Captain carries bat for Marburg

Marburg skipper David Lund prepares to sweep an Eastern Raiders bowler on his way to 89 not out at Marburg Showgrounds on Saturday.

Rob Williams

WINNING form is good form but drawing form is better than losing.

Such was Marburg captain David Lund’s thinking at Marburg Showgrounds on Saturday as his team (8-245) drew with Eastern Raiders (8-265 declared).

“A win would have been nice but we lost too many quick wickets,” Lund said.

“I was going to assess the situation at tea but we lost two wickets just before tea.”

“We had 100 to go with two or three wickets left and I didn’t want to take too many risks.”

Lund’s chances of pushing for a win were hurt when middle order batsmen David Lyons (15) and Sam Truloff (7) fell to loose shots, leaving Lund (89no) to bat for stumps.

“I didn’t want to lose going into the final round,” he said.

“A lot of other guys got a good start and then were out to a silly shot. I didn’t want to do that.”

Marburg are assured of a semi-final spot, irrespective of the result of their final round match against Northsiders, starting Saturday.

Lund did achieve one goal and that was for his team to bat the day out.

“It is something we haven’t done much this season,” he said.

Eastern Raiders, playing for their season, also made it hard for Marburg to score.

“They bowled really well,” Lund said.

“They didn’t give much away and bowled really good lines.”

But Lund was surprised Raiders didn’t push harder for runs the previous weekend, given a win was necessary for them to have any chance of semi-final berth.