THE opening round of Portland’s T20 games kicked off in drizzly conditions last Thursday evening, but the rain couldn’t put a stop to the scorching performances in the three matches.

Portland Tigers claimed the biggest victory of the round, defeating South Portland by 120 runs after they set a mammoth total of 4/213 in the first innings at Cavalier Park.

When Tigers skipper Will Oakley was dismissed by Karsen Edwards for 11 runs, his fellow opener Craig Blackberry was joined in the middle by exciting Tigers player Shanaka Silva and the duo showed their intent right away.

The pair combined for a 138-run partnership while weathering the conditions and running hard as the ball slowed up in the wet outfield, but running often wasn’t necessary as the pair’s partnership included 18 boundaries.

Blackberry was in fine form in his fourth hit-out for the Tigers this season, top scoring with 85 runs off just 51 balls, which included six fours and four sixes, while Silva hit three fours and five massive sixes in his innings of 69 off 42 balls.

Silva was the first of the pair to be dismissed, caught by Craig Cummins off the bowling of Rory Barry while Blackberry followed 14 runs later when he was caught behind off the bowling of Noah Liersch.

Paul Procter scored a quick 17 runs off just nine balls, before he was run out by Bhargav Gorrupotu and Harri Dennert on the last ball of the innings, while Josh Atwell’s unbeaten 16 runs helped push the Tigers total over 200.

South Portland’s chase got off to a poor start as the rain continued, when their skipper was caught off the bowling of Llewellyn Oakley for six, before Oakley followed that up with a wicket the very next ball to have the Demons at 2/7.

Rory Barry and Tighe Warburton attempted to get their side back on track, with Warburton top scoring for South Portland with 22 runs off 19 balls, while Karsen Edwards also batted strongly for 21 runs off 13 balls.

But the lower-order collapse was inspired by the bowling of Jake Davies, who took four wickets for just 11 runs off his 3.3 overs, as South Portland lost their last five wickets for 10 runs to hand the Tigers the win as they were dismissed for 93 runs.

Go-Ports v Drumborg Heywood

Elsewhere, Gorae-Portland scored a big win over Drumborg-Heywood at Alexandra Park, as Noah Greene showed that he could do it all with game-winning performances in both innings.

After being sent into bat by their opponents, Sam Atchison was run out without having even faced a ball with the game’s third delivery.

But that dismissal kickstarted the Go-Ports batsman, as Greene and Nick Wills teed off to score a quick 90-run partnership before Wills was bowled by Kyle Salt for 36 runs off 31 balls, having hit five fours and one six in the innings.

Greene batted smartly for the entire innings and hit seven fours in his unbeaten 82-run knock, carrying his bat and making up more than half of his side’s total for the game, while skipper Zac Duncan scored 15 runs before he was also run out by Gordie Slade.

Drumborg-Heywood’s chase started on the back foot, when three balls into the innings, Raju Tamang bowled Michael Bell before he was able to trouble the scorers.

Aaron Barr would follow the very next over for two runs, as Greene claimed the first of his three wickets for the innings, finishing the game with figures of 3/13 off three overs.

Sam Atchison claimed one wicket of his own, not conceding any runs from his two overs while Tom Roberts and Harvey Reynolds both claimed a wicket each.

Mark Bowden was the highest scorer for his side with an unbeaten 13, but Drumborg-Heywood fell 113 runs short.

Tyrendarra v Portland Colts

In the other game, Tyrendarra chased down Portland Colts total of 102 in just over 16 overs, as the game’s momentum was often halted by the wet weather.

After winning the toss and deciding to bat, Colts started brightly as Jak Hotchkiss and Adam Barbary opened the innings with a quick 34-run partnership before Barbary was dismissed for 13 runs.

Hotchkiss followed 10 balls later for an innings high 23 runs, before James Chapple and Luke Evans soon joined those dismissed, having scored just one and two runs respectively.

Daniel Kinghorn and Matthew Payne helped Colts regain some momentum from number five and six, quickly putting together a 34-run partnership as Kinghorn scored 18 and Payne 22 runs.

The latter fell victim to Tyrendarra bowler Mark Pitt, who was too strong with the ball in the innings to finish his four overs with figures of 4/13, while Dylan Murray supported well with 2/20 off his allotted overs.

Alarm bells were ringing early in the Darra’s chase, when Mitch Arnold was dismissed for a duck after just three balls, but Cam Mather and Jordi Withers got their side back on track as they added 43 runs.

Both batsman scored 21 runs, with Mathers innings ending after he was caught by Luke Evans off the bowling of Matthew Payne after 20 balls, Payne also claiming the wicket of Withers whose innings came to an end after 16 balls.

Daniel Kinghorn inspired some hope for Colts after claiming the wickets of Jake and Sam Wilson for three and five runs respectively, before the pair of Lachie Kirk and Mark Pitt scored 42 runs, Pitt hitting a four in the seventeenth over to guide Tyrendarra home with five wickets to spare.

This week’s fixtures

Tyrendarra v Portland Tigers at Tyrendarra.

Drumborg-Heywood v South Portland at Heywood.

Gorae-Portland v Portland Colts at Alexandra Park.