Corey Walter confirmed his standing as one of the best ever Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association players with a masterful century for Collendina against Winchelsea.
Walter batted through the innings to be unbeaten on 109 from 123 deliveries as the Cobras made a decent total of 6/193.
“(I was) a bit rusty early and I haven’t been hitting the ball that well at training to be honest,” he said.
“So I probably just set myself to just try and bat through and the runs sort of started ticking along the more time you spend out there. Good to get a nice score in the first hit which gets your season kicked off in the right way, I suppose.”
Walter had support from Aidan Foard (20) and Richard Brown (35 not out from 37 balls). Collendina was 6/117, but Walter and Brown added an unbroken 76 for the seventh wicket.
“He (Foard) came in at the middle stage where they had (Shane) Murdoch bowling, who’s a quality bowler and spinner and just he worked the ball around really well and hit the bad ball for four and I thought he sort of changed the momentum a little bit,” Walter said.
“Then we lost a clump of wickets again and Browny, I think externally he’s probably pigeonholed as just a big hitter who comes in at the end, he had 15 overs to and the way he worked it around for five or six overs and then cashed in at the end and hit a couple over the fence. It was good for him to get a chance and spend some time out in the middle and get a nice score, which will hopefully set his season up really well.”
Collendina’s bowlers then did the job, skittling Winch all out for just 57.
Spinner Stan Grazotis didn’t let his diamond duck bother him to take three wickets while new-ball pair Ted Farrell and Gus Peters picked up two each.
Debutante Jackson De Jong also grabbed his first two A Grade wickets for the club.
“He’s a genuine all rounder,” Walter said.
“Hits the ball pretty hard for a 16-year-old kid and bowls well. He’s a promising young player, that’s for sure.”
COLLENDINA had a good win in C1 Grade with its top seven batters all reaching double figures. Oscar Irwin made 37 from just 23 balls as the Cobras made 202 against Ocean Grove. Jacob Muir then starred with the ball, taking 4/18 while Craig Goodger took 3/10.
DAVE Treharne took 5/23 in C2 Grade although Dina lost to Surf Coast, falling 24 runs short of victory.
JYE Hearps took a hat-trick in D Grade as Collendina defeated St Leonards by two wickets. The former A Grade skipper took 3/10 and Chris Pitfield snared 4/20 to have the Saints all out for 118. Hearps then made 40 with the Snakes passing the total eight down in the 37th over.
