By Tara Murray
It was an innings full of starts for Rivergum in the North Metro Cricket Association Jika Shield against Cameron on Saturday.
Coming off their best performance of the season when they claimed an outright win over Heidelberg West, the Kookas were hoping to keep up the momentum against Cameron.
Made to bat first, the Kookas had a solid start and were in control at 1-71.
From that point forward they lost frequent wickets, with only one partnership over 30 for the rest of the innings.
The Kookas finished on 9-180.
Kookas captain-coach Matt Perri said it was a bit of a frustrating day for the side.
“We got off to a good start and were 1-71 off 25 overs,” he said. “They then tied us down and we lost wickets at the wrong time and we couldn’t accelerate.
“We threw a couple of wickets away, but they bowled really well. “We had nine players score double figures but no one could go on with it.”
Liam Henkel top scored with 38 with nine players scoring between 11 and 38.
The highest partnership of the day was just 38.
PHOTO GALLERY: Rivergum vs Cameron
Perri said despite the frustrating day at the office they were still in a good position to get the win, their fourth of the season.
“We’ll take 180 every day of the week,” he said.
“We’ll back our bowlers in and they’ve [Cameron] struggled with the bat this season struggling to get more than 150.”
A win for the Kookas here will help cement their spot in the top four and continue to put pressure on the top two sides.
This is despite the side again being slow off the mark to start the season.
“We’re only two points off top spot and we’re playing at 70 per cent of what we can,” Perri said.
“We sort of looked like last week we were hitting our straps with our bowling. “We’re still yet to put it all together.
When we’ve looked iffy with the bat, we’ve been good with the ball. And when we’ve been looking iffy with the ball, we’ve been good with the bat.
“If we click all on one day, we’ll be looking good for another finals series.”
All four Kookas sides are in positions to win this week, despite 20 players across the club being unavailable, including two from the top side.
In other matches, Rosebank is on track for an outright win against Holy Trinity. Rosebank is 3-75 in reply to Holy Trinity’s 94.
Preston YCW District made 198 against Preston Baseballers. The Baseballers are 0-25 in reply.
It was a big day out for Heidelberg West making 6-312 against the Cobras.
