General News
22 October, 2020
Steamrollers down Simpson
NOORAT opened the South West Cricket season last Saturday with an important six wicket victory over Simpson according to captain Steve O’Connor.
NOORAT opened the South West Cricket season last Saturday with an important six wicket victory over Simpson according to captain Steve O’Connor.
The Steamrollers cruised to a comfortable triumph at Noorat Recreation Reserve, chasing down the Tigers total of 150 in 30 overs.
The victorious skipper was thrilled with the result as his side looks to establish its finals hopes in the lead-up to Christmas.
“It was very important – as I’ve said previously early wins are critical and now they are even more so with Coronavirus and rain,” he said.
“The more wins you can get early the better especially because the competition is so even.
“You don’t want to be chasing wins at the end of the year.”
Gus Bourke was the standout performer for Noorat with 3/22 and 46, while Chris Bant finished unbeaten on 89 opening the innings.
Daniel Kenna (3/24) and Mark Clissold (2/39) also produced handy performances for the home side.
But O’Connor was pleased with what he said was a strong team performance.
“We haven’t trained much before the start of the season so it was just good to get out there,” he said.
“They had one player get away from us, he was a pretty handy player, and we bowled a few extras early but besides that we bowled well and kept them to 150 which was a decent score.
“Our batters then batted really well which was pleasing. Everyone contributed a little bit, we even had a run-out in the field which doesn’t happen too often.
“It was a pretty good all-round performance for round one to be honest.”
The Steamrollers will now face Bookaar at Noorat Recreation Reserve, with the two sides to play tomorrow.
“Obviously they’ll be a bit more of a challenge,” O’Connor said.
“Bookaar is a very good side and has good bowling depth and good batting depth so it’s important when we’re bowling that we restrict as much as possible.
“If we bat first we need to put up a competitive total and then protect our runs.
“It’ll be a very important clash. Bookaar will be fighting for a similar spot in the four with us so it’s critical we get another early win.”