The Ben Venue team took on Tenterfield’s Sir Henry Parkes Public School on Monday and finished as convincing winners. 

On a cool but sunny morning at Harris Park, Ben Venue captain Stuart Parsons won the toss and elected to bat first.  

Ben Venue openers Joe Schmude and Elliot Clarke faced some very strong bowling early on and they found it hard to score runs against the Tenterfield attack.

Clarke was the first wicket to fall and this was closely followed by Stuart Parsons who was caught behind after facing only a handful of deliveries and Ben Venue were struggling at 2-10.

Schmude and vice-captain Cooper Collins combined shortly after and went about steadying the Ben Venue innings.

They both played very cautiously and patiently waited to put away any loose balls that came their way.

At the 13 over mark Ben Venue had crawled to 2-44.

After the drinks break both batsmen began to lift the run rate. 

With the score at 62, Schmude was out for 21 and Collins followed shortly after scoring a well played 18 runs.

This brought Ben Hignett and Myles Harris to the crease.

Both players looked to keep scoring at a faster rate and it was Hignett who picked up the tempo hitting a six and two boundaries as he raced to 20 runs before being caught.

At the end of the innings Ben Venue were 5-109 from their 25 overs.

The Tenterfield innings started very well with the batsman scoring reasonably quickly.

The Ben Venue opening bowlers were a little wayward and took a while to bowl a consistent line and length.

Joe Schmude came into the attack and almost immediately made batting more difficult for the Tenterfield batsmen.

He was successful in removing the dangerous Tenterfield opening batsmen thanks to a clever catch by Sophie Parsons at square leg.

Schmude was supported well in the middle overs by Cooper Collins, Alex Harris and Sophie Parsons who all bowled a better line which frustrated the batsmen and led to a flurry of wickets.

By the drinks break, Tenterfield had struggled to 7-52 off 13 overs.

Ben Venue were able to continue their accurate bowling and took the remaining three wickets.

The visitors finished all out for 88 off 22 overs, giving the home side the win.

Best bowlers for Ben Venue were Joe Schmude 3-19 off four overs, Cooper Collins 2-10 off three overs, Sophie Parsons 1-10 off three and Alex Harris 1-5 off three.

Ben Venue now play Gravesend Public School in the next round.