By Tara Murray
Bacchus Marsh has tightened its hold at the top of the Gisborne and District Cricket Association McIntyre Cup Premier Firsts competition with a strong win against Gisborne.
The two sides entered the match as the top two teams and were undefeated.
But it was the Bulls who fired.
Bulls’ captain-coach James Lidgett said the players were enthusiastic going in to the game.
“Playing against the best teams is always exciting,” he said. “It was good to get another good win.”
The Bulls were sent in and looked to be cruising at 1-149 before some late wickets stemmed the flow and restricted them to 8-198.
Lidgett was the main man, making 100.
He was well supported by Alex Porter, who made 58.
“Alex played his role perfectly,” Lidgett said.
“We said before the game, if we play our roles we’ll be a chance to win … he just needed to get through the start and take the sting out of the ball and then rotate the strike.”
Of his own performance, Lidgett said he couldn’t complain and he had been happy to contribute in such a fashion against one of the top sides.
Lidgett said they would have liked to have a few more runs on the board, but were confident they could still get the win if the bowlers did their jobs.
The Bulls got frequent wickets throughout the innings to stop the Dragons getting any partnerships.
The Dragons were in trouble at 7-94 before a couple of their younger players dug in.
But they fell short, finishing on 9-154.
“We started pretty well and we got a couple of them cheap and thought we had broken them by that stage [the younger players coming together],” Lidgett said.
“We didn’t want to let up. We did let a few more runs in than we would have hoped.”
Jared Taylor was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4-42.
The win has the Bulls sitting at 5-0 after the first group of one-day matches.
The two-day matches start this week, with the Bulls facing Woodend, who returned to the winners’ list on Saturday.
Photo Gallery: Bacchus Marsh vs Gisborne
Lidgett said they were looking forward to the two-day format.
“The past few years, we’ve not been known for being particularly strong in the one-day games,” he said. “We’ve got things to improve and areas that we still need to execute. Now it’s time for the two-day cricket and, hopefully, we will do well.”
In other matches, Diggers Rest Bulla was defeated by Romsey.
Romsey made 5-166 before restricting the Burras to 139.
Kev Barker was the pick of the Burras’ players, taking two wickets and making 55.
Other winners were Woodend, which defeated Sunbury, and Sunbury United, which won with three balls remaining against Wallan.
St Anthonys had a big win against Eynesbury Eagles in the Johnstone Shield, while Bacchus Marsh beat Gisborne.
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