After the usual delayed start to the year we kicked things off at home against Moorabbin. We lost the toss and were sent in on a perfect day for cricket. Craig and Stubbo opened up for us and proceeded to put on an absolute clinic. They put on 208 for the first wicket in just over 30 overs to take the game away from Moorabbin. The only chance they gave in that time was when Stubbo tried to run himself out on around 15 which turned into 4 overthrows and kick-started his innings. After Craig went for 120 we quickly lost Jayvier and decided to put in Jason to keep our momentum and run rate up. Jason played his role to perfection smacking 75 off 40 balls and complementing Stubbo as he kept going about his business. They put on 137 in no time until Jason ran himself out in the last over to allow Will to come in and score his first runs for the club. Stubbo carried his bat and ended up 126* with one of the best innings you will see. We finished 3/357.

Setting the opposition a target of 8 an over from the start was always going to be a tough ask but we knew we still needed to bowl well on a pitch not offering much to the bowlers. Pat McCardle (3/16 off 8) in his first game ensured that they were not able to get off to the start that we did by knocking over one of their openers 2nd ball and nicking off the other opener in his 2nd over to leave them 2/9. From there it was tough going as Moorabbin dug in and didn’t offer many chances, but to all of the bowlers credit they made it really hard to score and pushed the required rate up to an unreachable spot early on in the innings. The quartet of Jimmy Stewart (3/28 off 8), Will (1/30 off 8), Cougar (0/28 off 8) and Sinnaz (0/32 off 6) kept things tight through the middle overs to keep pressure on all the way through. Will also picked up 2 good runouts in a good all round performance for his first game. Jimmy and Pat picked up a few late wickets as they finished up 9/173 from their 45 overs.

An excellent all round performance first up from the team which is a real credit to the hard work we’ve put in over the pre season. Onto next week we take on Taylor’s Lakes who finished 3rd last year in a good test to see where we’re at.