By Tricia Mifsud
STRUGGLES with the bat led Romsey Cricket Club to a six wicket defeat to Gisborne at Gardiner Reserve on Saturday.
Romsey was able to complete its 45 overs, but with a score of 9/150, it knew that Gisborne were a strong chance to chase down its total.
Gisborne had the job done against the visitors in the 39th over, scoring 4/154.
Other than Romsey captain Ben Way’s half century, 54 not out, and Sean Day’s 35, it was unable to put together any strong partnerships, with number three and four batsmen William Collins and Matthew Milne out for one run and a duck respectively.
Romsey’s bottom order, seven through to 11, were all out for a total 20, making the side’s total of 150 an achieveable target for the home side.
Way said his side had work to do when batting, and would have liked to have scored a higher run total.
“We would have liked more runs, but our batting has been a little bit off. We have got some good batters there though that will start hitting bigger totals,” he said.
“Whatever you do, you’ve got to do it well and we weren’t at our best with the bat or ball, but as a rule I say if you bat first and bat well, you’re right in the game.”
Way commended the game of Day, saying he was Romsey’s best performers, bowling three maiden overs and taking the wicket of Gisborne’s second batsman Lucas Cavigan, out for two.
“Sean was our best player for the day, he bowled nine overs straight for 18 runs,” he said.
Gisborne’s Jason Wilson was the difference for his side, making an unbeaten 78, and was supported by opening batsman Michael Allen’s 35 runs.
“Gisborne outplayed us at the end of the day. We’ve been a bit off our game and have some work to do, but if we got Wilson out, at the end of the day it may have been a different result,” Way said.
Way said overall, his side had a good start and finish to the game, but needed to improve on its middle performance.
“We were a little bit unlucky, in that we started well and finished well, but it was those 15 to 20 overs in the middle where we let ourselves down,” he said.
In other McIntyre Cup matches, Wallan continued its undefeated streak, winning by 39 runs on its travels to John McMahon Reserve to play East Sunbury at the weekend.
Bryan Vance starred with the bat, hitting 66 runs, while with the ball; it was Ryan Bonner who once again was Wallan’s best, collecting four wickets, including one duck.
This weekend, Romsey will host Sunbury United at Bendigo Bank Oval while Wallan play Bacchus Marsh at Greenhill Reserve, Wallan, both starting at 12.30pm.
