Romsey’s two-day McIntyre Cup campaign in round 11 of Gisborne and District Cricket Association, GDCA, action got off to a flying start as it recorded the highest run total of any of the weekend’s matches.
Playing at home against Woodend, Romsey opted to bat first and scored 280 runs for the loss of nine wickets before declaring its innings closed after 75 overs.
Captain and coach Ben Way was the lead scorer for the home side, amassing 141 runs ahead of Adam Frost and Chris Burkett on 46 and 38 respectively.
“We had a pretty solid day. We still had to work hard to get to where we got to, but at the end of the day we got the result that we were after,” Way said.
“It was my turn to make a big score on the weekend and we had two good partnerships along the way, me and Chris Burkett put on 80, and then me and [Frost] – when it could have gone either way – that partnership of 110 turned it in our favour in the second half of the day.”
Woodend was able to get six overs in before the end of play, during which time its opening partnership was able to score 25 runs without the loss of a wicket.
Way said he was confident in being able to keep the visitors at bay this weekend.
“I think we’re pretty solid in both [batting and bowling], it’s not often we go for well over 200 these days. We haven’t had many days where we’ve had big totals put on against us, so I think we’re in a good spot if we can hold our chances,” he said.
“If we give a couple of their better batters opportunities, it can make for a tough day … we’re looking forward to some of our bowlers bowling a decent amount of overs so they can settle in and bowl some decent spells.”
Way said his team would have to keep winning to give themselves a chance at a top-two finish before finals and felt Woodend and upcoming Rupertswood were ‘dangerous matches’ in keeping the flawless season alive.
“We’ve just got to keep winning and see where it takes us come finals and who we’ve got to play if we can get there,” he said.
In the McIntyre Cup seconds competition, Romsey enjoyed a strong day at Woodend as it bowled out the home side for 92 runs in 39 overs.
Beginning their innings early, the Redbacks managed 105 runs in 22 overs while keeping their opening two batsmen in the game – Sean Day and Jack Rees recording 75, not out, and 24 not out, respectively.
Standout bowlers were Darin Jewell with three wickets, followed by Rees and Zade Mezzatesta on two apiece.
Johnstone Shield
Kilmore’s away game against Aintree got off to a strong start as the visitors recorded 253 runs before all batsmen were bowled out.
Top performances included 63 from Ben Dawson and 58 from Kyle McNicholas, with most other batters making at least 15 runs.
Captain and coach Jacob Walton said with the strong run total posted, the team was confident in being able to defend against Aintree’s charge.
“Bowling has been probably the most consistent part of our games all season, we’ve fallen short with our batting where we’ve lost wickets and things like that throughout the year,” he said.
“If we keep bowling our lines and our lengths, we’ll be tough to score against and hopefully we’ve made enough.
“It’s definitely something defendable, so if we bowl well we should come back with the points.”
Elsewhere, Broadford also performed well at home against Eynesbury on Saturday to finish 5/86 to 10/81.
Eynesbury elected to bat first but struggled to post meaningful run totals thanks to the bowling of Taylor Shell, who took 5/12.
Ash Wood and Braden Hickey led the way for Broadford’s innings – the batsmen making 28 and 25 runs respectively.
Joshua Nolan and Mitchell Collier continue Broadford’s innings this Saturday.
