By Aaron Kirby
The first round of 2020 saw a nail-biting weekend of cricket for Kwinana CC.
One-Day Cs opened up the year looking to push their claim on a top-four spot against Armadale.
Kwinana was put into the field and struggled to take early wickets before fighting back and having Armadale 3-99.
The bowlers restricted the middle order before the tail scored some bonus runs to finish the innings with 7-171.
The run chase started poorly before captain Phil Keirnan steadied with 44.
Scott Weldon took control of the middle overs cruising to 53.
At 6-154 the game was in the balance.
Dallas Eparaima (32n.o) was closing the innings nicely but the tail folded around him as Kwinana lost three wickets for just three runs.
The wickets haltered Kwinana’s innings as they finished the chase just five runs short on 7-167.
4th Grade took a road-trip to Rolleystone/Karragullen to kick-off 2020.
Kwinana was asked to bat first and made a poor start as the top order crumbled to 4-53.
Vishal Patel (35) and Trevor Walters (28) then combined for a much needed 54 run partnership to edge Kwinana towards a competitive total.
Captain Richard Bell (14 n.o) led the tail as Kwinana finished the innings on 9-131.
The bowlers started brightly having Roleystone/Karragullen on the ropes at 3-34.
A small partnership built after Kwinana missed their chances, but Blake Kilgallon spun a web taking 5-22 to get Kwinana back into the game and leave the batting side reeling at 8-104.
The ninth wicket fell at 121, leaving Kwinana needing one wicket with ten runs in hand.
The bowlers tried desperately but were left rueing missed chances as Roleystone/Karragullen surpassed the total with two overs to spare.
2nd Grade had a match to forget against Roleystone/Karragullen after deciding to bowl first.
It looked a promising start at 1-19, but it went downhill from there.
Kwinana found it tough to take regular wickets despite 3-21 from Geoff Perera as Roleystone/Karragullen piled on 253.
Perera also led the way with the bat making 46, but it was slow going as Kwinana struggled to find partnerships and ended the match on 9-137.
One-Day H was awarded the points after CBC forfeited.
