The much-anticipated start of cricket for our local juniors commenced on Saturday under cloudy skies and a rather cool Goulburn spring morning.
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For the traditional season opener between Wollondilly Green and Wollondilly Gold there was not only the weather to deal with, but also the long grass at Seiffert Oval.
Then to top it off the players came under attack from the sprinklers that decided the grass needed some water. All this aside we are glad we have fields to play on and we were still able to get the game completed.
Wollondilly Gold won the toss and decided to bowl hoping to take advantage of the slow outfield and overcast conditions that would hopefully be conducive to swing bowling. The plan was successful for the most part with Wollondilly Green being dismissed inside their allotted 30 overs for 91 runs.
Opening batsman Jack Craig was the mainstay of the innings with a resilient 40 and he was ably supported by Mikaylah John with a hard hitting 11 and Patrick Craig who compiled a workman-like 9 runs.
There were some good performances from the Gold team with both Sebastian Lesniak and Hayden Grant taking two wickets. Josh Wake chipped in with a wicket and Leigh Chalker also claimed a wicket and also pulled off an excellent run out when he threw down the stumps from the outfield to catch the unfortunate Will Harmer short of his ground. Abdul Kareem was very good behind the stumps taking a very good catch and always looking for a stumping. Catches to Nick Yeadon, Josh Wake and Abdul Raheem rounded off a good performance in the field.
Wollondilly Green were always confident they would be able to defend their total and this they did with Gold falling 13 runs short.
Abdul Raheem was again the anchor of the innings. Coming off the back off an undefeated 123 (he carried his bat through the entire innings) in a trial match against the Highlands the previous weekend he was again undefeated on 46, again carrying his bat through the entire innings.
His brother Kareem with nine and Josh Wake with seven were the next best.
Josh Latham led the way for the Green team with three wickets and three catches. Ryan Corliss, Jack Craig (taking a sharp catch off his own bowling), Lachlan Greig and Patrick Craig were the other wicket takers and Will Harmer was in good form with the gloves.
It was a really tight match played in good spirit and there is quite a friendly rivalry between the two teams that has been built up over the past and as was the case last season Green prevailed in the opener.