THE reigning Portland and District Cricket Association A grade premiers have well and truly carried their form across to the new Hamilton and District Cricket Association, defeating Portland Tigers by 68 runs at Flinders Park on Saturday.

The Darras won the toss and elected to bat first, and while the Tigers drew first blood early as their skipper Will Oakley claimed opener Lachie Kirk, the Darras quickly responded through their own skipper Cam Mather and Sam Wilson.

The pair put on 98 runs for the second wicket in quick-fire fashion, as Wilson brought up a half-century while Mather struck 46 from 44 balls.

At 1-109 with fewer than 20 overs in the books, the Darras were the box seat and would have been looking to post a 300-plus total.

The Tigers soon struck back with two wickets in quick succession to remove both Mather and Wilson through Llewellyn Oakley and Joel Hollis.

The Darras found some more resistance through Hamish Withers (48) and Mark Pitt (21), who were able to push them through to the late stages of their innings at a reasonable clip.

However, the Tigers were able to restrict the run-rate significantly over the back half of the innings to keep their target under 200, with the Darras finishing up at 8-194 after 45 overs.

The Tigers’ run chase got off to a less than ideal start with opener Dean Brewster knocked over by Sam Wilson in the first over, with the Darras able to claim the first three wickets of the innings in short order.

The Tigers were far from done just yet, with Tom Sharp stepping to the crease and immediately producing some impressive shot-making, notching up a quickfire 20 off 14 while Llewellyn Oakley (10) held up the other end.

It was Paul Procter who produced the innings of the day for the Tigers, notching up a near run-a-ball 38 including a 34-run partnership with Nik Oakley (11), while Will Oakley was also strong with the bat, adding 24.

Ultimately though, Tyrendarra was able to take wickets with regularity throughout the innings, preventing their opposition from building any long partnerships.

Most impressive was Shay Rhodes, who stepped up from his usual post as B grade captain to claim four wickets in a tidy spell which saw him concede just 27 runs from four overs.

Mather said he had put a real emphasis on building partnerships coming in to the game and was pleased to see the group have some success in that aspect.

“I put ownership on each player to build partnerships, and for us to not give away too many quick wickets which has been a tendency for us in the past,” he said.

“I think Sam and myself and then Hamish and ‘Pitty’ (Mark Pitt) were key partnerships, I think those two put on about 60-odd which was great.”

On the flipside, Mather said the early success with the ball had been critical to the team’s success, although he said he still felt they could’ve bowled tighter lines.

“The early wickets were pleasing, Sam picking up two and Lachie getting one… in saying that I spoke to the boys after the game and we all feel like we could do better,” he said.

“It is only round one, but I felt we gave up too many boundaries and leaked a bit in the field… there’s still areas we can sharpen up on.”

Mather praised the efforts of Rhodes with the ball, saying it was deserved reward for an important member of the club.

“‘Dogga’ had a great year last year, and to step up in round one at take four wickets was a really impressive effort.”

Go-Ports too good for St Andrews

Gorae-Portland has gotten their inaugural HDCA season off to an excellent start with a 20-run victory over St Andrews at Alexandra Park.

They certainly didn’t get the ideal start with the bat, as import Finn Saurine was dismissed for three, however vice-captain Zac Duncan and James Cannon quickly settled to give them a solid 29-run partnership to build off of.

Captain Nick Wills soon came to the crease and quickly asserted himself, producing an impressive knock of 43 off 53 deliveries and developing a 51-run partnership was Ryan Gadsden.

Coupled with some late-order hitting from Stephen O’Brien (33 not out off 30), Go-Ports produced a very competitive total of 7-172 from their 45 overs.

To further their cause, they got off on the right foot with the ball, as O’Brien cleaned up opening batsman Kane Taylor in the very first over of the innings.

And while Saurine hadn’t had the ideal start to his Go-Ports career with the bat, he was able to produce something special with the ball, claiming a wicket with just his third ball of the innings to have St Andrews sitting at 2-5 after just eight balls.

The Drews were able to build some partnerships, with their most notable performer being Darryl Fry (42), while Joshua Nield chimed in with 31 off just 29 balls, to build towards their target.

However, Go-Ports were able to keep the pressure on by taking wickets, and eventually bowled out their opposition with four overs and 20 runs to spare.

Saurine finished up with three wickets at an economical three runs per over, while O’Brien also impressed with the ball, claiming three scalps of his own.

Wills said it was pleasing for the group to kick off their season with a victory, especially with it coming against one of their new Hamilton opponents.

“It was a bit of an unknown for us, we had no idea what we’d be coming up against,” Wills said.

“We were able to build some good partnerships, and ‘Stevo’ was particularly good with the bat.

“We got some early wickets, but their tail wagged a fair bit… it goes to show the batting depth of some of these teams we’ll be coming up against.”

Wills said he was glad to see his key import in Saurine contribute, even if it wasn’t exactly the way he was expecting.

“He hasn’t bowled a lot recently, but I told him during the week we were a bit light on with bowlers, so he’d get the new ball,” he said.

“To have two wickets early and three in total for the match was a great effort.”

Colts handle Ponds

Portland Colts also got their 2023-24 campaign off to a strong start with an eight-wicket victory over Pigeon Ponds at Pigeon Ponds Recreation Reserve.

The Ponds won the toss and elected to bowl first, however Colts had the upper-hand right from the word go, as their skipper Luke Evans claimed their first wicket of the season, before Oscar Barbary followed shortly thereafter to remove Jack Beaton at number three.

Aside from a classy 63 from Simon Close, the Ponds failed to get much going with the bat, and when he was sent packing by a Kinghorn-Glenn Hollis combination, they didn’t have much left in the tank, all out for 115 off 33 overs.

Kinghorn finished up with figures of 4-32 from his eight overs, while Chad Hollis and Matt Payne combined to take two each.

Colts were able to make relatively light work of their target, as while they lost Luke Andrews early, Evans (44 not out), Kinghorn (25 not out) and Hollis (18) were able to see them across the line.

South fall short of Grampians

South Portland’s season got off to a less than ideal start as they went down by six wickets to Grampians at Cavalier Park.

South won the toss and elected to bat first, but their innings got off to a poor start as they found themselves sitting at 5-25 early in the piece.

Fortunately for them, the middle to lower order was able to save the day, starting with Harrison Dennert (16) who combined with Kayden Edwards (14) to push the total higher.

A 10th-wicket partnership from Eamon Drew (17 not out) and Shaun Lench (10 not out) saw them bat out the 45 overs and cross the three-figures milestone, to finish up 9-104.

Grampians’ Ryan Burgess finished up with his side’s best figures of 3-22 from his nine overs.

A 50-run second-wicket partnership from Donald Collins (37) and Eddie McShane (27 not out) saw Grampians a fair way to their tally, with Craig Templeton (11 not out) helping to finish the job with just over 10 overs to spare.

Troy Warburton was the pick of South’s bowling attack taking 2-15, while Rory Barry was their other wicket-taker and produced tidy figures of 1-14 from 6.4 overs.

Macarthur prevails in high-scoring affair

Macarthur has prevailed over Hamilton in a high-scoring battle at Macarthur Recreation Reserve, winning by 39 runs.

A masterclass by middle-order batsman Kyle Smitten, who belted 113 runs off just 83 deliveries – including 11 fours and four sixes – brought Macarthur to a huge total of 9-237 after their 45 overs.

And while Hamilton was up for a fight, as Hamish Cook top-scored with 51, they weren’t quite able to keep up with the scoring pace while keeping wickets in hand, bowled out by four overs remaining in the day.

Casterton defeats reigning premiers

Casterton District was able to knock off last year’s HDCA premiers College with four wickets and four overs to spare at Hamilton College.

College batted first and were able to find a few key contributors, including Jack Austin (38), Adrian Burn (36) and Jock Barrie (33), to help them reach a competitive total of 175 all out after 44 overs.

However, Casterton, bolstered by a half-century from opener Ben Holmes, was able to keep their noses in front throughout the run chase, eventually reaching their target with time to spare.