IN what is shaping up to be a match of the year contender, Swan Hill and Nyah District have both put their best foot forward on the first day of their match.
At stumps, Swan Hill were bowling to protect their respectable 159 run target, while Nyah District’s batsmen looked to fire up on their way to 65 runs after 27 overs.
Early in the day, Swan Hill’s top order looked shaky after two quick wickets removed number two Brenton Foott and number three Adam Thomson for a duck and one run respectively.
Opening batsman Mark Thomson was able to kick their day off with 45 runs of his own before the away side’s middle order batsmen chipped away at their total.
As the day wore on, wickets continued to fall for Nyah District who looked strong with the ball in hand, bowling their opponents out for 159 after 53 overs at Nyah Recreation Reserve.
With enough time left for 27 overs, Nyah kicked their innings off by losing key batsmen when opener Joel Walsh was sent packing for six runs before Bailey Codling was run out for eight.
Staring down the barrel of defeat, Nyah District got back into their groove with Jacob Lister hitting 19 (not out) as Justin Toomey (not out) and Shane Fleming piled on 16 runs each.
The final wicket of the day fell just six overs from time and Nyah District captain Dean Harrop said it was a disappointing end to an otherwise good performance.
“I would have been more confident going into next week being only two down — we lost the third wicket late in the day and that was disappointing,” he said.
“The boys are going well and we jut need to put in a partnership so the batters can get the runs … it is a good contest and we are happy.”
Harrop said this week Nyah District will focus on one thing before the second and final day next Saturday.
“We just need to work in partnerships,” he told The Guardian.
“Swan Hill had two good partnerships so we need to try and put on a 50-60 run partnership … if we can do that, that is one third of the runs gone.
“Hopefully one of our batsman can make a decent total, like a 30 or 40, that will help us knock off these runs.
“Overall we are still very pleased with the score we kept them too … but we looked at the draw and we can see how important it is to win this one, it will set up our year. We are going into the final day knowing what is at stake for the rest of the year.”
Over at North Park, RSL are looking likely to beat Woorinen outright after posting 304 runs on the board.
It was Stuart Patterson who did the damage with a score of 187, the biggest in the competition this year so far.
RSL lasted the full 80 overs and Woorinen will now face an uphill battle on the second day of their clash.
St Mary’s Tyntynder are in the box seat after bowling Ultima TUF out for 44 after 25 overs, setting a total of 194 runs before sending their opponents back in.
At the end of the first day, Ultima TUF were on just seven runs after five overs and will need to last the distance to have a chance to win the match next week.
