Campbelltown Camden Ghosts first grade fell short on the weekend in a match critical for their semi final aspirations.
The team travelled to Drummoyne Oval to play Sydney Cricket Association competition leaders Sydney.
Ghosts batted first and were in trouble early losing both openers which brought Gibson and Gauci to the wicket. A steady partnership of 45 runs came to an end with the loss of Gauci.
At 3 /47 the innings was teetering but an excellent partnership between Mortimer and Ryan Gibson (81) took the score to 127 before Gibson was dismissed. Mortimer stayed resolute with other partners to finish undefeated on 58.
As a result, at the conclusion of their allotted 50 overs, the Ghosts amassed 205 runs for the loss of six wickets.
Sydney also started poorly losing two early wickets, but were steered home by their skipper Daniel Smith, who reached three figures as his team took the honours and premiership points.
Josh Clarke was the standout bowler for the Ghosts, finishing with figures of 2/32 from 6 overs.
Second grade struggle on difficult pitch
On a difficult pitch the Ghosts second grade side were sent in to bat on Raby #1 and struggled to build an innings with wickets falling regularly.
They were finally dismissed for only 76 runs, with Tyler Edwards scoring 25 of those.
Sydney reached the total and passed it to win after losing five wickets.
Third grade record victory over Sydney
Ghosts third grade battled hard after batting first to finish with 6/199.
Early contribution from Nick Carruthers (39) and great late hitting from Kane Flynn Duncombe (60 not out) set up a good total for the bowlers to attack.
The bowlers answered the challenge by dismissing the Sydney side for 164 runs off 45 overs.
Young batting side skittled for 46
In fourth grade the Ghosts bowled first at Raby with good early success having Sydney 7/69 early but the visitors’ lower order dug in to finish with 150.
Spin bowlers Mitch Taylor 3/22 and Nathan Baker 3/43 bowled very well.
Unfortunately the young batting side could not handle the chase finishing with only 46 runs.
Fifth grade celebrate another victory
Fifth grade on the other hand continued in their winning ways on the weekend.
Firstly they compiled a solid score of 135 on a difficult wicket for batting.
This was a good recovery effort considering they were five wickets down for just 12 runs.
Veterans Todd O’Keefe (47) and Michael Strong (24) gave their bowlers something to defend and that they did just thaqt dismissing Sydney for 46 with O’Halloran leading the way with a four wicket haul.
Under 21 fall agonizingly short of target
The Ghosts Poidevin Grey U/21 side played Mosman at Raby on Sunday in a crucial game.
Mosman batted first and finished with 5/208.
Ghosts started the run chase positively, reaching 3/100 at the middle stages with solid contributions from Mortimer (42) and Constable (35) but ultimately they fell agonizingly short at 9/201.
• The club’s AW Green Shield U/16 side continue their campaign this week with games on Tuesday versus Hawkesbury, Thursday against Western Suburbs and Sunday taking on Gordon.
