Riddell finally opened its account in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association’s McIntyre Cup season.
After a couple of close losses, followed by a draw due to a wash-out, Riddell was determined to kickstart its campaign against Romsey.
Captain-coach Mick Allen and Brendan Alger set the tone early putting on 140 in their opening partnership.
Once Alger was gone, Daniel Fisk followed shortly afterwards, then Allen and Cameron Moran settled to push the score beyond 200.
Riddell finished its innings at 4-212, with Allen responsible for 118 of these runs.
But Romsey never got going in reply, with only two players reaching double figures.
Captain Chris Burkett scored 63, but had little support on the way to an innings total of 8-124.
Fisk took 5-14 off seven overs.
Allen said he was happy his side could finally get the monkey off its back.
“The first week, our bowling let us down, and then the batting let us down,” he said.
“We lost one game by one wicket and another by five runs.
“If we’d won them, we would have just about been at the top of the ladder,” Allen said.
“It shows how close it is.”
He said on Saturday, there were two things that had set up the win. The first was the opening partnership, the second the first 10 overs with the ball.
Allen’s innings was his second century in three games for Riddell.
“It’s been so far, so good for me, but you can’t flirt with your form … you’re only one ball away from going out.
“Brendan had only had one hit when he was run out early,” Allen said. “And a few other guys got some runs.
“With the ball, the aim was to restrict them early on. They were 1-20 off the first 10 overs, and that set up the bowling for us.”
Allen said Riddell was getting closer to having its best side on field, after several players were unavailable for the first few weeks.
He said while they had missed players, younger players had the chance to step up.
“Ben Radford and Harry Fisher played early, before having school cricket, but were back in the seconds this week and made a contribution.
“Alex Ryan, who was unavailable this week had played every game before this week.”
In other matches, Gisborne suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Rupertswood.
Rupertswood made 184, with Gisborne falling five runs short of victory, making 8-180.
Michael Treweek made 80 and took two wickets for Rupertswood.
Sunbury defended 146 against Diggers Rest Bulla, while Bacchus Marsh was too good for Woodend. Woodend made 128, which Bacchus Marsh made with ease, with 12 overs and six wickets in hand.
