A glorious spring day greeted players for the opening round of the Benalla & District Cricket Association’s opening rounds in the Cleary and Trewin Shields. In Cleary Shield the match of the round between St Joseph’s and Benalla Saints proved a nail biter, but the other three games saw one sided contests, highlighted by a hat trick from Violet Town all rounder Simon Holmes and a five wicket haul to Euroa skipper Ben Miliken. On the batting front two seventeen year olds stole the show, Delatite’s Jake Martin scored 97 not out and Violet Town’s Nick Abley scored 78.
St Joseph’s hosted Benalla Saints at the Friendlies Reserve, and were asked to bowl first after Saints captain Brett Pollard won the toss and elected to bat. But runs were hard to come by as the St Joseph’s attack bowled disciplined line and length on a slowish wicket. Led by Dale Stratton (1/22 off 7 overs), he received great support from 16 year old Wade Gladstone (1/11 off 7 overs) and veteran Brendan McCorkell (2/14 off 5 overs). Apart from Jesse Hazell scoring 34 in even time at the top of the order no other Saints batsman could get on top of Joey’s tight bowling. Veteran Greg Hoysted toiled away for 27 in just over an hour, and even the usual free scoring pair of Brett Pollard (17) and Sam Hazell (15) found runs hard to come by. At the completion of their 40 overs Benalla Saints had scored 8/129.
Joey’s fill in opener Steve Wilmot was out first ball of the innings, but then fellow opener Vijay Satyanarayana and youngster Jamie Patterson got the innings on track with a 43 run partnership before Patterson was out for 15. When new recruit Ben Kennedy was out one run later for 0, Saints took the upper hand. But the gritty Satyanarayana found an ally in the reliable Steven Lister and these two combined in a 36 run stand in just 25 minutes, with Lister out for 21.Satyanarayana continued to hold the Benalla Saints attack at bay, but was out with victory in sight for a well complied 59, the score being 5/117. A few anxious moments prevailed before St Joseph’s managed to hit the winning runs in the 38th over with eight wickets down. Jesse Hazell (2/26) and Brett Pollard (2/15) did best with the ball for the Saints.
Reigning premiers Violet Town opened their season with a resounding 129 run victory over Benalla at the Benalla Gardens Oval. Batting first after winning the toss, new skipper Nick Abley led from the front and combined in a 75 run opening partnership with Ash Ellis(32) and a 79 run second wicket stand with Simon Holmes (35). Abley was out for a hard hitting 78 in 25th over with the score on 3/154. A score of 250 was on the cards but the Benalla bowling attack fought back to restrict the Towner’s to 8/201. Veteran Greg Vallender (3/26) and former Goorambat all rounder Luke McFarlane (3/15) were the mainstays, while new recruit James McDonald showed some promise taking 1/18.
For Benalla to win the match they needed good contributions from the top four bats in Will Martiniello, Craig Brown, Sam Harris and Luke McFarlane. A steady start from Martiniello and Brown saw the score to 18 before Brown hit a catch back to Brendan Duncombe to be out for 6. The following over from paceman Simon Holmes however created havoc with the Benalla top order. Martiniello nicked one behind into the safe hands of Abley on the 4th ball of the over, then McFarlane and Mark Yates were bowled in consecutive balls by unplayable Yorkers, giving Holmes his first Cleary Shield hat trick. The Benalla innings was in tatters at 4/19, and things did not get much better. Holmes picked up a 4th wicket in his 6th over to have the figures of 4/12, then Duncombe chimed in for two more and the home side were 7/38. Benalla skipper Sam Harris was the only shining light for his side as the wickets continued to fall. The evergreen John Martiniello replaced Duncombe (3/22) and managed to take the last three wickets to finish with 3/17, Benalla all out for just 72 in the 24th over. Harris finished on 39 not out.
Pre season premiership favourites Euroa had an easy 6 wicket win over last seasons runners up in Warrenbayne at the Racecourse Reserve despite a top order collapse in their batting order. Warrenbayne batted first and managed only 81 with Euroa skipper Ben Miliken starring with the ball taking 5/14 off just 6 overs in a fine display of pace bowling. Only Warrenbayne skipper Ben Fahey (23), Matt King (25) and Luke Croxford (16) got to double figures. Last season Euroa may have struggled chasing 81, but with a new look batting line up they were expected to cruise to victory. But Warrenbayne’s opening bowlers in Leigh Wydeven (2/14) and Damien O’Brien (2/8) had other ideas. In just ½ an hour they had Euroa reeling at 4/4, with ducks to new recruit Rick Maplestone, former Benalla star bat Andy Squires and talented all rounder Matt Walker. Another new player in Matt Kirkwood managed just 4. It was then left to the experienced pair of Michael Seach and Chris Burke to steer Euroa back on course for victory, which they did with relative ease, hitting up the winning runs in the 29th over. Seach finished on 45, Burke on 27.
The Mansfield derby between Delatite and Mansfield saw an easy win to home side Delatite. Delatite batted first and lost only three wickets as their young brigade piled on the runs. Openers Jack Egan (36) and Tom Breadon (37) Saw the score advance to 2/92. 17 year old skipper Jake Martin then combined with Jarrod Glennon (37) in a 106 run partnership. Martin finished agonisingly close to a well deserved century on 97 not out at the completion of the 40 overs, with his team having scored 3/217. David McCann was Mansfield’s best bowler taking 3/39
Mansfield’s run chase started slowly thanks to tight bowling from Ross Brown (0/16 off 6 overs), 15 year old Joe Cousins (1/12 off 6 over) and Tim Davidson (2/17 off 7 overs). But skipper Brett Mahoney (45) got the innings going, and then Nathan Moffatt (52 not out) gave Mansfield some hope. But time and overs ran out with Mansfield finishing at 8/180. Jake Martin completed a good match taking 3/46 for Delatite.
TREWIN SHIELD
Only three games took place in Trewin Shield after Benalla had to forfeit their games against Euroa.
The clash between Juniors and Warrenbayne saw a 45 run victory to Juniors. Violet Town premiership player from last season Drew Bowman top scored for Juniors with 83 in his teams score of 5/175, while Tom Mack with 41 was Warrenbayne’s main contributor in their score of 7/130.
Goorambat and Tungamah played a nail biting game with victory going to Goorambat by just 12 runs. Goorambat batted first and scored 116 all out with Kane Dockery top scoring with 36. Ben Wilson took bowling honours for Tungamah with 4/27. In reply Tungamah could manage only 104 with Sam Lidgerwood best with the bat making 33. Kane Dockery proved handy with the ball as well in taking 3/26, along with former St Joseph’s premiership player in Clinton Relf who took 4/26.
St Joseph’s made the long trek to Merton and suffered a bit of a trouncing. Merton batted first and managed 4/165 with James Octigan (38) and Stuart Munro (34) doing best with the willow. In reply St Josephs were bundled out for 109, the only shining light being promising youngster Josh McCallum scoring 69. Jarrod Cummins and Andrew Lockhart took 3 wickets each for Merton.
ROUND TWO PREVIEW
An interesting round of matches awaits us this Saturday. The game of the round will be the Strathbogie Shire derby between premiership favourites Euroa and reigning shield holders Violet Town, to be held at Memorial Oval in Euroa. The highlight of this match will be the battle between Euroa skipper Ben Miliken taking the new ball against Violet Town’s strong top order batting led by Simon Holmes, Ash Ellis and Nick Abley. The possible inclusion of James Saker to the Towner’s side strengthens the line up even further.
Miliken is the best fast bowler to grace our competition for many years, with comparisons to the great Brian Hensley being made. His pace will be a test for players in this competition not having being exposed to such bowling in the past. The first hour of the Violet Town innings should be a cracker, and if Holmes and co can weather new ball then Violet Town should muster up a winning score. But Euroa’s new look batting line up led by Benalla import Andy Squires should be capable of setting more than competitive totals this season. Despite a bit of a stumble first game where Euroa collapsed to 4/4, it is unlikely that will be the likely scenario again this season. Violet Town will need Simon Holmes and James Saker to take early wickets, if not then their four pronged spin attack will have to wear down the Euroa batting line up. I expect this game to go down to the wire, with the Towner’s just getting home.
Benalla Saints travels to the Racecourse Reserve to take on Warrenbayne, and if last seasons games are any indication this game will be a close one. Benalla Saints lost narrowly in both their encounters with Warrenbayne last season, and after another close loss in the first round they will be desperately looking for a win here. The usual suspects in Greg Hoysted, Brett Pollard and the Hazell brothers, Jesse and Sam, will need to perform with the bat to give the Saints a good chance of winning. Warrenbayne skipper Ben Fahey is his sides trump card. His aggressive and hard hitting batting puts pressure on bowling attacks, and allows player such as Tim Swift, Matt King and Shaun Croxford time to settle into their innings. With Benalla Saints failure to win the close games I’ll tip Warrenbayne in what should be a keenly fought contest.
In the other two games the young and talented Delatite side should get over the line against Benalla at the Gardens Oval, while St Joseph’s should easily account for Mansfield.