The first round of the 2017 Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association regular season was completed on Sunday with Colts defeating Dalyellup Beach at the Recreation Ground.
Winning the toss and electing to bat Dalyellup Beach opener Rodney Shemeld made 12 while number three Dillen Watson didn’t last long.
Opener Corey Fagan and captain Paul Jones then set about building a strong partnership. Fagan looked confident at the crease and hit seven boundaries on the way to 68.
Jones eventually holed out on 44 and Colts bowlers knuckled down to the task, eventually dismissing the Settlers for 186. Spinner Cruize Ciallella finished with 3/26.
After the break, Dalyellup Beach struck early to have Colts at 2/13. Father and son combination Murray and Jayden Goodwin then set about building a strong third wicket partnership.
Jayden was caught behind on 43 while Murray was bowled on 79.
Late runs from Ciallella (29 not out) and Blaze Rozinski (18 not out) secured a five wicket win for Colts.
Over at Hay Park, Marist elected to bat and opener Reece O’Connell did the bulk of the damage.
He blasted 97 runs from just 129 balls but was left heartbroken, dishing up a catch to Charlie Home off the bowling of Jono Whitney just three runs short of his century.
His effort with the willow helped the Blues finish their innings on 7/208.
The score was certainly competitive, but Hay Park couldn’t match it.
The Redbacks were skittled for just 67 runs with Johnathon Millar (24) and James Ewing (10 not out) the only batsmen to reach double figures.
Again it was O’Connell who led from the front, entering amazing bowling figures of 4/5 from 4.1 overs on the scorecard. Ben Shipley also shone brightly, claiming 4/16 from nine overs.
Eaton also scored a win, defeating Collie by 84 runs.
Batting first the Beavers lost captain Clint Hewson with the first ball of the match but soon rallied back with a solid mid-order performance.
James Hillery (58), Stanley Hunwick (47 not out) and Clayton Caltsounis (29) helped to lift Eaton to 7/177.
Brayden Kent and Mark Williams both took two wickets for Collie.
The Coalminers innings started disastrously with Bailey Moloney run out for a diamond duck. From 3/9, Kent (12), Greg Tomasini (10) and Austin Kent (26) built some stability through the middle order but the chase fell short with Collie dismissed for 93.
Next Saturday, Marist host Leschenault, Eaton host Collie and Dalyellup Beach host Hay Park.