By RUSSELL BENNETT and JARROD POTTER
WEST GIPPSLAND CRICKET ASSOCIATION – ROUND 1 REVIEW
PREMIER
EMERALD enters the new Premier season as one of the division’s biggest question marks – with a host of youngsters and a fresh injection of top-end talent.
But, as with Kooweerup, the more things change the more they tend to stay the same.
Bombers skipper AJ Walker (45) anchored his side’s innings after losing the toss and being sent in to bat at Donnelly Reserve.
The trouble last season for the side was that too much of the run-scoring was often left to too few, such as Walker, and history repeated on the first day of the new season on Saturday.
Opener Mark Alenson (10), Jason Burns (10) and wicket-keeper Ian Litterbach (10) all got away to starts they were unable to convert but newcomer and middle-order stabiliser Michael Nell (29 not out) impressed alongside Walker in the biggest partnership of the visitors’ innings.
Youngster Caleb Boswell was the pick of the Merinda Park attack with a stellar 4/12 from four overs.
He ripped through the Bombers middle and lower orders, restricting the visitors to 9/125.
Merinda Park chased the Emerald total down inside 36 overs, with Daniel McCalman (55) and Jess Mathers (48) stepping up in place of the Cobras’ leading run-scorer last season, Matt Grayson.
Big man Darcy Hellriegel (2/21) was the sole multiple wicket-taker for the visitors.
Not to be outdone by their conquerors from last season’s Premier decider Kooweerup, Cardinia made a statement of their own on Saturday – slicing through the Tooradin batting order like a hot knife through butter in a super-impressive showing.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Bulls lost both of their new opening combination early with the two Daniels – Glen (4) and Strahan (0) – hearing the dreaded death rattle thanks to Steve Hamill (2/26) and Ricky Holland (1/15).
Ben Darose (2) soon followed, caught behind by new Seagulls skipper Tom Hussey off Hamill, and the visitors looked in all sorts.
But Alex Nooy (30) and Hussey’s Bulls counterpart Neil Barfuss (71) wouldn’t be denied.
Barfuss was one of the league’s standout bowlers last season but struggled to find his trademark consistency with the willow.
If his start to season 2014/15 is anything to go by, though, the rest of the Premier division could be in for a world of hurt.
Hamill and Lang Lang recruit Ross Douglas both finished with 2/26 as Tooradin’s leading wicket-takers.
Chasing 150 for victory, Tooradin started its chase in the driver’s seat but lost both Hussey (12) and Ben Spicer (0) in the opening overs.
Hussey, caught and bowled by Dean Henwood, was the key wicket for the Bulls.
He, like fellow Tooradin all-rounder and former skipper Aaron Avery, missed key games last season through injury and would have come out hell-bent on stamping his authority all over the contest.
But as was the case in eerily similar circumstances in the semi-final last year at the same venue, the Bulls just found a way to defend what would ordinarily be an average total.
Opener Brenton Adams (30) and Avery (17) were the only two Seagulls batsmen to pass 15 as the side’s middle and lower orders crumbled.
Darose (3/28) was the pick of the visiting attack, bowling a tight, disciplined line and length and frustrating the Tooradin batsmen into mistakes, while Henwood (2/12), Glen (2/12), and Barfuss (2/13) each contributed to a strong all-around team performance.
As far as early statements go, this one could be a telling one.
Look out Merinda Park – the Gulls are sure to come out breathing fire this week.
DISTRICT
The tailless Lyndhurst Vikings (8/151cc) matched pace with the middle-order less Clyde (136) at Lineham Oval as neither side could muster a complete batting effort.
Star all-rounder Ammar Bajwa (47), new recruit David Nutting (28) and run-machine Jason Hameeteman (39) excelled at the top of the order to resist the four-pronged Clyde pace-attack.
Taking the tally past 100 for only two wickets down, the signs were strong for Lyndhurst until the Cougars started to bite back.
Kyle Brooke (4/13) ran through the top order and added a run-out of the opposing captain to lead a strong fight back as the Vikings ran aground to lose 8/23.
Clyde cost itself the match with an equally squalid effort with the bat, as Nick Sadler (29) and Nick Miles (24) from the extreme lower order showed the only real backbone, beyond opener Gav Adams (38), to fall 15 runs short.
Lyndhurst split the wickets as Jesse Fitzgerald (3/23) and Bajwa (2/24) opened their accounts for season 2014/15.
Next up for the Vikings is a home clash against Cranbourne Meadows while Clyde faces Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll away.
While the Marygoons (4/151cc) showed their first inklings of true power, it isn’t all doom and gloom in loss for Devon Meadows (102).
Matt Hutchinson (2/9) showed he is one to be seen off and not belted away in District this season as the Marygoons thankfully watched his allotted overs elapse.
From there the Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll middle order flourished as Austin Van Strijp (66) and Jamie Somers (32) added 79 for the third scalp before Chris Lewis (23 not out) came in to set the imposing 151 target.
Sporadic Panthers’ defence left Devon Meadows struggling to keep pace as Bryce Ingram (25) and David Carson (24) led the attack.
Josh Lownds (4/13) equalled his tally of scalps last year in a single match to show off his all-round credentials alongside spearheads Sean Somers (3/23) and Lewis (2/6).
Lewis’ figures are all the more impressive for the 7.4 overs and four maidens he bowled.
The Gooners will face Clyde at Garfield Recreation Reserve – owing to on-field upgrades at Nar Nar Goon this year – while Devon Meadows host Pakenham Upper-Toomuc.
Cranbourne Meadows (7/181cc) showed there is plenty of batting remaining at Lawson Poole Reserve as Brent Murdoch (52), Tom Smith (44 not out) and John Emery (41) allowed the Rebels to canter past St Francis Xavier (93).
It only took the Rebels 28 overs to dismiss the X-Men as Shaun Matthews (3/25) led the charge.
Noel Betreen (26) and Chris Shepherdson (20) were the only X-Men to get out of first gear with the bat while Brendan Hunt (2/29) and Leigh Otten (2/31) picked up a couple of wickets each.
