After an agonising wait, extended by serious flood damage to their home ground at Gardens Oval, the Benalla Bushrangers were finally back in action on Saturday for a clash with City Colts.
The Colts would get the chocolates in the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association season opener at WJ Findlay Oval, holding on for a 14-run win.
After electing to bat, the Colts got off to a shaky start after Bushrangers skipper Conor Brodie removed opener Josh Nanson in just the third over of the afternoon.
But fellow opener Tyler Nanson steadied the ship with his first drop Tyler Schulze and chalked up his half ton before being removed by Tom Webster in the 20th over.
Kent Braden picked up where Nanson left off and put on a solid knock of 42 to see his side well past the 100 mark.
Colts captain Mitchell Giggins produced a handy 32 to put 158 on the board for the Bushies to chase after 40 overs.
Bushrangers player-president Greg Hoystead said his side’s bowling performance had been encouraging for its first game back.
“I thought it was a pretty promising start for us,” Hoystead said.
“We were in the game right till the very end, we probably missed a couple of difficult chances in the field that, if we take them, we probably restrict them to a few runs less which could have been a big difference.
“But I thought we bowled and generally fielded really well, we felt like we did a pretty good job to keep them to under 160.”
The Bushies wasted little time with bat in hand, and opening pair Jack Fullager and Michael Honman got their side off to a flyer.
The two went about their work in the opening stages and combined for an opening partnership of 74 before the Colts found the breakthrough in the 17th over.
Colts’ spinners Braden and Matthew Lister put the squeeze on through the middle of the innings and runs dried up for the Bushrangers’ middle order.
“Mick Honman and Jack Fullager batted really well and got us off to a terrific start, we were right in the game but they’ve got a couple of quality spinners which suited the conditions,” Hoystead said.
“We couldn’t get it moving through the middle part of the innings and got slowed down by their spinners, but we kept going right until the end, even in the last couple, if we had a couple of big overs we could have gotten there.
“As much as anything else it was nice to get a game given that we haven’t been able to do a whole lot of training.”
The Bushrangers will hope to be back on their home track for their next fixture this Saturday, as the WDCA looks at rearranging the draw with a number of grounds in the area still too wet to play on.
THE GAME
City Colts 3-158 Tyler Nanson 50, Kent Braden 42 (not out), Mitchell Giggins 32 (not out), Tom Webster (1-22) d Benalla Bushrangers 6-144 Jack Fullager 46, Michael Honman 27, Conor Brodie 18 (not out), Matthew Lister (2-16)
STAR PLAYER
Jack Fullager (Benalla): The Bushrangers’ opening bat stood firm alongside Honman to see off the new ball and get their side off to an ideal start. Fullager got valuable minutes in the middle, vital at this early stage of the season, and was unlucky not to put up his 50.