The first round of Goulburn Murray Cricket Twenty 20 competition was held on Thursday and both Rochester and Bamawm-Lockington United picked up wins.
Rochester vs Tongala
Rochester started its season on the front foot at Moon Oval, getting past Tongala by 14 runs.
Jake Wright held together the Rochester innings from the top, making 46 from 33, while Angus Martin (15), Dylan Cuttriss (12) and Matthew Harrington (12) weren’t able to go on with their starts as Rochester posted an all-out 121.
Louis Sabbagh-Holt (3-16) had a trio of breakthroughs for Tonny, while Alex Williams (2-21) and Jessie Johnstone (2-32) also bowled well.
Tongala’s T20 batting order did its best impression of the Blues’ McMahon Shield side, showing resilience at the crease but being unable to muster the required runs.
Williams (23) was stable at the top of the order and Jayden Tucker was looking good to finish not out on 41, but will rue not connecting more cleanly in the final few overs as his side fell 14 runs short.
With 15 balls to go, the Blues required 24 with three wickets in the sheds, but while Tucker and Sabbagh-Holt were able to preserve their wicket, they could only add 10 runs at the death.
Jesse Cuttriss (3-23) did damage with the ball, while Myles Wade delivered a miserly 1-12 from his four overs.
BLU vs Nondies
Before their clash in the McMahon Shield at the weekend, Bamawm-Lockington United and Nondies-Cohuna warmed up with a T20 fixture, the hosting Lions’ bowlers the heroes as their side won by five wickets.
Batting first, the Nondies innings was centred around Jake Klemm, whose brilliant 59 off 50 balls provided the go forward the visitor required.
In contrast, his teammates at the other end couldn’t break through the BLU field and Nondies finished at just 3-99 from their 20 overs.
Lucas Holgate (2-9) was the strike man for BLU in his two overs, while Savith Weerasinghe was the epitome of defensive bowling, giving up only 10 runs in four overs.
Captain Regis Chakabva started the BLU run chase off at pace, making a quickfire 21 from nine before Luke Thompson and Weerasinghe picked up the slack in the middle order.
The two added 40 as a pair, Thompson finishing not out on 24 while Weerasinghe made 20, BLU reaching 5-100 in 15.5 overs.
Shaun Haffenden was the pick of the bowlers for Nondies, taking 2-25.
The final game of the round went to a super over, Moama getting the win over Echuca South 0-10 to 2-7 in the extra innings.
On Thursday, Rochester will face Kyabram Fire Brigade, Nondies-Cohuna will take on Leitchville-Gunbower and Echuca and Echuca South will square off as the T20 competition continues.
Bill Williams Goulburn B-grade Shield
The top three sides in the competition continue to distance themselves from the rest of the pack with Rushworth, Echuca and Colbinabbin securing victories in round six.
In the battle of the big cats, the Tigers (118) managed to bowl out the Lions (104) in 30 overs, just 24 runs short of victory.
Thomas Stevens (26) and Liam Francis (30) proved to be the only points of promise with the bat for the Tigers, while the former also starred with the ball, collecting figures of 4-17.
Meanwhile, BLU similarly struggled with bat in hand. Jake Toll (21) and Xavier Kellow (31 not out) were the only two to score more than 20 for the Lions.
Oscar Palmer posted the best BLU bowling figures, tallying 3-23 from five overs.
While Stanhope (138) and Colbinabbin (168) were both bowled out in the 36th over of their individual innings, the latter did just enough to claim victory.
First drop Charles Ryan (63) was the standout for Colbo, with captain Fletcher White providing a nice cameo (26) at the top of the order.
Adam McPhee was a spearhead for the Ducks against Stanhope, taking stellar figures of 4-3 from three overs.
Stanhope’s openers Bradd Stewart (53) and Matthew Evans (33) looked promising but received no assistance from the rest of the batting line-up, with no other batsman scoring more than 15.
Kyabram Fire Brigade (4-170) chased down Elmore’s (7-168) score in 33 overs to knock on the door of the top four as the halfway point of the season approaches.
Luke Price’s unbeaten 61 led the way for Elmore, with Tyler Oliver playing a nice cameo of 35, while Tom Morris had best figures of 2-31.
The Flames were more consistent with the bat as Sam Spedding’s 61, Matt Owen’s unbeaten 37 and Jarrod Chapman’s figures of 2-22 powered them to victory.
Bill Williams Murray B-grade Shield
Echuca South (8-171) managed to overcome Rochester (170) with seven balls remaining to cement third spot in the competition.
Rochester’s Donald Young (42) and Mitch Crawford (36 not out) top scored in the first innings, while Mark Macfarlane (4-28) proved vital with the ball.
The Swans’ number five Nicholas McKenner (60) came up big for his side, but it was the bowling of Ben Walker (3-22) and Joel Stephens (3-26) that won them the day.
Gus Underwood C-grade Shield
Elmore (9-232) put on a dominant batting display to defeat Rochester (7-152) in their round six match-up.
The Redbacks had plenty of runs across the board with Rhys Holmberg (55 not out) and Aaron Juffs (43) the standouts, while Dylan Chique (4-26) followed up with ball in hand.
More strong batting performances were found elsewhere with Ky Fire Brigade (8-212) proving too strong for BLU (168).