Bowlers cop a belting as Rams skipper hits double ton
GEELONG West captain Chris Martin smashed a career-best 201 not out to put his side in a strong position at the end of the first day of their clash against Corio.
The innings was an exercise of dominance, sparing no Devils bowler as he splayed them to all parts of Shell Reserve in his 171-ball stay.
Such was Martin’s scoring prowess, his innings enabled the Rams to declare after just 66 overs, amassing 4-366, which allowed 15 overs to bowl at Corio, which lost both openers Dylan Shelley (5) and Taylor Thyer (1) to leave it reeling at 2-29 at the close. It was this facet of the day that pleased Martin most.
“Being able to get a couple of overs at them definitely was great,” he said.
“You don’t have that mindset at the start of the day, but when we got to lunch we thought we really did want to get them a couple down overnight and get them on the back foot for next week.”
Batting at No. 4 in the absence of the injured Sam Loftus who suffered a torn meniscus in Round 3 against Modewarre, Martin finished with a strike rate of 114.7 and was pleased Loftus’s void could be filled.
“Credit has to go to our bat- ting without Sam playing. We had a couple of blokes who managed to step up,” Martin said.
“It was probably (my best innings), but it was really tricky early to be honest. Their opening bowler (Dylan Shelley, who took 3-66) was pretty handy and had me in some trouble and I managed to get through him. But it did take me quite a while to get going quite honestly.”
Martin certainly made up for lost time however, taking on all the Corio bowlers and forcing Devils captain Shelley to use nine different bowlers.
Martin combined with Tony Spence (62 off 61 balls) to put on 212, propelling West towards a quick declaration. Spence’s contribution wasn’t lost on Martin, describing the innings as “a valuable knock” to allow some time for the Rams bowlers to get to work. Josh Bourke (1-8) and Steve Kelly (1-12) accounted for both wickets to leave West with a stronghold on the match.