Mortlake, Heytesbury Rebels tie in South West Cricket

That was the equation for Heytesbury Rebels against Mortlake on Saturday.

In the end they managed eight runs, sealing a dramatic tie between two South West Cricket premiership contenders.

Mortlake captain Todd Robertson and Heytesbury Rebels coach Simon Harkness said both teams had their chances in a high-quality contest.

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Robertson bowled the final over for the Cats.

"We had an in-out field happening to try and restrict boundaries as well as cut off the twos," he said.

"It came off the edge of the bat and they got a couple of twos and a couple of singles."

Harkness said it was a game of centimetres.

"We got a few twos, we just couldn't quite get the boundary that would've got us over the line," he said.

"The last ball sort of squirted out to third man and one of their fielders jumped on it and stopped it. If he didn't do that we would've snuck home."

Robertson said the Cats would learn lessons in how to defend after letting an opportunity slip.

"It's a little bit disappointing, we probably had our opportunities to win the match," he said.

"With a score of 225 we thought we had well and truly enough runs to defend.

"They constructed a pretty good innings. They took their time and then knew when to launch.

"Travy Brown came in and played a really good innings. He got them within striking distance."

Harkness described the contest as "a cracking game of cricket".

"Both teams had their chances," he said.

"224 is a big chase, so it was pleasing to get there. It would have been good to win but it is what it is.

"It was my first tie I think I have ever played in. It was a great game and you just look forward to playing against Mortlake whether it's round one or round 12 or if it's in a final."

Shane Slater and Todd Lamont did the damage with the bat for Mortlake, both making 69.

Simon Harkness (60) and Travis Brown (47) were the mainstays for Heytesbury Rebels.

Robertson said conditions suited batsmen.

"It was funny conditions, it was a fast ground," he said.

"It was not really a wicket-taking day but we tried to tie it up as much as we could and I thought Will Kain bowled really well for us, taking the pace off the ball.

"He bowled his seven overs and got two wickets."

Harkness was pleased with the Vogels brothers - Paul and Chris - for their bowling efforts and Chris Dendle and Brown for their batting.

"Trav batted unbelievably well," he said.

"He set himself for one over and he hit two sixes and a four and a couple more runs off that really swung the game back in our favour we thought but it wasn't to be."

Johno Benallack made a patient 53 in Cobden's 53-run win against Camperdown.

Tharaka Sendanayake's unbeaten 53 and 2-12 and Lahiru Fernando's 5-25 were critical in Pomborneit's 131-run victory against Terang.

Sam Munro took four wickets for the Goats.

Eddie Lucas (72) and Tim Fitzgerald (56) put on 107 for the first wicket in Bookaar's 80-run triumph over Noorat.

Martin Wynd (51) Jacob Fishwick (41) and Daniel Kenna (40 not out) did their best with the bat for Noorat.

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