AN under-strength Goulburn side had a weekend to forget, suffering heavy defeats in their two Burns Cup matches.
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Entering the weekend carnival in Cooma as the third seed, Goulburn faced a tough assignment with a number of the leading players unavailable.
It was a weekend where Goulburn only had two of its McDonald's Plate winning team playing.
The Goulburn Cricket Association was proud of the effort made by the team, who put on the representative shirts, and did their best with minimal preparation. For some it was at short notice too.
Special mention for Josh Watling, who captained the team and led the players in a manner that impressed the cricketing administrators who were present.
Coming up against the South East side, title holders and eventual winners of the 2015/16 Burns Cup, Goulburn had the opposition languishing at 5/80.
After a delayed start due to rain, Andrew Tivey was a star for Goulburn as he knocked over three of South East’s top four batsmen. In a great display of fast bowling, Tivey captured 5/30 off his nine overs.
When Tivey removed last year’s player of the Burns Cup, Sam Williams, Goulburn looked as though they might spring an unlikely upset.
It wasn’t to be as, as South East’s leading batsman Adam Blacka took the Goulburn bowlers on, in a match-winning knock of 156.
He dispatched the bowlers across Cooma’s Rotary Oval with Goulburn’s fielders offering little resistance.
They dropped Blacka a number of times, which proved costly as South East posted 296 in difficult conditions.
The run chase was stifled by early wickets, with Nicholas Skelly, the pick of the Goulburn batsmen.
Goulburn only mustered 113 in reply, setting up a clash with Shoalhaven for third place.
With the sides only meeting a week before, Goulburn was keen to turn the tables on the previous weekend’s heavy defeat.
Another disappointing display with the bat saw Goulburn finish the carnival in fourth place.
The next match for Goulburn’s representative squad will see a return to Cooma for the McDonald’s Country Plate. As the current title holders, the side will look to return to their winning ways when they take on Monaro.
Bob Smith, who was too unwell to travel to Cooma to support the Goulburn side, said it was unfortunate but the representative players were unavailable. “A couple of them are overseas, others were working or had important commitments,” he said.