By Tara Murray
Gisborne is firing on all cylinders with the bat as it prepares for another Gisborne and District Cricket Association McIntyre Cup finals campaign.
The Dragons have started to click since Christmas and have piled on the runs, with several scores above 250.
The past two matches, the runs tally has continued to grow on as they reached scores of more than 400, including on Saturday against Rupertswood.
Dragons captain-coach Jarryd Vernon said it had been a good couple of weeks.
“It’s a nice warm up before finals,” he said. “It was an even contribution from everyone last week and everyone contributed.
“Yesterday [Saturday] Riley [Vernon] made 150 and it was a really good team effort around him.”
On Saturday, Vernon said the focus was on making sure they batted out the whole 80 overs against a Rupertswood side, which needs to win to play finals.
They received a much needed boost with the skipper returning to the field after missing several weeks with injury.
“It was good to get back and get a game under my belt before finals,” he said. “I slotted into the middle order.
“It was nice to be back. I’m not really good at just watching.”
Riley Vernon made 154, while Jarryd finished with 55 as the Dragons made 9-409.
Jarryd said it was a challenge early on in the innings.
“Rupo has a decent attack and we set ourselves to bat out the 80 overs and build partnerships and we did well,” he said.
“They bowled really well early on. Spencer [Jones] and Riley got through the trying part early on.”
Jarryd said it was nice to see his brother in form and it was good to be at the other end of the pitch when he’s making runs and hitting it to all areas of the park.
Matt Twentyman took four wickets and Kevin Barker took three for Rupertswood.
A win this week will cement a top two spot for the Dragons heading into finals.
Vernon said that had been the goal heading into the season. Vernon said they were hoping to take momentum in finals as they aim for back-to-back premierships.
“It’s something that we wanted to,” he said. “The job has to be finished next week and bowl Rupo out and head into finals in second spot with a bit of confidence.”
In other matches, Broadford was bowled out for 259 against Woodend.
Warren Else took four wickets for Woodend, which sits atop the ladder.
Romsey made 290 against Macedon with Thomas Boyer top scoring with 93.
Sunbury United, which currently sits in fourth spot, will need 232 against bottom side, the Sunbury Kangaroos.
Jason King made 100 at the top of the order for the Kangaroos.
Senura Perera was the pick of the bowlers for Sunbury United, finishing with 6-68.
