Raymond Terrace paceman Cameron Bates proved an unlikely saviour with the bat for Raymond Terrace chiming in with a valuable 67 to lift their tally beyond 200 against Northern Suburbs at Lorn Park on Saturday.
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Bates combined with teenager Alex Lidbury (16) in a final wicket partnership of 55 after being dropped by Callum Gabriel off the bowling of Sean Gibson with the score on 156.
Gabriel, who finished with 4-54, finally got revenge as the tail-ender's concentration deserted him and Bates attempted a mighty swipe only for his wickets to be smashed behind him.
Raymond Terrace skipper Steve Smith said it had been a tremendous effort with the bat at the end by Bates and Lidbury to get the Lions score beyond 200.
"We were in real trouble, but they were able to get some really important runs to get us back in the contest," Smith said.
"It would have been nice to pick up a couple of wickets at the end to get us back even more in the game," he said.
Bates said he surprised himself as much as everyone else with his batting effort.
"At the end I lost a bit of concentration and went for a bit of a slog, but I'm in the team to take wickets not make runs so the boys up the order owe Alex and me one," Bates said.
Unfortunately, for the Lions, Bates used up all his luck in his innings as a confident lbw shout against Norths opener Mitch Norton was turned down.
A low Ben Sudgen nick also went down and the two Norths openers will resume with the score on 34 with Norton on 15 and Sudgen on 10 after getting through a dangerous 18 overs at the end of day.
Keally takes five
Western Suburbs paceman Luke Keally took five wickets in a marathon effort of bowling as the Plovers dismissed Thornton for 185 on day one at Thornton Oval.
Keally bowled from start to finish with 5/66 off 30.5 overs. Elliot Lewis was the other chief destroyer taking 4-38 off 12 overs.
Wests resume at 1/44 with Shannon Threlfo unbeaten on 22 and joined by Mark Copus on one after Riley Harrison was dismissed for 13.