The Zema Estate Barber Shield opened its season on the weekend, with three one day matches being played across town with a couple of upset wins to kick off the year.


West Gambier v South Gambier


Reigning premiers West Gambier hosted South Gambier on Saturday with the Dees knocking off the champs to begin their season on a high.


The day started with South winning the toss and electing to bowl, with Justin de Jong and Kyal Chapman opening for the Roos and starting well in the first over.


However it began to go downhill in the second over as South’s Jakob Opie did some damage with the ball, bowling out Chapman on the first ball then getting de Jong out on a caught ball on the final ball of the over.


With both openers dismissed Jake Blackwell picked up the slack for the Roos with some solid batting to slow down the bleeding.


But South’s bowlers continued to put the pressure on the Roos with Elwood Geary claiming his first wicket for the day.


Captain vs captain, Geary got the edge over Bray Stephenson, bowling him out in the fourth over.


After the third wicket Jayden Prior came in for the Roos and together with Blackwell crafted a solid shift, but struggled to put many runs on the board.


Prior’s time at the crease was cut short as he was caught in the 13th over, finishing on nine runs.


This brought Sujith Nikethana in and he too struggled to put runs on the board, falling two overs later on only two runs.


In the back end of West’s batting order they finally found some consistency with some solid innings from a few players.


Blackwell was dismissed in the 19th over, making 17 runs off 56 balls.


West was able to score a solid innings out of Jack Geddes and Samuel Coxon with Geddes getting 11 on the board and Coxon 13.


The Roos finished strong in the back end of the innings with Sam Hunt and Shane de Jong making some quick runs to finish with a solid run total.


Hunt was able to finish with 15 runs off 33 balls while de Jong finished as the Roos’ top scorer with 27 runs from 36 balls, with his side all out for 122.


South’s innings started slow with the early dismissal of Adam Kuhl who was out LBW after six balls.


After the tough start Jed Sims came in for the Dees and built a good partnership with opener Robbie Drenthen.


Sims was caught in the eighth over, but did some damage making 24 runs.


Not long after Drenthen fell, but like Sims he did some serious damage, making 29 runs off 29 balls.


After those two big wickets South remained calm and steadied the ship well with Nick Seager lasting 26 balls and making 10 runs.


Finishing the day strong were Noah Maxwell and Jagger Geary who closed out the innings with a solid performance to seal the win.


Maxwell ended on 12 runs after facing 69 balls while Geary had a great innings, making 26 runs from 22 balls with two sixes and a four in his innings, leading his side to a 5/123 score and the victory.


East Gambier v Penola


Penola headed to Allan Scott Park on Saturday and claimed an upset win over the Doggies.


Penola won the toss and elected to bowl first, starting well with the ball, getting opener Alex Hill out for a duck after 11 balls before Ben Robinson followed shortly for only four runs.


The wickets continued for Penola as they got another big dismissal, this time it was Emerson Marks who fell for a duck after facing three balls.


With three big wickets early on Penola was looking to continue its great start, but struggled against the Doggies’ other opener Ben Hentschke.


Hentschke put together a great innings, making 56 runs off 54 balls while hitting 11 fours.


Other than Hentschke, East struggled to get a lot of production out of most of its list with captain Alex Hentschke falling on nine while Dion Stratford went for a golden duck and Evan Clark managed nine.


The only other batter putting runs on the board was Connor Little who made 28 runs off 44 balls – and by the end of the innings East were all out for 125 runs.


Penola’s Jack Mullan had a great innings, taking five wickets in five overs.


Penola started strong in its batting innings with openers Lewis March and Jack Mullan setting the tone, March making six and Mullan scoring 20.


After the two openers were finished for the day Penola continued to hold its own against the Doggies, with Brendon Smart and Drew Clayfield putting in a good shift.


Smart only finished with eight but Clayfield was able to put 23 on the board.


After that Michael Waters stepped up for Penola and made some quick runs to help chase down East’s total, making 25 off 34 before being bowled in the 27th over.


Penola had a bit of a dry patch late in the innings, with Eli Hunter getting out for a duck and Nathan Fulton falling on two.


Penola was able to pull it together after the dry patch as Zac Zema scored a quick eight runs before getting out.


Finn Skeer was able to close out the win for Penola, making 19 off 36 to seal the upset win.


Penola finished 8/130 with Michael Waters the top run scorer with 25.


North Sportsmans v Mil Lel


Mil Lel took on North Sportsmans on Saturday with the Tigers claiming their first win of the season at Marist Park.


North won the toss and elected to bowl.


The Tigers started strong in the opening overs, claiming William Rowland in the third over then Hayden Massey in the fifth.


Neither Rowland and Massey put many runs on the board, with Rowland making seven and Massey only getting a single.


Nick Walters and Vaibhav Patel picked up the slack for Mil Lel and began to get some runs ticking over.


Both lasted a while at the crease with Patel falling first on 17 then Walters being dismissed an over later on 24 after facing 69 balls.


Mil Lel struggled again as Brodie Pfitzner and Jack Miller tried valiantly to get something going in their short time at the crease.


The two combined for 15 before Mil Lel got some consistency back at the bat thanks to youngster Harry Hicks who got some late runs on the board for Mil Lel, scoring 15 off 25.


Other than Hicks no one else could cobble much more of a score together, as Mil Lel finished the innings all out for 95 runs.


With North at the crease they wasted no time at cutting into Mil Lel’s run total with opener Alex Hutton starting strong.


Things looked shaky when Mil Lel got an early wicket, claiming Brad Robinson who finished on seven.


After Robinson’s dismissal Elliott Fisher came in and made an immediate impact, building a big partnership with Hutton.


The duo tried to dig in, with their pairing enduring at the crease, but were ultimately dismissed only four balls apart.


Hutton ended on 38 after facing 75 with Fisher making 52 from 66 balls.


The runs kept coming as Mitch Lewis and Isaac Mulraney closed out the match on a high.


Lewis finished on 28 while Mulraney finished not out on 28 as well.


North batted all 40 overs and finished on 184 runs.


Elliot Fisher finished with the most runs, scoring 52 while hitting six fours in his innings.