IN what could prove to be a tone-setting match for the season ahead, Tyrendarra claimed a five-wicket win over Portland Colts with just under four overs to spare in Saturday’s A grade Portland and District Cricket Association clash at Flinders Park.

With both teams looking to get their season underway after a frustrating couple of weeks on the sidelines, and with these two sides having faced each other in last season’s grand final, the importance of this match couldn’t be understated even this early in the season.

Colts started brightly with the bat, as openers Glenn Hollis and Alister Stannard put on 69 runs for the first wicket.

However, the tide began to turn when a brilliant piece of glovework off the bowling of Mark Pitt from Tyrendarra wicketkeeper Jordi Withers brought Stannard (29 runs 35 balls) unstuck by way of a stumping.

Pitt followed up just two balls later, sending Colts captain Luke Evans’ bails flying, with Evans returning to the shed for nought.

From there the run-rate slowed dramatically, with Colts adding only a further 22 runs from their final eight overs to post a disappointing total of 6-93.

Tyrendarra looked strong out the gate, with Jake Wilson and Lachie Kirk (12) helping to guide them to 2-53, before disaster struck when Colts’ pair of Matts – Payne and Belden – struck in short succession.

Payne took care of Wilson (22 from 13 balls), before Belden dismissed Pitt (9) and Withers (0) in consecutive deliveries, with the Tyrendarra keeper unable to back up his heroics in the prior innings as he was dismissed for a golden duck.

Tyrendarra steadied, however, as skipper Cam Mather joined Ben Menzel at the crease to knock over the remaining 38 runs, with Mather’s 22 runs from 30 deliveries proving telling.

Mather told the Observer that while his side is clearly happy to come away with the win, the match demonstrated there were still areas for improvement.

“I think all the boys know the areas we need to work on… I think one of the big things was just giving away too many extras,” Mather said.

“Coming into the game our batting was a key area of concern… I thought we did ok with the bat but losing three wickets quickly made it challenging.”

He said that the side would look to those areas as opportunities for improvement but added that they wouldn’t look to take too much away from what is only the first match of a long season.

“It’s only the first game… we’re not going to take too much away from it in terms of our mentality for the season ahead,” he said.

“Colts are always a strong side, and the game was played in good spirits… I think at this stage we just need to focus on where we can improve and not get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Go-Ports win in a thriller

IT came down to the second-last ball of the match, but nonetheless Gorae-Portland managed to get the job done against South Portland in the other A grade match on Saturday at Cavalier Park.

The Demons started well, with Hamish Drew (11) and Scott Martin (20) cobbling together a 30-run partnership to get things underway.

However, a stumping from Go-Ports captain Zac Duncan off the bowling of spinner Thomas Roberts paved the way for Sam Atchison to rip through South’s top and middle order, as he claimed the next four wickets of the match to finish with figures of 4-9 off his four overs.

Rory Barry was the only other Demons batsman to make a major contribution, as he stood tall for an unbeaten 18 as wickets tumbled around him, with South finishing at 7-85 from their full 20 overs.

Duncan and Atchison were less help with the bat, as the openers were both dismissed for just five.

Nick Wills and Cam Harker formed the backbone of Go-Ports innings, making 20 and 19 respectively at just shy of a run a ball.

Ryan Gadsden was the man to bring Go-Ports home, as with five needed off the final over he and Harvey Reynolds managed to continually find the gaps to get home with a ball to spare.

For Duncan, the game demonstrated the strength of both sides’ bowling line-ups.

“We put together an extraordinary bowling effort… any time you can keep a team under 90 that’s a fantastic result,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we struggled a bit with the bat… that’s a key area we can look to at training.”

Duncan chose to look at the positive side of the batting performance, saying it was good experience for guys lower in the order.

“I guess everyone getting a chance to bat gives the guys an opportunity that they may not normally get to do so… that’s always a good experience to get into the lower-order guys.”

B grade results

THE tables were turned in the earlier B grade fixtures, with Colts getting the best of Tyrendarra as they chased down their target of 84 with seven wickets and 10 balls to spare.

The standout performance from that match came from Colts captain Ash Elijah, who belted an unbeaten 45 off just 30 deliveries to see his side get home.

Similarly, South got the best of Go-Ports in their B grade clash, with Troy Warburton notching an unbeaten 55 and claiming two wickets in a huge effort, as his side got home by 21 runs.

Jake Heafield carried Go-Ports’ batting line-up on his back, posting 41 runs from 47 deliveries, however, was not able to get them all the way over the line.

Portland Tigers continued their unbeaten start to the season, as they headed up to Heywood to claim a 25-run win over Drumborg-Heywood.

Their innings was mired by suboptimal running between the wickets; however, youngsters Seb Harvey and Toby Ralph held the innings together towards the end, notching up 16 and 11 runs respectively to ensure they posted a competitive total.

A miserly effort with the ball got the Tigers home, as Charlie Harvey claimed the important wicket of Taine Morris early, as wickets fell with some regularity to ensure they got home comfortably.

Steve Lovett’s 18 not out was the best performance from Drumborg-Heywood’s batting line-up, with Morris claiming 3-13 from four overs in the first innings.