Penola 9/124 d East Gambier 71
PENOLA started the 2017-18 Mount Gambier and District cricket Barber Shield season as it hoped, with a convincing victory over East Gambier at McDonald Park.
The Bulldogs won the toss and elected to bowl first, sending the Eagles to the crease.
George Kidman and Lewis March opened the batting.
Kidman added a quick 10 runs to the team total before Simon Golebiowski knocked over the woodwork.
David Somerfield entered the clash and the Eagles would have expected big things, but a Luke Allen delivery caught him off-guard and he was caught out by Emerson Marks.
Tom Clayfield and March (20) increased the team total to 43 before the latter was stumped by Dion Stratford.
Mark Smith walked for a duck and the the likelihood of Penola making a defendable tally was up in the air.
However, it was Clayfield and Curt Evans who put the Eagles back on track.
The duo carried Penola to 84 runs before Evans (30) was clean bowled by Ashley Dumigan.
He was replaced by Josh Smith who despite facing a few balls left the crease with a duck.
New recruit Jack Mullan failed to do much better, scoring three runs, while Brett Vaughan had similar luck, heading back to the bench with a duck.
Clayfield had remained at the crease for much of the day, but only managed 12 runs before he was stumped by Stratford.
With limited overs remaining, Kongorong recruit Michael Waters and Brad Maney were left with the tough task of increasing the run-rate.
Waters grabbed the opportunity to perform for his new side with two hands and added a quick 30 runs to the scoreboard – which included two fours and two sixes – leaving his side with a good chance at victory.
At the end of the 40th over Waters was 30 not out, while Maney managed three not out.
Gore was best with the ball, managing 5/21, while Ashley Dumigan claimed two.
Penola managed 9/124 and understood the battle was far from over.
However, a disappointing start to its batting innings cost East a chance at the points.
Dion Stratford (4), Ben Wilson (3) and Ashley Dumigan (2) returned to the sidelines in the early moments of the Bulldogs’ batting innings, which gave the Eagles confidence.
East was 3/13 and as a result its aim was to go into damage control.
But Penola’s field pressure was too much and the wickets continued to fall.
Alex Hentschke (6) was next to be sent to the sidelines after he was bowled by Waters and caught by Evans.
His wicket was closely followed by opener Tom O’Connor who while at the crease for some time, managed just three runs before a quick delivery from Maney cleaned up the stumps.
The trend of small tallies continued as Connor Little (0), Gore (3) and Marks’ (0) wickets fell.
Kerr partnered with Golebiowski and the two reached 55 before the latter was bowled by Somerfield.
Allen padded up as the final batsmen of the day.
However, could only contribute five runs before Kerr was run out on 24.
East made 71 runs in 32 overs and struggled to deal with the pace of the Penola bowlers.
Best with the ball for the Eagles was Maney who finished with 3/14, while Somerfield was close behind with 2/12.
Waters also had a solid day out, claiming two scalps for 14 runs.
The Eagles will face West Gambier this weekend in a one-day game, while East will find the going tough when facing North Sportsmen’s.
