The Zema Estate Barber Shield season continued at the weekend with North Sportsmans taking on Penola at Marist Park and West and East facing off on the Doggies’ home turf.


North Sportsmans v Penola


North Sportsmans hosted Penola on Saturday at Marist Park with North getting the hard fought win.


Penola won the toss and elected to bowl to begin the day, starting well with the ball and not allowing the Tigers to get many early runs.


In the sixth and seventh over, Penola got their first break with the dismissal of Alex Hutton on five runs then the dismissal of Elliot Fisher three balls later with Fisher falling on a golden duck.


After the two early wickets Penola kept the pressure on the Tigers with another wicket just one over later as Brad Robinson was sent off after making just 10 runs.


North struggled to get much production as Nick Mclnerney and Mitch Lewis fell a couple of overs later, with Mclnerney putting six runs on the board and Lewis nine.


North finally found some consistency at the crease with Isaac Mulraney putting in a good shift for the Tigers.


Mulraney was able to put 33 runs on the board off 45 balls while hitting three fours and a six in his innings.


Other than Mulraney the Tigers struggled to get another big contributor from the batting order with Michael Johnston making nine and Thomas Madigan and Timothy Young both recording five.


After a disappointing innings for North’s standards they finished all out for 107 runs.


Penola struggled as they took the crease with two early wickets from the Tigers.


In the fourth over Timothy Young claimed two wickets in three balls, retiring Nathan Fulton and Bredon Smart both falling on a duck.


Penola’s Lewis March started strong with the bat despite the early departures from his partners.


March put up 24 runs off 59 balls which was much needed for Penola as they continued to get production down the order.


Penola had another short stint at the crease with Drew Clayfield lasting 15 balls and making three runs.


Down the order Michael Waters was the only other batter to make double digits for Penola, facing 49 balls and like March making 24.


Besides March and Waters, Penola struggled with ducks from Jacob Robbie and Finn Skeer, while Eli Hunter could only put up six and Joshua Doyle made seven.


North ended the innings strong with back-to-back wickets from Young to seal the win with Penola finishing on 77 runs.


North captain Mitch Lewis thought the side was a bit scratchy at times but brought it together when they needed to.


“Overall I would say we were a bit scratchy but that is to be a little bit expected early in the season, some shot selection and game awareness during our batting innings is what really stopped us making a bigger total, but when the game was on the line after second drinks we responded well which is a big positive,” he said.


Lewis thought Isaac Mulraney was a stand-out player with the bat as well as Tim Young who bowled well.


“Isaac Mulraney was who really held us together during our batting innings, without him it would have been a much lower total but he has been batting really well in these early stages of the season and Tim Young was our big stand out with the ball, he took some crucial early wickets before coming onto close the game out,” Lewis said.


West Gambier v East Gambier


The reigning premiers West Gambier continue to struggle as they now begin the season 0-2 after the Doggies came to Malseed Park and picked up their first win of the season.


East Gambier elected to bowl after winning the toss to begin the day.


Justin de Jong and Jayden Prior opened for West with Prior having a tough day, falling in the second over after making five runs.


That brought Jake Blackwell to the crease and despite lasting 25 balls he struggled to put many runs on the board, falling on only three.


West continued to struggle with Bray Stephenson and Sam Willis failing to put runs on the board, with Stephenson only making four and Willis getting out on one.


After a slow start from the top half of the order, West’s shining light was de Jong who got the Roos going, making 45 off 40 before getting out halfway through the innings.


Sam Hunt picked up where de Jong left off, putting together a solid innings to make 25 runs off 36.


Other than Hunt and de Jong, West only found some solid production from Trent Bradman and Shane de Jong who both made 12 runs late in the innings.


West finished all out after making a solid score of 126.


The Roos started well with the ball, getting East’s Alex Hill out for a duck and it did not take them long to dismiss fellow opener Ben Hentschke for 16.


After the openers were done, Emerson Marks and Ben Robinson came in and held down the fort with Robinson lasting 63 balls and Marks 67.


Despite being at the crease for a while Robinson struggled to put a big dent into West’s total, making just nine runs.


Marks on the other hand had a big bounce back game, making 46 runs and helping cut into the Roos’ total.


The production continued for the Doggies as Alex Hentschke came in for Robinson.


Hentschke put together a great innings, making 28 off 20 with two fours and two sixes in the innings.


The Doggies finished strong down the order to help seal the win with Connor Little making 11 while Dion Stratford got over the half century mark with 55 off 29 runs.


East finished the day making 175 runs in 40 overs.


Dion Stratford finished as the highest scorer with 55 runs while Emerson Marks took four wickets.