UGSCA 2025-26: Wandering stars wallop Cuballing as Lake Grace hammer Wickepin and Williams trounce Towns

Wandering and Lake Grace notched up their second wins in the Upper Great Southern Cricket Association, cruising to comfortable round-two victories against Cuballing and Wickepin-Harrismith respectively. The Cuballing innings ended 83 runs short of Wandering’s tally of 207, lasting only 39 overs in the process. Lake Grace, meanwhile, finished off Wickepin’s chase after 36.3 overs, leaving them high and dry, all out for 138, in pursuit of the victors’ 270. The other match was equally one-sided, Williams notching 220 all out and then skittling Towns for 140 in the shortest innings of the round, just 33.3 overs. At Wandering, Cuballing put their opponents into bat and although they grabbed an early scalp when Grady Francis bowled Josh Brennan for three, Blake Egerton-Warburton (43) and Jacob Schorer put on 81 for the second wicket. Schorer had just passed his half-century when he was caught by Damon Watt off Joe Dowling for 51, but captain Bailey Parsons kept up the momentum with 38 runs off 60 balls. Ben McMillan was 34 not out, running out of overs in partnership with Lewis Parsons, as Wandering closed on 8-207. Michael Moore grabbed three late wickets for Cuballing to finish with figures of 3-32 off seven overs. Opener Joe Dowling did his bit in what seemed at first to be a promising reply, as Cuballing had put on 49 before the first wicket fell. Andrew Harris went for a stubborn 13 off 56 balls and then Kieran Langridge survived 44 balls for 19 but Cuballing went from 3-85 to 6-87 as Xavier Ballard and Damon Watt were dismissed for ducks. That they recovered to a total of 124 was due to an unbeaten knock of 18 from Isaac Whiteford. Lewis Schulz finished with impressive figures of 3-10 off just three overs while Matt Durmanich was almost as good with 3-13 off five. Lake Grace became the other side to win both opening fixtures thanks to opener Kalan Joyce carrying his bat for 113 runs off 125 balls against Wickepin. Joyce was also unbeaten in their first outing, scoring 27 as his side thumped Cuballing in just 16 overs, but this time he walloped nine fours and two sixes as he and Matthew Trevenen put on 116 for the first wicket. Trevenen was eventually bowled by Arron Quartermaine for 78 and Ben Hislop was caught and bowled by Caen Taylor for 16, but Dylan Brooks powered to 42 off 30 balls to finish the innings in style and set a tough target of 4-270. In response, Wickepin tumbled to 5-34 before Taylor fired an unbeaten 80 off 91 balls. However, while he was busy bashing 11 boundaries, Lake Grace were busy taking wickets at the other end until he ran out of partners with just 138 runs scored in all. Brock Pockran and Arron Quartermaine, with 10 runs apiece, were his only other teammates to reach double figures. At the Clayton Road Oval, Towns put Williams in and saw Rodney Ford topping the scoring with a hard-hitting 80 which included 11 fours and came off just 70 balls. His innings was a welcome middle-order boost as Michael Forman (22), Michael Cowcher (21) and Riley Ford (16) all made starts but were removed before they could cause considerable damage. Robert Rose chipped in with 24 off 25 balls before falling lbw to Fraser Goode but Williams were all out for 220, three overs shy of the maximum. Towns did not get close, tumbling to 140 all out despite noble efforts from Perrin Quartermaine, who grabbed 39 runs off 47 balls, and Sam Ellis’ late 29. Charlie Vermeersch grabbed four top-order wickets for 49 runs, while Rodney Ford’s 3-17 removed the Towns’ tail.