Rough day at the office for Warren Blackwood B-grade squad after second round country week loss

The Warren Blackwood B-grade squad had a rough day at the office during their second round of country week against West Pilbara, losing by 132 runs. West Pilbara won the toss and elected to bat first which proved a good strategy as the opening pair, Jake Back and James O’Brien, had a partnership of 55 runs. Another 48 runs was added by Lachlan Seabrook before he was bowled out by Jozef Parkinson, making Warren Blackwood’s mission an uphill climb. Strong scores from both Shane Edwards (39) and Lachlan Smith (61) pushed the West Pilbara score above the 200 mark before the side finished all up for 242/7. Blake Johnston and Braden Gibellini both took two wickets each while bowling against the northern team while Parkinson claimed one and Kayne Aitken grabbed another. The day went from bad to worse for Warren Blackwood as five batsmen were dismissed for ducks in their first batting innings. Daniel Ward and Kallan Fall started the proceedings with Ward going out on four runs while Fall was sent packing on zero. Captain Hugh Mitchell, Jack Muir, Aitken and Gibellini were all later dismissed as well for zero as Warren Blackwood collapsed under the West Pilbara pressure. The strongest batsmen for Warren Blackwood were Johnston (17) and Dan Bayman (16) but they could not stop the team being bowled out for 46 after 17 overs. To add insult to injury West Pilbara put Warren Blackwood back into bat for a second innings on the day which did not go much better than the previous attempt for the South West squad. Bayman, Nick Mills, Parkinson, Mitchell, Fall and Aitken all had their wickets taken for ducks which prevented Warren Blackwood from mounting any real attack. Gibellini had a decent second innings, scoring 26 runs from 33 bowls before being run out. At the end of the second innings, Warren Blackwood were all out after 64 runs from 23 and a half overs. The B-grade squad next play today against Peel 2 at Murdoch University Sports Ground.