6s.
Walsh’s aggressive innings came to an end after coming out of his crease to spinner Stuart McGregor.
Walsh missed the ball and Blues’ wicketkeeper Stuart Patterson made no mistake in the successful stumping.
Another batting stand between opener Shane Fleming (64 - six 4s) and Dean Harrop (45 - four 4s and one 6) was to follow, which had Nyah District cruising at 2-218.
But the addition of Brodie Roberts into RSL’s bowling attack paid dividends with the scalp of Harrop.
Roberts found Fleming’s wicket a few overs later and at 4-244, a quick collapse began as the next five wickets fell for just 47 runs.
Cameos from Justin Toomey (15), Drew Lloyd (13) and Ben Shadbolt (15) helped Nyah District continue to edge towards 300 runs.
Jack Millard (11 not out) broke the 300-run barrier just before the end of the 80-over innings, thanks to an unbeaten 11-run last wicket stand with Mackinnon Rogers (1 not out).
RSL’s Cook (2-51 off 20), Harrower (2-61 off 20) and Roberts (3-45 off 11) were impressive with the ball.
But the absence of their strike bowlers has left them a big run chase, with Blues’ batting line-up facing an uphill battle for victory.
Woorinen v Swan Hill
WOORINEN has the upper hand at the end of day one, taking two early wickets defending 183 runs against a chasing Swan Hill.
Despite losing the toss and being sent into bowl to start Saturday’s proceedings, Swan Hill opening bowlers Mark Grant and Alan Hatcher made the most of it.
Three wickets between them had the Tigers in trouble at 3-6 before batsmen Jason Mangiameli and Gurmander Singh steadied the ship.
A 71-run stand had the Tigers back in control in their first home game of the season.
A change in bowlers unsettled the batsmen with Ian Schodde getting a patient Mangiameli to shuffle out of his crease to meet one of his balls.
Mangiameli missed the ball and Swans’ wicketkeeping captain Lachlan Edwards had no such issue, stumping the batsman for 23.
Singh’s power hitting continued as he notched his half-century, but joined Mangiameli back in the sheds a few overs later.
His 54-run innings (seven 4s and two 6s) was ended after Swans bowler Tristan Dalbon sent his bails flying.
From 3-77 to 5-83, Swan Hill suddenly threatened to skittle Woorinen for under 100 runs, but there were still a few strong batters left to come.
Glenn Violi (28) had a strong 31-run sixth wicket partnership with Stefan Mangiameli (11).
Damian Mangiameli (27) batted well with the tail, who were willing to stay out at the crease — particularly Robert Rush (13 not out).
These small partnerships dragged the Tigers to 183 before being bowled all out.
Hatcher (4-33 off 19.5) was responsible for three of those last four wickets of the innings while bowling.
Grant (2-39 off 14) and Edwards (2-14 off seven) joined Hatcher as multiple wicketakers.
With 12 overs still to play in the day, Swan Hill were sent into bat.
But is was Woorinen bowler Harry Harcourt who did all the damage.
Brought into the attack in the seventh over, Harcourt took 2-9 in his three overs with the scalps of openers Connor Laity (6) and Jacob Hatcher (1).
Dave LePoidevin (5 not out) and Jonothan Brasser (5 not out) will resume at the crease at 2-17 next Saturday.
But Swan Hill still require 166 more runs for victory, whereas Woorinen have plenty of runs and overs to claim those eight wickets for their own win.
They may even start eyeing 18 more wickets for an outright win if they can find some early scalps next 
Saturday.