CASTERTON District has suffered its first loss of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade season, going down to South Portland by 67 runs at Monivae Turf on Saturday.

The Maroons hosted the game in Hamilton, due to the Casterton Show at Island Park, with the visitors winning the toss and batting first.

An early wicket to Logan Gibbs kept the home side in the contest in the early overs, before a 35-run second wicket stand saw South get to 53 before Fletcher Bright had Rory Barry caught for 21.

Karsen Edwards and Lachie Warburton pushed on with Edwards adding 41 before Rick Killey got the breakthrough, as Warburton guided the middle order to 5-204 from 45 overs, with the skipper finishing unbeaten on 72.

The run chase started horribly for Casterton District, losing both Logan and Sully Gibbs for ducks, before Oliver Foster was also back in the sheds for just 14 to leave the home side’s chase in tatters at 3-36.

Tighe Warburton then did his job through the middle overs, keeping the run rate down and continuing to pick up wickets, with none of the top six able to reach 20.

Jedd Rhook chipped in with 22 off 24 balls, but the damage had been done and with the Maroons’ tail unable to wag, the home side was all out for 137 with three balls left in the 40th over.

Lachie Warburton finished the game with four scalps, while Tighe grabbed three to inflict defeat on the Maroons for the first time in the 2023-24 campaign, and as a result fell to second spot on the ladder.

Tyrendarra d Hamilton

THE Darras moved into top spot after easily accounting for Hamilton at Dahl Turf in their round six clash.

The Blues won the toss and elected to bowl first, and with Lachlan Kirk falling victim to Caleb Millard for one, the home side would have been feeling good about the decision.

A 74-run second-wicket partnership would have levelled Hamilton’s heads, as Cameron Mather and Samuel Wilson kept the run rate ticking over before Cameron Templeton rattled Mather’s stumps to dismiss the opener for 26.

Wilson was the next wicket, out for 57, before Jordi and Hamish Withers combined to add 89 runs at almost a run a ball, before Jordi held out to give David Knight his first wicket of the day.

Knight then back it up soon after to send Hamish packing for 39, but the visitors still managed to get to 7-229 from their 45 overs.

Millard and Knight each finished with two wickets for Hamilton.

The Blues’ run chase got off to a steady start, but the run rate pressure started to build early on.

The home side had got itself to 1-66 before Xavier Stevens fell for 31.

David Knight (22) and Hamish Cook (17) were the only other top eight batsmen to reach double figures, as the Tyrendarra bowlers grabbed wickets at regular intervals, with Hamilton eventually all out for 134 in the 44th over.

Ben Menzel and Dylan Murray were the standout bowlers for the visitors, picking up three wickets each.

Macarthur d College

MACARTHUR has notched up a second win of the season, accounting for College by 22 runs at College Turf.

It was a game dominated by the bowlers, with neither team able to last the full 45 overs, as College won the toss and elected to take the new ball to open the game.

Michael Brilley was back in the pavilion early for the visitors for just three, as it was left to Jack Wortley and Charlie Summers to steady the ship, and that they did.

A 65-run partnership took the score to 74 before Jordy Anthony held the chance off Ross Milne to dismiss Summers for 26.

Ollie Wortley (six) and Kyle Smitten (seven) weren’t able to add any significant contributions, before Jack Wortley fell to Russell Bennett for 45.

Sam Lambevski added 28 runs late in the innings, before the final wicket fell with the score on 169.

Anthony grabbed a five-wicket haul to be the standout bowler for the Eagles.

The home side’s run chase started disastrously, losing the top three batsmen for a combined nine runs.

It was left to the middle order to recover the innings, as Hamish Bailey (18), Adrian Burn (14) and Russell Bennett (20) all got starts but were unable to go on to record a big score.

Angus Brown walked to the crease as the number 11 batsman with just 93 runs on the scoreboard and combined with Ross Milne and combined for the last wicket partnership to give the home side a sniff of victory.

The pair added 54 runs Lachie Nield got the breakthrough and had Brown caught for 34, leaving the Eagles 22 runs short of the Demons’ total.

Milne was unbeaten on 19.

Summer led from the front with the ball, with the Demons skipper finishing with three wickets, while Adam Fry and Dylan Mooney grabbed two each in support.

Pigeon Ponds d Grampians

PIGEON Ponds doubled its win tally on Saturday, returning home from Dunkeld Turf with a second win of the season, in a tight contest against Grampians.

The Pumas went into the clash at home still within reach of the top four, but the Ponds did enough to cause the upset win, starting with calling the coin toss correctly.

The visitors took to the field, and were searching for early wickets, but it was tough going for the bowlers.

Will Collins (40) and Ty Gilmore (43) each took the attack to the Ponds bowlers, and when Carl Joyce fell for 29, the scoreboard was showing 3-150.

Zach Burgess also added an important contribution of 29 before Jack Beaton rattled his stumps, as the visitors were set a big total after Grampians finished at 6-196 from its 45 overs.

Beaton finished with three scalps to be the main threat with the ball.

Ponds opener, Noah Hildebrand, was unable to emulate the efforts from Grampians, as Daniel Jones had him trapped in front of the stumps for six.

Hamish McCrae and took a counter-attack to the Puma bowlers, as Peter Staude was happy to bat within himself at the other end.

The pair added 61 runs before McCrae fell to Alec McIntyre, soon followed by Staude for 34.

Anthony Close and Michael Close added 66 runs, with Anthony back in the pavilion shortly after notching up a half century.

Michael Close remained unbeaten on 44, while Jack Beaton’s 17-not-out was inavaluable, as Ponds passed the target one ball into the 43rd over.

Jones was the pick of the bowlers with 3-24 from his nine overs.

Portland Cots d Gorae-Portland

PORTLAND Colts captain, Luke Evans, has continued his inspired start to the season, notching 90 runs to lift his side past local rival, Gorae-Portland, by 43 runs at Henty Park.

Colts batted first and got off to a less than ideal start, losing opener, Adam Barbary, and number three batsman, Glenn Hollis, in the span of four balls, as Stephen O’Brien went to work for Go-Ports.

However, this brought Evans to the crease, and combined with veteran opener, Alister Stannard, the pair put on 114 runs for the third wicket to turn the game on its head and have Colts at 2-120.

However, Go-Ports captain, Nick Wills, eventually stepped up to make the breakthrough, trapping Stannard LBW for 36, before catching Daniel Kinghorn short of his ground for 12 soon after.

Through it all, Evans had been able to hold strong, but eventually his innings of 90 – including 12 boundaries (three sixes) – had to come to an end, with Wills able to earn the most valuable wicket of the match to help Go-Ports keep their opposition to a gettable score of 160.

O’Brien was able to do some further damage with the ball down the order to finish up with impressive figures of 5-24 off 7.5 overs, while Wills finished at 3-21 off of four overs.

However, Colts got a good start to their defence, dismissing both Go-Ports openers cheaply to have them at 2-9, after Evans claimed both scalps.

And while Wills (20), O’Brien (13) and most notably Harvey Reynolds (34) did their best to keep Go-Ports on the right track, Colts just kept on taking wickets.

Damien Bell was once again at the fore, finishing with miserly and yet damaging figures of 3-14 from seven overs.

Sam Atchison was able to provide some late-order resistance for Go-Ports, making it to 20, but it was too little too late as they were ultimately bowled out short of their target.

St Andrew’s d Portland Tigers

PORTLAND Tigers’ disappointing start to the season continued on Saturday, as they were comfortably beaten by St Andrews by 95 runs at Hanlon Park.

The Tigers bowled first and were able to claim some early scalps, as Axel Du Plessis got in the wickets early, picking up two.

However, the Drews’ star batsman, Brendan Huf, was once again clinical, laying the foundation for their innings with a solid knock of 59 at the top of the order.

James Guthrig (35), along with Darryl Fry (23-not-out) and Rylan Pech (22-not-out) helped St Andrew’s to a competitive total of 6-176.

Du Plessis finished up with the Tigers’ best figures of 3-33 from nine overs, while Saad Mushtaq picked up two scalps in his first game of the season.

However, the Tigers were never quite on the pace in their reply.

While Charlie Harvey made a quickfire 15 from just 12 balls, the Tigers weren’t able to kick on even when a handful of others – namely Du Plessis (12) and Paul Procter (13) – made starts.

Their skipper, Will Oakley, top-scored with 25, but it proved to be far from enough to get the Tigers in a winning position, as they were bowled out for just 81.