Northsiders chasing Marburg's 134

ON a day in which batting conditions were far from ideal, neither Marburg (134) nor Northsiders (5-58) were able to strike a serious psychological blow.

“There was a bit of moisture in it,” Marburg captain David Lund said of the Keith Sternberg Oval pitch the game was played on.

Add that to dark conditions, a slow outfield and a missing sightscreen and runs were hard to come by for all but Marburg pair Sam Truloff (60) and Shane Lehmann (44).

“We were about 6-30 at one stage and I thought we were going to get bowled out for about 50,” Lund said.

“We promoted Sam to number three to give him an opportunity because he’s done well there in rep cricket. He likes the new ball coming on.

“He played the pull shot particularly well and played some nice drives as well.”

Lund admitted 134 was more than he had hoped for and with Northsiders’ batting woes continuing, a home semi-final against the same opponents is virtually assured for the Mustangs.

Lund was also fortunate he was able to cover the loss of strike bowler Mark Lehmann.

The Mustangs’ other frontline quick Steven Heise (4-29) bowled 18 straight overs in a marathon spell but will be fresh to resume hostilities on Saturday.

“His last three or four overs were pretty slow by his standards,” Lund said.

“He was totally stuffed at the end of the day. His first 10 overs were pretty sharp, which is when he got most of his wickets.”

Making it easier for the Marburg bowlers and Lund was that Northsiders crawled along at less than two runs an over.

Lund was confident Marburg could pinch a win if his team can remove at least one of the unbeaten Northsiders batsmen, Billy Jack (28 not out) and Nathan Hooper (20), early on Saturday.

In the weekend’s other, Division 1 match, Eastern Raiders (200) have the upper hand over Flinders Swifts (5-57) at Ivor Marsden 1.