‘Dogs put up fight but sadly fall short

In Saturday’s match against Parramatta, captain Daniel Solway lost the toss and bowled. While the wickets were shared, returned player Ayden Brown shone with two wickets for just 19 runs.
Unfortunately, the Parramatta batsmen found the line and length they liked and sent balls flying, even though there was some late control by the Dogs’ bowlers.
Chasing 196 to win, the Dogs came deceptively close – despite low scores by most batsmen.
However, it was their scoring rate that kept Bankstown in the hunt.
Indeed, ‘keeper Ethan Deal did his best to get the Dogs across the line with 45 off just 25 and really make Parramatta worry. However, it was a bridge too far and the Dogs fell short by just 18 runs.
In the second game against Mosman on Sunday, a similar fate awaited the Dogs.
This was a must-win game for both sides with the victor gaining a place in the Twenty20 semi-finals.
The Bulldogs lost the toss and were sent into bat.
Solway and Niran Wijewardene put on a display of power hitting and deft glances which got the large local crowd excited with a brilliant partnership of 78 runs off just 59 balls. Wijewardene was unlucky to fall on 49 (off 30 balls) after holing out attempting to keep the runs flowing. Solway (65 no) was joined by Deal (18 no) and the pair also kept the runs flowing, with a partnership of 51 off just 29 balls and helping to set what seemed a very defendable total of 3/167.
However, the Mosman openers took apart most of the Dog’s bowling and made the Dog’s total look potentially meagre.
Young leg spinner Jake Smith was not overawed, and while wicketless, showed tremendous promise with 0 for 23 off 4 overs.
Liam Marshall, Brad Simpson and Justin Felsch took the wickets, which only temporarily slowed the onslaught with Mosman passing the total in the 16th over.