Ben Gibbon – Willetton CC, Australia
Pace bowler Ben Gibbon ended his winter spell with Willetton as a batting hero in the Western Australia Cricket Association encounter with Midland-Guildford.
Gibbon came to the wicket with his side on the verge of defeat at 83-9 in reply to Midland-Guildford’s 127 all out in 33.3 overs.
But the left armer put on an unbroken 47 with Waheguru Dhillon to see Willetton to victory at 130-9 from 43.4 overs.
Gibbon was the dominant partner in the stand, hitting an unbeaten 35 from 42 balls.
He smote Justin Kandiah for six and then struck the winning boundary off Keaton Critchell.
Gibbon had earlier picked up two wickets after Midland-Guildford had been put into bat.
He made the initial breakthrough with the first ball of the innings when having Tom Beaton (0) caught behind.
He then returned to claim another scalp in the same manner when dismissing Hudson Knight (5).
Gibbon finished with figures of 8-0-32-2 and flies back to England today (Sunday).
Henry Cullen – Plenty Valley CC, Australia
Henry Cullen also made his last appearance of 2022-2023 for Plenty Valley who went down by five wickets to St. Bernard’s OC in a Victoria Cricket Association encounter.
The keeper-batter went in at number three and added 45 for the second wicket with Naman Sharma.
Batting was a challenge on a slow pitch and Cullen made 17 off 44 balls before he was second out with the total on 86.
It was his final knock of a successful winter and he will return to New Road next week.
Sharma top-scored with 47 off 101 balls but Plenty Valley were restricted to 146-9 from 45 overs after choosing to bat.
St. Bernard’s also had to work hard for runs and slipped from 63-0 to 88-4 but they lost only one more wicket before reaching their target in 40.3 overs.
HEADING HOME
Dillon Pennington and Taylor Cornall (Adelaide) and Adam Finch (Sturt) have played their last games in the South Australia Cricket Association first grade competition and are heading home.
Gareth Roderick has already returned to New Road after a successful winter in South Africa with Green Point.
Pat Brown flies back today (Sunday) after his spell with St. Augustine in Cape Town.
