Two-day matches begin for Gisborne cricket

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Day one of two-day cricket action in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association’s, GDCA, McIntyre Cup division has wrapped up, leaving Romsey in a strong position.

Hosting Macedon on Saturday, the Redbacks batted first and clocked 302 runs from 80 overs while losing six wickets, headed by top scores from captain Ben Way, 72, and Corey Day, 86 not out.

The opening duo of Taylor Stevenson and Matthew Milne made 43 and 42 respectively as the Cats were unable to lock down a full dismissal of the home side.

Taylor Stevenson.

Way said he was ‘pretty happy’ with how day one panned out.

“We got off to a pretty good start. The opening partnership sort of set the day up as well and you can build the innings from there,” he said.

“We were pretty happy with the day. Obviously we still need to bowl but we’re in a good position.

“Corey Day was a highlight of the day. That was his highest score in the Firsts – 86 not out – which is a bloody good effort.”

The second day of round six action will feature Romsey in the field, while the likes of Jamie Taylor expected to make an impact at the crease and build on the multiple wickets taken in previous rounds.

Matthew Milne.

“We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing. We’ve started off the season in reasonable form so with 300 on the board, if we bowl and take our chances, we hope to be on the right end of the results at the end of the weekend,” Way said.

“It a good opportunity for the bowlers, after the one-dayers, to bowl some more overs instead of being stuck bowling five, six or seven. They get a good opportunity this week to bowl 10 to 15 overs and really build some pressure on the opposition.”

Elsewhere in McIntyre Cup action, Romsey rivals Gisborne made quick work of Rupertswood to bowl them out in 55 overs for 147 runs.

The early dismissals meant Gisborne was able to begin its batting innings early, already scoring 90 runs in what should be a convincing victory once play wraps up this Saturday.

Gisborne and Romsey are the only two teams in the GDCA’s premier division to remain undefeated this season but will face each other in two weeks’ time for round seven.

In McIntyre’s seconds, Romsey racked up 314 runs and lost six wickets at Macedon’s home ground to mirror the top side’s form.

A club first century from Jack Rees led the way on the first day, while Sean Day, 78, and Matthew Hoyt, 55 not out, also made strong contributions to their side’s innings.

Johnstone Shield

Wallan applied the pressure to Eynesbury with an impressive batting innings on the first day of round six competition in the Johnstone Shield Firsts.

Playing at home, Wallan made 323 runs from 75 overs and lost only three wickets as the Eagles struggled to dismiss any meaningful portion of their batting ranks.

Once again it was captain Bryan Vance taking bragging rights for the home side, scoring a whopping 163 not out to maintain his flawless record this season.

Spencer Whittingham also performed well, scoring 78 runs before being caught out in the 41st over.

Bryan Vance in action earlier this season.

Elsewhere, Broadford pencilled in a solid result to begin its first GDCA two-day match, scoring 8/223 against East Sunbury.

Despite 56 from Connor Stute and 55 from the returning Ash Wood, East Sunbury had three of its bowlers take at least two wickets each.

Broadford will hope to continue with its previous fielding form to keep East Sunbury at bay this weekend – the aspect of play where Broadford has performed better this season.

Kilmore, meanwhile, did well to dismiss all Riddell batters in its first day of round six and was able to make an early start on chasing down the 120-run total.

Ben Dawson took three wickets alongside two apiece from Ned McKeown and Josh Squire – the latter also taking two catches off bowls from Josh Buttler and Elliot Frendo.

The strong fielding meant Riddell’s strongest run haul came in the form of 32 from Craig Woolley before every batter was dismissed in the 54th over.

Kilmore batted for 21 overs before the day’s play concluded, scoring 5/46 in that time.

Play will resume this weekend with Marcus Davern and Ben Dawson batting, the former has already faced four balls but is yet to score a run.