ST MARY’S-Tyntynder started their premiership defence in strong fashion, with an eight-wicket win over Ultima-TUF at the Alan Garden Reserve on Saturday.
Having won the toss, the Roodogs decided to bat first, but quickly found themselves in trouble.
The reigning premiers had the home side on the back foot at 4-18, with key batsmen Kyle Symons and Kade Benfield both back in the shed.
Charlie Kingwill (11) and Josh Waldron (22) put together a brief rearguard action, adding 29 runs for the fifth wicket, before the wickets continued to tumble.
Ultima-TUF finished nine wickets down for just 101 runs from their 40 overs.
Cassidy Sibley led the way with the bat, adding 25 valuable runs late in the innings.
It was an early demonstration of why St Mary’s-Tyntynder are again premiership favourites. Skipper Nathaniel Holmes-Brown was full of praise for his young bowling attack.
“It probably suited us a bit better to bowl first,” he said.
“We weren’t overly fussed because the pitch seemed a bit soft and we were pretty happy to bowl. We’ve been really consistent over the last couple of years at trying to keep teams to around 100 as a chaseable score.
“It was a good bowling effort from everyone really, but especially the young kids. They all got the opportunity to bowl and they all did exactly what was asked of them.
“It was really good to see them step up and take the opportunity that was handed to them, and then it was also pretty pleasing watching the way Jonty (Chaproniere) and Connor (Power) went about our innings with the bat.”
Chaproniere amassed 53 runs before being caught by Josh Waldron off the bowling of Mitchell Dwyer, while Power scored an unbeaten 39.
It was Robin Sebastian who gave the Bulldogs the early momentum, with the opening bowler taking 1/6 from his eight overs. Charlie King led the wicket takers with three for the afternoon.
“It was a great way to start the season off, especially since it felt the season crept up on us very quickly for a few of the guys,” Holmes-Brown said.
“It’s been good to see the improvement of everyone, especially the younger guys.
“We’ve still got a couple of handy inclusions to come in too, but it’s going to be really hard to bring them in and drop someone, because everyone played their role and contributed to the win.”
Also beginning their campaign with a win, albeit a hard-fought one, was Nyah District, who defeated Barham-Koondrook by just four runs on Saturday afternoon.
Batting first, the Demons were bowled out for just 107 from 34 overs. Veteran Justin Toomey (39) and opener Charlie Boulton (16) were the only batsmen to reach double figures for Nyah District.
Jade Stewart (4-16) and Chameera Akurugoda (3-15) were the pick of the Barham-Koondrook bowlers and helped keep the Demons to a chaseable target.
Alex Wilson struck in his first over, removing Akurugoda in his first game for Nyah District, with wickets continuing to fall at regular intervals to leave Barham-Koondrook at 6-46 just after drinks.
Eion Janse Van Rensburg (14), Stewart (14) and Jake Vallence (20) then combined to drag the home side back into the contest.
Barham-Koondrook regained the momentum, before losing their last three wickets for 17 runs, which included the run out of Vallence, trying to retain the strike on the second last ball of the match.
Charlie Boulton led the way for Nyah District with the ball, taking 3-36 from his eight overs, while Ben Shadbolt and Max Thompson both took two wickets each.
Wandella made light work of Swan Hill in their opening match, as the Bombers claimed a 10 wicket win over the Swans.
Batting first, Swan Hill could manage just 76 before being dismissed. Ethan McKnight was the chief destroyer with four wickets for Wandella.
Jacob Hatcher top-scored for Swan Hill with 18 and recruit Ammar Khalid 15 were the only players to offer any sort of resistance.
In reply, Daniel Higgs (36 not out) and Patrick Oliver (31 not out) helped Wandella cruise to victory without losing a wicket, as the Bombers reached their required target after just 11 overs.
SHDCA A GRADE RESULTS – ROUND 1
ULTIMA-TUF – 9-101 off 40 overs (Cassidy Sibley 25, Josh Waldron 22, Charlie King 3-24) lost to ST.MARY’S-TYNTYNDER – 2-103 off 16 overs (Jonty Chaproniere 53, Connor Power 39*)
NYAH DISTRICT – 10-107 off 34 overs defeated (Justin Toomey 39, Jade Stewart 4-16, Chameera Akurugoda 3-15) BARHAM-KOONDROOK – 10-103 off 39.5 overs (Jake Vallence 20, Charlie Boulton 3-36, Ben Shadbolt 2-15, Max Thompson 2-16)
SWAN HILL – 10-76 off 27 overs (Ethan McKnight 4-16, Samuel Copland 2-9, Daniel Higgs 2-12) lost to WANDELLA – 0-77 off 11 overs (Daniel Higgs 36*, Patrick Oliver 31*)
WOORINEN – 7-251 off 40 overs (Darren Rushton 118, Jason Mangiameli 67*, Guri Singh 24, Nathan Henry 2-34) defeated MURRABIT – 10-144 off 39 overs (Toby Gray 46, Archer McKnight 22*, Paul Johnson 3-14, Darren Rushton 3-32, Smit Patel 2-21, Guri Singh 2-29)
