A NICK Butters century was not enough for Warrnambool and District Cricket Association to secure a victory on day one of Melbourne Country Week on Monday.
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The Woodford captain piled on 164 to help WDCA set a commanding total of 9-357 in 50 overs against Geelong Cricket Association in its opening game at Geelong Cricket Ground.
But on a flat wicket, Geelong had other ideas as it cruised to 5-360 in reply to steal the points away from Butters and his side.
The WDCA leader said the defeat was a bitter pill to swallow but his side would take confidence into its second match against Bairnsdale on Tuesday
“Obviously you don’t lose too many games when you’re making 350,” Butters said.
“There are positives we can take out of it. It shows we can make 350 and I thought Alex Jennings (1-62 off nine overs) bowled really well today. But we would prefer to win.
“We’ll take confidence we can make 350 and we can match it with one of the top association’s in the division.”
The WDCA pushed last year’s division one semi-finalists to the 47th over of their innings before the winning runs were scored.
Butters, who hit 20 boundaries and six maximums from his 114-ball innings, hoped his new high score at the tournament would rub off on his teammates.
The Eels all-rounder, who also took 1-57 off nine overs, said the wicket heavily favoured the bat over ball.
“It was a difficult wicket to bowl on as it was flat and hard,” he said.
“Once you hit the ball through the in-field it would race away for a boundary. They had some talented batters and we also dropped a few catches, which doesn’t help at this level.”
West Warrnambool’s Ben Threlfall (42 runs off 40 balls), Allansford’s Chris Bant (31 off 36) and Mitch Clark (33 from 28) all chipped in with the bat.
Wesley-CBC’s Ben Evans (1-80) and Woodford’s Hank Schlaghecke (1-67) joined Jennings and Butters with wickets, while Russells Creeks’ Matt Petherick claimed the fifth wicket with a run out.
Meanwhile, South West Cricket Association started life in division three of Melbourne Country Week on a high note with a victory over Hamilton District Cricket Association at Footscray.
SWC were relegated to the third tier after scoring just one victory in the second division but it took the just one game for the side to equal its efforts in 2018 with a convincing victory.
South West, who batted first, piled on a total of 9-222. Heytesbury’s Jeff Rosolin and Pomborneit Sri Lankan import Tharaka Sendanayake top-scored with 36.
In reply Cobden’s Angus Uwland flipped the game on its head as the Knight took 4-32 from his 10 overs to help SWC bowl Hamilton out for 146.
SWC return to action against Seymour District Cricket Association on Tuesday.
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
