1st Grade
1st grade are in a tight contest against Melville at Burrendah, with the visitors finishing 268 all out after the first day’s play.
The Storm won the toss and elected to bat, with their openers putting on a 111 run opening stand against a bowling attack missing the injured Matt Hanna.
Waheguru Dhillon made the first breakthrough, inducing a false shot and taking a smart catch off his own bowling.
The visitors continued to build some top order partnerships, but wickets to Kallen Bond ensured the situation didn’t get out of hand.
Melville then collapsed as the day drew to a close, with wickets for Zach Ferris and Dhillon, as well as run outs for Oliver Arkinstall and Blair Walsh in combination with John Sanders.
Dhillon was again the standout bowler, taking 4 for 74 from 25.5 overs, while Bond (2/42 from 15 overs) and Ferris (2/35 from 12 overs) made strong contributions.
2nd Grade
2nd grade have made an outstanding start in their clash against Melville, reducing the Storm to 3 for 14 after making 293 with the bat.
A strong batting effort was underpinned by the in-form Lincoln Joy, who raced to 95 from 85 deliveries at the top of the order, and contributed 91 runs in a second wicket partnership of 106 with David Cameron.
A middle order collapse saw the score slump from 1 for 114 to 6 for 160, but two new faces in the second grade outfit in Luke Holt and Stewart Hepburn saved the day with a 87 run partnership for the seventh wicket.
Holt departed for a well made 51 as the day neared an end, with Hepburn following soon after for 47, with some late hitting from Keegan de Koker further lifting the score.
The Dragons squeezed in 8 overs before stumps and made the best possible start, with wickets for Lachie Searle, Hepburn, and Holt completing a brilliant day for the visitors.
3rd Grade
3rd grade had a tough day, with Melville sitting on 2 for 86 at stumps in pursuit of a score of 109.
Bevan Hargrave won the toss and batted, but the Dragons soon found themselves at 8 for 56 against an attack featuring multiple bowlers with significant first grade experience.
Some dogged resistance from Cameron Becker and James Scott ensured there was something of a score to bowl at, with the two batting together for nearly two hours in their 9th wicket partnership of 49, with Becker making 35 and Scott making 18 not out.
James Andrews took two early wickets to give the Dragons some hope, but the Storm look to be well on top, requiring a further 24 runs to secure a win with 8 wickets in hand.
4th Grade
4th grade are in a tight contest at Tompkins Park, with the Storm finishing their batting innings on 9 for 193.
Aaron McCall made his trademark call of bowling after winning the toss, with regular wickets keeping the Dragons in the game after some strong top order batting partnerships.
Matt Maguire was the standout bowler, taking 4 for 52 from 21 overs, with Jordan Hodgetts (2/72 from 21 overs), McCall (1/8 from 12 overs), and Jarod Bridge (1/32 from 12.5 overs) also among the wickets.
U17’s
Under 17’s have put a strong score of 4 for 220 on the board on the first day of their clash with Melville.
Bradie Paliethorpe and Ethan Smith continued some strong batting form, making 62 not out and 61 respectively, while Brayden Lee made 41.
U15’s
Under 15’s found themselves in a good contest, managing 7 for 189 at Tompkins Park.
Captain Blake Stephen led from the front, making 66, with Rajat Deshmukh (43), Pavasan Govender (22), and Veedi Pelpola (22) all chipping in with scores.
Premier T20
The Premier T20 side have made a strong start to this season’s competition as they look to avenge last year’s semi final loss, defeating Scarborough and Joondalup at Iluka Sports Complex.
The Dragons batted first in their opening fixture against the Seagulls and scored 3 for 161 from their 20 overs, with Aaron Hardie finishing 99 not out from 67 deliveries.
The Seagulls looked in control at 1 for 92 in reply, but collapsed to 137 all out to hand the Dragons a 24 run win.
Stewart Hepburn was destructive in his top level debut, taking 5 for 19 from his 4 overs, with support coming from Zach Ferris (3/33 from 4 overs) and Kallen Bond (2/20 from 3.3 overs).
Against Joondalup, the Dragons again batted first and posted a strong score of 6 for 175 from their 20 overs, underpinned by contributions from Blair Walsh (54 from 45 balls), Hardie (48 from 27 balls), and Bond (33 from 23 balls).
The home side were always short of the asking rate in reply, finishing all out for 147, with Oliver Arkinstall (4/25 from 4 overs), Waheguru Dhillon (2/27 from 4 overs), Bond (2/29 from 4 overs), and Ferris (1/25 from 3 overs) amongst the wickets.
Colts T20
The Colts League side couldn’t take advantage of being home at Burrendah, going down to Scarborough and Joondalup.
The Seagulls batted first in the opening fixture and posted 4 for 165 from their 20 overs, with Jordan Hodgetts (1/21 from 3 overs), Stuart Smith (1/25 from 4 overs), and Declan Crowder (1/34 from 4 overs) the wicket takers.
The Dragons couldn’t get going in reply, with opener Lachlan Lake’s 47 the only innings of significance in a score of 9 for 124.
In the second game, Joondalup batted first and managed 7 for 130 from their 20 overs, with wickets for Smith (3/34 from 4 overs), Hodgetts (2/14 from 4 overs), and James Scott (1/23 from 4 overs).
Unfortunately, the Dragons could only manage a score of 7/120 in response, with Ethan Smith (46) and Lake (28) amongst the runs.