Southern Districts 142 defeated by PINT 5 for 143
A tough first start for the Crocs as all five senior sides lost their opening matches on Saturday while PINT who played the Crocs in their three senior sides (C grade had a bye) had strong wins. Coby Edmondstone ripping out their middle order with 4 for 23 and a composed 38 opening the batting. Key moments being wicket keeper Connor Poulton with a fine caught behind and stumping off Edmondstone along with a big catch by Bembrick which saw the Districts lose 4 for 15 in the middle overs.
Chris McEvoy was the best of the bowlers in response with 3 for 17 but the Greens were able to consolidate at a precarious 4 for 62. Losing only one more wicket with Prasanna Ketheeshwaran pacing himself with 38* and Vishwas Saini 17*.
Darwin 156 defeated by Nightcliff 270
Runners up Darwin senior sides also had a rough start with one out of four Saturday sides winning, while Nightcliff picked up three wins from five (albeit the D grade fixture was against themselves). Disappointingly with the A grade fixture fireworks not being viewable at the start of the fixture with frogbox being down. Connor Carroll 90 (75) and Douwtjie Hoogenboezem 75 (82) blasting 157 in 23 overs. James Doherty the other stand out with 49 as the Eagles did well to restrict the Tigers to 270. Pilkington with 3 for 61 off his 10. Darwin in response struggled to get going with Dickman looking the best of the bunch with 38 and opening stand of 54 before the Nightcliff local bowling contingent got into action. Charlie Smith 4 for 32 and a great anticipation catch off his bowling by Hoogenboezem to dismiss Kerber for a duck, running around from first slip to pluck a little lap shot. The Tigers were on in the field with two run outs.
Palmerston 194 defeated by Waratah 214
Palmerston weren’t able to chase a competitive total from Tahs, with both sides’ innings littered with starts but Tahs skipper Koduru 80 being the pivotal knock that saw them to 200+ total. It was an all-round bowling effort by Palmerston which did well to bring back the game after the opening overs leaked runs. In a similar position to Tahs at 2 for 73 in the 15th, the Power looked in control with Caleb Montague and Alex Bleakley settling in before Mithuru Perera bowled Montague. From there wickets fell consistently as Tahs total was never really threatened in the end. Dave Dubey 4 for 32 to be Tahs best bowler. Both clubs had fair weekends with Palmerston winning 2 from 3 (one to play still) and Waratah 3 out of their 5 senior sides.