Bendigo in a different league
Riverineherald.com.au
IT SHOULD be a moment to celebrate. The GMC in division two for Melbourne Country Week.
Sadly, an opportunity to play against some of the best in the state quickly became a nightmare.
Opening their account on Monday against the Bendigo District Cricket Association at the Greenvale Reserve, the GMC produced admirably with the ball, but found themselves well and truly outmatched with the willow.
Winning the toss and sending Bendigo in, they didn’t have to wait long to get a wicket, with Rochester’s Vibhor Yadav opening the account with BDCA’s score on 15.
With the two openers back in the sheds early — only adding a paltry score of nine to the total between them — GMC looked to be in with an chance of keeping their chase low.
This optimism would be shortlived, however, with the BDCA quickly asserting their dominance.
Middle order batsmen Ben DeAraugo (49) and Ashley Gray (61) both made good scores, while teammates around them provided enough support for the BDCA to post a total of 8/241 from their 50 overs.
Moama’s Alistair McCann was the highlight with the Kookaburra in hand, finishing his 10 overs with 3/35, while Yadav claimed 2/27.
If the GMC were going to produce the required 242 to win, they would have to be near perfect. And they were anything but. Kyabram’s Marx De Villiers didn’t stick around for long, falling for just two and few of his teammates would do much better.
Only five batsmen were able to score more than 10 runs, with not one player making it to 20.
The remaining six couldn’t even get past five.
Kyabram’s Dale Shaw top scored for the side with 18.
The GMC were all out for a miserable 91, losing their division two debut by 150 runs.
At the time of writing, GMC were in their second match, playing Murray Valley Cricket Association then Wangaratta and District Cricket Association today.