Sport
25 November, 2025
Blandford’s 72 guides Beaufort past Clunes
Beaufort has moved two games clear inside the top four after a hard-fought seven-wicket victory against a persistent Clunes.
The Bulls looked poised to dominate proceedings at Goldfields Recreation Reserve when they had the visitors at 5/34, but great knocks from the returning Jude McGuire, Brenton Jones and Dylan Davies rescued the Magpies to 9/145.
Despite those late heroics, Beaufort opener Jarrod Blandford maintained his startling form, notching his third consecutive half-century to put his team ahead of the eight-ball and surpass the target with 27 balls to spare.
Clunes won the toss and elected to bat first, putting their fresh opening partnership of Ritik Yadav and Anthony Ellis into the firing line.
David Morse ensured the new pairing was short-lived, taking a wicket in his first A grade over of the season when Ellis was caught by Charlie Dyer for a duck in the second over.
Things went from bad to worse for Clunes 11 balls later when Yadav was run out by Nick Stabbins for one, putting the Magpies in a precarious position early at 2/10.
The silver lining for Clunes was Ahmed Rehman and Mitch Coppick were now in the middle, a pair that’s turned the tide for the Magpies on various occasions this season.
However, before the partnership could get rolling, Morse grabbed a second by bowling Rehman for seven to put Beaufort well and truly on top.
Morse was again amongst the action six balls later, this time catching new man in Mark Allen for one off the bowling of Theo Trevelyan-Clark.
With the Magpies reeling at 4/23, McGuire joined Coppick at the crease to try and survive the Bulls’ onslaught.
However, Beaufort continued to press their attack, with Trevelyan-Clark claiming the big wicket of Coppick for 12, thanks to a sharp catch from Morse at short mid-off.
The new partnership of McGuire and Jones provided some needed respite for Clunes, navigating the final overs of Trevelyan-Clark and Morse’s allotted eight-over spells and surviving some slight scares to enter the drinks break at 5/57.
With Lachlan Oddie bowling exceptionally well, McGuire and Jones were forced to attack at the other end, scoring well against Nicholas Broad and Blandford.
The pair looked to do the same when Bulls captain Brandon Walsh entered into the attack, but Walsh’s bowling brought about their downfalls.
First, Walsh got Jones to hold out to Broad on the deep square leg boundary for 29, ending the long-standing partnership at 51 runs with the second ball of his spell.
Four balls later, McGuire top-edged a ball into the waiting arms of Lyle Aichroth, gone for 26 and suddenly putting the Magpies back in trouble at 7/86 at the end of the 29th over.
Usually changing games with the ball, Noah and Dylan Davies were thrust into saving the Magpies’ innings.
After surviving several overs from Oddie and Walsh, the partnership began to thrive, with Dylan Davies causing real headaches for the Bulls.
The valuable Davies cameo finally came to an end in the 39th over when Walsh dismissed Noah Davies with a catch from Oddie for 12.
Broad knocked the castle of the new man in Brad Stevenson for one to open the last over, but Dylan Davies ended his entertaining innings unbeaten on 38 to help take Clunes to 9/145. Brock Twentyman finished not out alongside Dylan Davies on one.
Trevelyan-Clark and Morse set the tone early for Beaufort, finishing with 2/17 and 2/25 respectively, while Walsh took top figures of 3/24 from six overs.
Similar to their opponents, the Bulls started their innings with a new pairing, as Nick Stabbins joined the in-form Blandford to try and give the hosts a commanding start.
The Davies’ attempted to add to their batting contributions by taking some early wickets, but Stabbins and Blandford were aggressive early, putting pressure on Clunes’ talented opening bowlers.
Dylan Davies responded to the pressure by trapping Stabbins for an LBW dismissal after he scored seven, giving the Magpies a sniff at 1/21.
Despite losing Stabbins, Bland-ford remained pugnacious in his scoring while Trevelyan-Clark settled into his innings, forcing Clunes to make changes to their bowling attack.
The changes worked wonders, as Yadav removed Trevelyan-Clark for four with a catch from Jones.
With the visitors searching for more at 2/49, Blandford and Oddie began to take away from Clunes with a stabilising partnership.
After entering the drinks break at 2/79, Oddie, who scored 83 not out in this fixture last season, looked poised to permanently take the game out of the Magpies’ grasp with some excellent batting alongside Blandford.
Noah Davies did eventually bowl Oddie for 35, but the damage had already been done with the Bulls at 3/126.
Aichroth joined Blandford in the middle to finish the innings in style, with the pair hitting two fours in three balls to seal Beaufort’s third win of the season.
Blandford’s outstanding knock of 72 not out moves him to fifth in the league’s run-scoring charts, while Aichroth finished on eight.
Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for Clunes, grabbing 1/11 off eight overs with four maidens.