THE Brook Blues were unable to secure their opening victory of the Upper Hunter District Cricket Association season against Aberdeen at the weekend, as they lost ground on their cross-town rivals who shared points after their game was washed out.
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Playing away from home, the Muswellbrook side got off to a poor start, which it failed to recover from, making only 86 from 32 overs.
Josh Cooper contributed 44 of those.
Manu Sharma tore through the Blues order like Mitch Starc does with Sri Lankan tail-enders, finishing with 3-12, narrowly beating out Sam Murray’s also impressive figures of 3-21.
The visiting captain enjoyed some enjoyment though taking two wickets.
But, it was ultimately not enough to prevent Aberdeen cruising home with the win, which has pushed them into fifth place on the table.
This result sees the struggling side fall further behind in bottom place, as Silver’s match was called off due to rain on Friday night.
It was a bittersweet result for Silver, who technically picked up their first points against a non-local side this season.
However, they were simultaneously robbed of a good chance of victory as they were set to host eighth-placed Bunnan at Weeraman.
With just four rounds remaining, they sit 10 points outside of the bottom division finals, meaning they will require at least another two victories to push into the eight.
Meanwhile, near the top of the table it is heating up, as Merriwa dealt out a bowling lesson on a pitch that was admittedly difficult to score on against Murrurundi, dismissing the away side for just 28 from 25 overs.
They remain beaten just once this season, with Rouchel their closest challengers, after enjoying a six-wicket victory over the Bushrangers, who slipped into sixth in the league.
And, in arguably the most important match of the round, the Belmore Bulls incredibly moved into the top four for the first time this season after defeating Belltrees by a convincing 108 runs, jumping two spots in the process.