It was a rough start for Romsey in the opening round of Gisborne District Cricket Association’s McIntyre Cup competition, comfortably defeated by Diggers Rest Bulla.
Playing at home, Romsey won the toss and elected to bat but were behind the eight-ball early.
Openers Chris Burkett (6) and Matthew Milne (17) fell quickly with Taylor Stevenson and Corey Day not far behind to have the hosts 4/44.
William Collins was the one shining light for Romsey, making 30 runs from number three before being stumped at 6/79.
Romsey’s lower order fell quickly, with the last three wickets going for just four runs as the home side was bowled out for 103 from 36.5 overs.
Diggers Rest Bulla made short work of the run chase, getting the job done in just 17.5 overs.
Kevin Barker top-scored for the visitors with 40 runs, including five fours and a six, before being caught off the bowling of Matthew Milne, while Sumanjan Fernando finished the job, with 38 not out with eight boundaries.
Romsey captain Ben Way said it wasn’t the best start to the season.
“We made a decent start but we kept losing wickets throughout so it was a bit of a wake-up call early in the season. It’s better having it early in the season than late in the season,” he said.
“There’s nothing in particular we need to work on but it was the first game and we had a late start to the season in terms of getting ready so we were a bit rough on the weekend.”
Way said the Romsey attack bowled well despite having to defend a small total.
“They were just solid, we didn’t bowl poorly. It wasn’t our bowlers that didn’t do well, our batsmen weren’t able to get us to where we needed to be,” he said.
“It’s a quick outfield and a couple guys were able to get away from us for 20 minutes.
“We’ve got Bacchus next week and they’ve been the team to beat the last few years. They lost as well so both of us want to get a win and it should be a good game.”
