PORTLAND Colts has kicked off the Portland and District Cricket Association’s 2021-22 A grade season with a seven-run victory under pressure against South Portland.

South Portland hosted Colts at Cavalier Park on Saturday and after winning the toss, opted to send the visitors out to bat first.

The opening duo of Alister Stannard and Scott Hamilton got the ball rolling with a 29-run opening stand before Hamilton was undone for 17.

Karsen Edwards’ time at the crease was short lived, dismissed for 3, and Stannard (24) managed to drag Colts to a foundation of 2-56 before being dismissed.

The next clump of wickets fell for Colts after the drinks break, with Luke Evans and Glenn Hollis dismissed in back-to-back deliveries, leaving Colts at a shaky 5-74.

South Portland captain Lachie Warburton was the next to strike and he struck hard knocking over both Mathew Belden (8) and Oscar Barbary (0) in the 32nd over of the innings and returning in the 34th to remove Sam McDonald (0).

Colts would manage to spend another 10 overs at the crease and co-captain Matthew Payne managed to pile on a late 23 runs alongside Chad Hollis (2 not out) to reach a more defendible total of 114 runs.

Warburton was the clear standout with the ball, taking 4-10 from his eight overs.

Colts’ Payne said his side wasn’t satisfied with their total, but was confident they had the stocks needed to defend it.

“We didn’t think we had finished with enough runs,” he said.

“As a side we really value batting out our full 45 overs, it’s an important part of the way that we approach each innings, you’re better off crawling to whatever total you can in your fully allotted time to bat rather than getting out swinging and trying to put a total on the board.

“South bowled well and dismissed our full side and we knew that with some of the stronger batsmen in their side, that we would have produce all 10 of their wickets in order to win.

“Just keeping it tight and restricting them wherever we could wasn’t going to work defending a score just above 100.”

South Portland’s run chase then began and a solid but cautious start until disaster struck in the 10th over, with opener Cam Rawlings (run out by a direct hit), first drop Mark Betteridge and skipper Warburton all dismissed within the same over, bowled by Payne.

South’s innings sunk from 0-12 to 3-12 in the blink of an eye, however the reliable hand of Scott Martin steadied the ship alongside hard-hitting all-rounder Mitch Arnold.

Despite the early pressure, the pair managed to add 41 runs for the fourth wicket before Martin was removed for 30 runs – including three of his trademark sixes.

With plenty of work left to do Arnold stuck with the task despite a rotating door of batting partners, dragging South from 4-53 to 7-98.

Arnold belted two sixes of his own on his way to 42 runs from just 68 deliveries, however he was undone by none-other-than Colts’ Payne – nicking the ball through to keeper Hollis in the 36th over.

Now sitting at 8-98, South still had nine overs and two wickets remaining to make just 17 runs, however a win would never eventuate for the home side.

Colts’ co-captain Evans knocked over Shaun Lench for a single run and Toby Barrie was the final wicket to fall, dismissed by Damien Bell for four runs leaving South at 107 runs – eight runs short of a win.

Captaining as a duo together for the first time, Payne and Evans combined for 5-16 from 16 overs in a match-saving effort with the ball, while Oscar Barbary was also more than handy with his 2-16.

Colts’ Payne said he was proud of the way the team handled the challenge put on them.

“South got really, really close and if a few things had have been different they would’ve finished as winners,” he said.

“That early clump of wickets was so vital for us, especially the dismissal of Lachie (Warburton).

“He’s become one of those names when you’re going over the team sheet before the match that you really circle and hope that he doesn’t get the chance to get scoring and really hurt you.

“Our younger players had a really good day in the field.

“Karsen Edwards is still working really hard on his batting, but during the off-season his bowling has really come along too and he’s shaping up to be someone who will take a lot of overs for us this season.

“He’s shown at training that he’s really consistent and nails the line and length that we want to see most of bowlers produce every over, and he showed that again on Saturday too.

“Oscar Barbary certainly didn’t hurt A grade his credentials either.

“He was really good in the field and bowled well too, picked up two wickets in their middle order and kept his cool even when we were under pressure.

“It was a game that really could’ve gone either way and we were happy to finish with the win.”