Tough batting conditions in opening round

The 2024/25 Zema Estate Barber Shield kicked off with a one day fixture on October 12 with South Gambier, Penola and North Sportsman’s picking up opening round victories.

South took on West Gambier, winning the toss and sending the Roos into bat.

West was never able to gain any real momentum, scoring was tough and were it not for an eight wicket stand of 41 between Sam Hunt (15) and Shane de Jong (27) that took West from a shaky 8/79 to 9/120 West would have struggled to stay in the contest.

But setting South a winning target of 123 saw West’s attack push the contest deep, but South was able to score the winning runs in the 34th over.

Elwood Geary and Jakob Opie were best with the ball for South, both taking three wickets, while for West, Hunt was the only multiple wicket taker with his tidy 2/15 from eight overs.

Robbie Drenthen (29) and Jed Sims (24) got South off to a strong start after Adam Kuhl fell early and they scored at a good clip, before Noah Maxwell dropped anchor and played a great supporting role to the late hitting of Jaggar Geary, who was unbeaten on 26.

Penola headed to Allan Scott Park to take on East Gambier, winning the toss and sending the home side in.

East opener Ben Hentschke was the mainstay of the Bulldogs innings, hitting an impressive 56 off 54 balls, in an innings that included 11 boundaries but aside from a solid 28 from Connor Little, the rest of the East batting line-up barely troubled the scorers, with Jack Mullan doing the damage for Penola with 5/20.

East was dismissed in the 28th over, setting Penola a victory target of 126.

It took until the death but Penola secured the win, Finn Skeer holding his nerve at the business end of the run chase with an unbeaten 19.

Mullan (20); Michael Waters (25) and Drew Clayfield (23) were the other contributors with the bat for Penola, while Ben Clark (3/23) and Emerson Marks (2/21) were the multiple wicket takers for East.

North hosted Mil Lel and after the winning the toss North sent the visitors in – a decision vindicated by a strong bowling performance that saw Mil Lel struggling to score and eventually dismissed in the 34th over for 95.

Nick Walters top scored with 24, with Nick McInerney the pick of then North attack with 3/10, with Mitch Lewis and Isaac Mulraney also picking up multiple wickets.

Courtesy of an Elliott Fisher half century, which was part of a second wickets stand with Alex Hutton (38), North passed the total early in the chase, batting for their full 40 overs to end up on a dominant 5/184.

Mitch Lewis (28) and Mulraney, who was unbeaten on 28 also showed good early season form.