Friday night cricket returned to Ward Oval last week with the Bushies taking on Howies Hombres in the first Twenty/20 competition match for 2025.
In a thrilling 20-over encounter, the Hombres posted an impressive total of 150 for the loss of four wickets.
The innings was anchored by a scintillating knock of 95 from Mark Fraser, before Bushies’ chase fell short, despite some late resistance.
Hombres won the toss and batted first but the innings started poorly, with opener Jay Egan dismissed for a duck, after he was trapped LBW by Bushies’ bowler Prajwal Kharel in the first over.
Fellow opener, Ben McBride also struggled, and was eventually caught by Niduka Gunawardana off the bowling of James McClure for just 13 runs.
However, Fraser stepped up to record an outstanding 95 runs off just 54 balls, which included seven fours and six sixes.
His explosive innings brought the score to 148 before he was dismissed, caught by Stephen Nicholson, again off the bowling of McClure.
Alongside him, Andrew Hill also made a solid contribution to the Hombres’ total, scoring 30 off 34 balls, to help Hombres finish with a strong total of 4/150.
Bushies began their chase of 151 with high hopes, but the task proved too daunting.
James McClure was dismissed early, and Scott Toomey also fell cheaply for two runs, when he was bowled by Joe Regan.
The early wickets left Bushies reeling at 2/6.
Aravinth Naguleswarampillai (23 off 29 balls) and James Anderson (17 off 27 balls) attempted to build a partnership, but wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.
Anderson was run out by Alec Fraser, while Aravinth was caught off a delivery from Graham Harbison, leaving Bushies at 4/59.
Despite some valiant efforts from Prajwal Kharel (29 not out off 36 balls) and Niduka Gunawardana (27 not out off 28 balls), the required run rate was always climbing, and Bushies ended their innings at 4/115, 35 runs short of the target.—contributed
