By Tara Murray
Romsey is confident its batting line-up can get the job done against Gisborne in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association McIntyre Cup Premier Firsts.
The match between second and third is the pick of the round on paper, and is evenly poised after the first day.
The Dragons, who are missing a few players through injury, made 7-204.
Brook Grumont top-scored with 42 for the Dragons, while Taylor Stevenson took 3-30 for the Redbacks.
Redbacks captain-coach Ben Way said he was happy with where the game was placed.
“I’m very happy with the day, it was a long day in the field,” he said.
“We bowled tight lines.
“To bowl 80 overs and to restrict them to 200, I don’t think that will happen often.
“The ball is in our court now.”
Way said there was no hesitation in believing that they could get the job done with the bat.
“The last couple of years we’ve been up there as one of the top scoring teams in the competition,” he said.
“We’ve managed to score quite a few this year. They do have a decent bowling attack, but we’re going into the game expecting to make the runs.
“If we can’t do it, we’ll be looking at why we weren’t able to.
“Obviously when you get to this time of year and getting close to finals, it’s a big game.
“Depending on the result, it’s whether we go to second or are in the bottom half of the top four.”
He said a top two finish would be handy and it would be the first time the club has hosted a final in a number of years.
Having returned to finals last season, Way said he was happy with how they were continuing to progress.
“There’s definitely been a progression
Photo Gallery: Romsey vs Gisborne
again and the guys are starting to get to the stage they understand the game a bit more,”
he said.
“They’re learning more about themselves and learning how to play their best cricket.
“We are getting better as the year goes on.”
In other matches, Woodend put on a show with the bat against Sunbury United.
With five batsmen scoring half centuries, Woodend made a massive 475. Nick Smith top-scored with 102.
Diggers Rest Bulla has already claimed first innings points against Wallan.
The Magpies were bowled out for 129, before going on to make 3-167 before stumps.
There was plenty of wickets in the Bacchus Marsh and Sunbury game.
The Bulls were bowled out for 131 in a good performance from Sunbury.
Veteran Jason McGann took 5-28 for the Roar.
The Roar struggled to 6-78 at stumps, still needing another 54 runs for victory.
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