CASTERTON’S Island Park enjoyed a day of firsts, as Casterton District Cricket Club unveiled its new turf wicket for its Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) A grade clash against St Andrew’s on Saturday.

The other first was that game became the first match in the history of the HDCA to be decided under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern rules, which tabulate the required target score when a match is weather affected.

Kaden Humphries (Casterton District) won the toss and elected to send the visitors in to bat on the fresh surface, no doubt due to not knowing how the new wicket would play.

The most in-form batsman in the competition, Brendan Huf, had the honour of facing the first ball bowled on the pitch and he played down the line to find the middle of his broad bat.

He took a single from the fifth ball from Jacob Edwards first over which brough James Guthrig on strike and the young opening batsman promptly played the ball on from his only ball and was gone for a duck.

Huf looked at ease on the surface where the ball did move appreciably when the bowlers pitched it up, allowing it to move off the seam.

Liam Walsh came in at number three and he also looked safe in defence, but he too went for nought when he tried an attacking stroke over mid off, but failed to beat Ben Holmes who ran around and held a very good catch to give Jake Balzan his first wicket o the day.

Damien Logan joined Huf, and the pair took tally to 47 at the end of the 15th over when Rick Killey dismissed Logan (two), who became frustrated at not being able to score freely as he tried to lift the ball over the fence and was caught on the boundary.

Killey was bowling off-spin from the northern end, and he gained appreciable turn from the new wicket, and grabbed the prized scalp of Huf with a ball that pitched well outside the off stump, prompting the batsman to shoulder arms too only to see the ball turn sharply and clip the off bail.

The run rate slowed as the bowlers tightened their line and length even more, as Killey finished with the remarkable figures of 3-9 from his nine-over spell.

The weather interfered with the Drews’ innings as a front passed through and restricted the run rate of the visitors just as Russell Elton (25-not-out) was starting to tee off.

The final score saw the Drews record 7-126 from 39.4 overs, with Darryl Fry posting 24 before being strangled down the legside.

Rain again fell, restricting the Casterton innings and under Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) rules, the Maroons were set the target of 101 from 33 overs when they started the chase.

Ben Holmes took strike along with Sullivan Gibbs, as Dale Harris grabbed the new ball from the northern end, and Holmes wasn’t going to die wondering, as he tried to take the long handle to the bowlers.

Latham Wishart gained appreciable seam movement from the southern end, and repeatedly defeated the edge of Holmes’ bat.

Gibbs tried to pull a short ball from Harris and managed to gain a top edge return catch that the bowler gleefully accepted, and the home side was 1-29.

From there though, Casterton District batted confidently, as Holmes and Killey took the runs on offer and despatched the bad balls to and over the fence.

Holmes raised his bat for the first 50 on the wicket and finished with 62 against his name, while Killey finished with 31, as the pair brought up the winning runs inside the 26th over, and earning a bonus point in the process, as the team posted 1-106 in reply.

Grampians v Pigeon Ponds

BACK in round two when these sides last met, Pigeon Ponds was drastically undermanned due to unavailable players and the same happened again in this round with many of Ponds’ A grade players not being available again.

This time though the batsmen were able to post a target that would hopefully test the Grampians line-up, as the batting line-up tripled their tally from that earlier meeting.

Back in round two the visitors were routed for only 51, but Ponds skipper, Peter Staude, made that on his own this time round, as he and Simon Close added 75 for the first wicket at better than a run-a-ball pace.

Close (20) was brilliantly stumped down the legside by Ben Wallis from a legside wide from Harrison Wood.

When Peter Staude (52) was caught by Wood from the bowling of Josh Gordon with the score on 91, the wickets then tumbled, as the visitors were restricted to 7-137.

Only Mitchell Grant (32) could manage to post double figures after the openers, with the final tally showing 163 when the final wicket fell inside 35 overs.

Lachie Craig and Simon Close gave the Ponds hope with the ball in hand, dismissing Will Collins (one) and Harrison Wood (seven) respectively, but Eddie McShane and Carl Joyce came together with 2-12 on the board and carried the score along to 89 before McShane (22) fell to Andrew Colgan.

Ty Gilmore joined Joyce and continued the batting dominance, as the pair carried the Pumas to within 11 runs of their target, before Gilmore (34) fell to the under-used leg spin bowling of Staude.

Joyce finished unbowed 71 not-out, including four boundaries and a further five maximums, as the Pumas chased down their target inside the 30th over to claim another bonus point victory and cement top spot on the ladder.

Macarthur v College

FOR the second time this season, College made the trip south after its home game against the Demons was moved to Macarthur due to venue unavailability, and the reigning premiers came away with the points once again.

Charlie Summers won the toss for the home side and elected to bat first on the synthetic surface as Ollie Wortley joined his skipper in the middle to get the team away to a solid start.

They were slow and steady as the run rate crawled along and they weren’t parted until the 15th over with 29 on the board when Wortley (14) gave Lachie Brown a return catch.

The in-form Michael Brilley came to the middle and the run rate immediately climbed as he continued the good form he has enjoyed to date.

Summers (15) and Kyle Smitten (duck) fell with the total on 40 and from there the Demons never recovered as they were dismissed for 115 with Brown grabbing 2-20 and Russell Bennett 3-29 to take the bowling honours.

Once again, College skipper Charles Murrie, feasted on the Macarthur bowlers, smashing the ball to all parts of the ground in making 70 from only 30 balls.

The target was reached in only the 13th over, as the Eagles grabbed the bonus point victory with 1-119 in reply to grab the third rung on the premiership ladder.