BOTH grand finalists from last season were defeated in an action-filled opening round of A-Grade fixtures in the Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association on Saturday.
Reigning premiers St Marys were beaten by Dunsborough by 36 runs at the Dunsborough Playing Fields, while YOBS failed to get up against Margaret River Hawks at Barnard Park by just 13 runs. Batting first on a belter of a wicket at Dunsborough, Dunsborough looked to be in trouble at 8-101 against Saints before recovering to make a fine 185 - a score which owed much to a 10th wicket partnership of 56 between Ryan Martin (46) and Lachie Milton (19 not out).
Saints have the luxury of two English imports this season. Both did their job, with new opening bowler Taylor Chandler finishing with 2-29 and showing plenty of pace, while experienced spinner Joe Lowe (here till Christmas) snared 4-27 off 10 overs including two caught-and-bowled, one of them a brilliant one-hander. Slow bowling rates saw St Marys permitted only 47 overs to make 186 for victory in their chase. Opening left-hander Nick Barr started like a rocket when he smashed 22 runs (4 fours and 1 six) off the first over he faced - only the second over of the innings - off an unlucky Josh Bennett.
Dunsborough got back in the game with an inspired spell of pace from their own import, West Indian Ricky Small-Boyce. Back for his third season, Small-Boyce bowled as fast as anyone in the competition in the past decade during his stint at the bowling crease. The Caribbean whirlwind put in a man-of-the-match performance for Dunsborough with four wickets including the first three to fall, Marc Ford, Ben Lloyd and Danny Hatton. Meanwhile Barr, watching his partners tumble from the non-striker's end, put up with a strained muscle before finally calling for (and being granted) a runner, only to fall shortly afterwards for 74. Blood was spilt at the crease when former Dunsborough skipper Nick Ritchie (now with Saints) came under accidental fire from his former teammates.
Trying to regain his crease, Ritchie had the ball deflected into his face by a throw from the keeper but bravely batted on. Small-Boyce capped his day with a brilliant throw from the outfield to run out Jono Lloyd, and Saints lost their last 4-9 to be 149 all out.
Meanwhile at Barnard Park, Chris McLean (37), Shane Joyce (47) and Grant Garstone (42) defied some difficult early batting conditions to help Hawks mount a great score of 196 all out against YOBS. First-game skipper Haig Colombera took four wickets for YOBS, who were tied down in their reply by swing bowler Aaron Thomas (3-27), who conceded just 3 runs from his opening 7 overs for Hawks. Opener Harvey Golding (80) continued his great form from last season, but despite a steady 45 from Tait Spowart, YOBS found themselves 13 runs short of Hawks when the overs ran out. Former Augusta bowler Blake Gillam enjoyed a remarkable debut for Margaret River Hawks when he took 7-13 against YOBS in B-Grade cricket at Barnard Park on Saturday.
Despite Gillam's performance, which saw YOBS bowled out for 88, YOBS turned the tables to bowl out Hawks for 75, with Cam Snow taking 4-8.
C-Grade cricket kicks off on Oct 19.
B-Grade Results: YOBS 88 (37.3 overs) (J. Bruce 39, B. Gillam 7-13, A. Wilkie 2-16) b MR Hawks 75 (32.4 overs) (J. Shinnick 42, C. Snow 4-8, L. Gray 3-7, J. Trewren 2-16).
Dunsborough 3-154 (39.1 overs) (A. Mahoney 72no, R. Pes 28, C. King 24no) b Cowaramup 150 (44.0 overs) (M. Hibberd 40, F. Barrett-Lennard 29, T. Coulson 27, R. Menzies 20, R. Norrish 3-23, R. Pes 2-22, K. Smith 2-32).
Vasse 7-197 (45 overs) (S. Madhusudan 44, G. Snow 32, T. Perks 31, B. Mattock 2-21, D. Tomlinson 2-31, B. Crain 2-41) b St Marys 87 (33.5 overs) (J. Perks 23, S. Madhusudan 3-5, S. Young 2-9, D. Ebert 2-12, G. Snow 2-22).
