By Max Davies
Kilmore is yet to find a win in its Gisborne District Cricket Association’s Johnstone Shield Firsts season but is showing signs of improvement following the first two rounds.
Playing at home on the weekend, Kilmore was tasked with chasing down Aintree’s 10/174 off 35.4 overs but came up short to record 9/121 over 40 overs despite a strong late batting partnership between Brett Buttler and Josh Squire.
The pair were Kilmore’s top scorers – Buttler on 31 not out and Squire on 19 not out.
Coach and captain Jacob Walton said the game had promising signs despite multiple missed opportunities during Aintree’s innings.
“Buttler and Squire batted really well together and got us up to 120 at the close of our innings, which showed a little bit of fight in the tail which is really good,” he said.
“If you look through the rest of our bowling scorecard, if we take one of those earlier catches we probably skittle them for 100 rather than letting them get 170.”
Kilmore’s efforts to chase down the target set by Aintree got off to a slow start as openers Kevin Craddock and Cameron Bryant only scored five runs.
Craddock was bowled out early into the third over, while Kyle McNicholas was sent out for a first-ball duck.
Bryant was caught out in the fourth over before a partnership between Andrew Smith and Marcus Davern stabilised Kilmore’s innings with a 19-run total ahead of the late Buttler-Squire effort.
Squire drew Walton’s praise, who said the match was ‘really impressive’ for one of the team’s most important players.
“For a kid that’s only 20, he bowled for eight overs straight and bowled really well. He didn’t get a wicket but held down one end while [Aintree] were really looking to score through that big partnership,” Walton said.
“He came out and batted for probably the best part of 20 overs and was just really impressive.”
Kilmore will now gear up to face old rivals and Gisborne District newcomers Broadford, who scored a 3/157 to 9/156 victory over Eynesbury on Saturday.
“We’re feeling pretty good, we haven’t had the results we wanted the first couple of weeks, but we’re only going to keep getting stronger as the year goes on,” Walton said.
“We’ve got a couple more guys coming back into the side this week, so we’ll see how we go against the old rivals. They’re going to be tough to beat, I think this year they’ve got some pretty good depth … it’s just good to see them all back and loving cricket again.”
In Johnstone Shield Seconds action, Kilmore was defeated by Aintree in a comprehensive 10/156 to 8/235 result.
Broadford, however, took out a second win at the weekend over Eynesbury, while Wallan lost to Rupertswood at home 10/91 to 5/92.
McIntyre Cup
Romsey took home another victory at the weekend as it outperformed Woodend, making it two wins for the season for both its firsts and seconds teams.
Playing at Woodend, Romsey elected to bat first and scored 8/200 off 45 overs, leaving the home side with what proved to be too much of a total, finishing 10/175 off 45 overs.
Romsey captain Ben Way led the way for Romsey with an unbeaten 56 runs, while Corey Day impressed with his bowling to take three wickets.
Matthew Milne and Aaron Paterson also put on strong batting performances, scoring 37 and 39 runs respectively.
Romsey will face Rupertswood this weekend.