THE South East Coasters begun their Border Cup campaign with a victory against Hamilton at Frew Park on Tuesday.
In a game where bat dominated ball, Hamilton received first use of the pitch and hoped to post a defendable total.
However, the South East opening bowlers Phillip Dohnt and Martin Stephenson dictated the early overs with the new ball as runs proved to be a challenge to score.
This was evident after Hamilton opener Ray Robinson could only manage a total of four runs from his allocated 25 balls, while himself and partner Chris Hutchins were restricted to just 24 runs from the opening 10 overs.
Both the opening batsmen had retired by the time the first wicket of the day fell with the total on 32, when Jim Jenkinson was stumped off the bowling of Max Arney thanks to some sharp glove-work from Steve Bell.
Shortly after Les Payne was dismissed by Gary Fox for six and the away side appeared shaky.
But those two strikes were the last the home side would find until late in the innings as the Hamilton middle order flexed its muscle.
Led by Geoff Barker who smashed a striking 40 from just 22 balls to retire with the top score of the match, combined with lengthy stays at the crease from Ken Barker, Phil Forsyth, Alan Huf and Rob Joyce, the momentum of the match swung into the away side’s favour.
A score of over 150 was looming before Huf was trapped lbw to Colin Hutchesson for 17 and Neil Perry had Roger Thompson stumped by Grant Humphries for one.
These late wickets caused Hamilton to finish its innings with a competitive score of 4/144 from its 40 overs.
South East’s run chase began at a frantic pace as Bell entertained the crowd with 18 runs headlined by four boundaries.
Bell had already retired by the time his opening partner Micheal Young swung across the line and was bowled from a Hutchins delivery for nine runs.
Dale Bateman and Arney built a solid partnership to lead the Coasters into a position of comfort at 1/60, before Arney made his way back to the pavilion for 17.
Bateman remained until his retirement and finished with the innings-high score of 27 and handed the baton over to Perry (16) and Fox (22), who ensured the scoreboard continued to rise towards the victory target.
However three quick wickets threatened to change the game when Gary Ashby, Stephenson and Humphries all fell for single-figure scores, but due to the high run rate from the South East batsmen, there was still plenty of overs in hand to reach Hamilton’s mark.
Dohnt and Perry’s stroke-play saw the Coasters reach the target with nine overs to spare and kick off the Border Cup with a win on home soil.
In the other opening-day fixture Geelong narrowly defeated Adelaide in a low-scoring contest at Scott Park.
Four wickets from Geelong’s Lindsey Fisher restricted Adelaide to 98 in pursuit of his side’s 101 to score a tight three-run win.
