IT wasn’t to be for Romsey or Wallan over the weekend, as both teams lost their matches in the Gisborne District Cricket Association.
Romsey hosted Gisborne, who was reasonably solid with the ball after electing to bowl at the toss.
Adam Frost and Taylor Stevenson kickstarted Romsey’s innings with a 71-run opening partnership.
It was a collapse after that, though, with the next seven batsmen unable to score more than 12 runs each.
Jamie Taylor gave Romsey a small glimmer of hope late in the order with 29 runs off 54 balls, but the innings soon ended with Romsey all out for 148.
Gisborne’s openers came out firing, facing 97 balls between them.
Captain Jarryd Vernon was seeing the ball as well as ever, hitting boundaries for fun.
He finished with 82 off 57 balls, including 13 fours and a six.
Romsey got the breakthrough and dismissed the other opening batsman with the next ball, but it wasn’t nearly enough, as Reegan Scott and Daniel Salpietro finished the chase for Gisborne, scoring 53 between them.
In Wallan, it was a closer match against Eastern Hill, who won by 30 runs.
Eastern Hill opened the batting and batted well throughout most of the top order. Ollie Bryant scored 73 to boost the total before the side ran out of overs, posting 7/232.
The early loss of Bailey Fowler looked to have shaken Wallan, but Bryan Vance and Hamish Mullavey-Clark came together for a significant partnership, both scoring half-centuries.
Wickets then began to fall, including four for just eight runs.
Harkanwar Sandhu tried to save Wallan late in the order with an unbeaten 34, but wickets fell around him and the Magpies slipped to defeat.
In the Johnstone Shield, Diggers Rest Bulla were too strong at home for Broadford, chasing down their target of 146 in 33.2 overs.
In Kilmore, Lancefield posted 145 before being bowled out, but it wasn’t enough, as Kilmore chased down the target in 34.5 overs.
Josh Squire and Stuart Partridge both did well with the ball, setting the team up for a reasonably easy chase, guided by Robert Simpson, who made 61, including 10 boundaries.
