Hamish Baker was excellent with the ball with three wickets for one run and 26 with the bat in the Rhinos’ C-grade win.
Undefeated premiers in the last season of the Murray Valley Cricket Association, the C-grade Rhinos got off to a flyer this season with another convincing win for the tally.
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It was a great result, given they were missing a few of their regular stalwarts for the opening game at Memorial Park against Tocumwal on Saturday.
Monte Barnes was warmly welcomed for his debut for the Rhinos, and Cooper King returned for his first game since playing under-17s.
Tocumwal won the toss and elected to bat.
Prem Reddy and Hamish Baker started well and kept things tight, with Baker getting a wicket in his first over.
Barnes and Steve Baker came on to bowl next, with Barnes making an impact snaring his first two wickets for the club.
Steve was unlucky not to pick up a wicket with a couple of sharp chances going down.
At 4-23, Deon Van der Berg came on to bowl.
With a full toss down leg side, the Tocumwal batsman’s eyes lit up and smashed it out of the middle of the bat.
Sam Dudley stuck out his hand at backward square leg and pulled off a contender for catch of the season, leaving Tocumwal reeling at 5-25.
Tocumwal steadied the ship and put on a 97 run partnership with some big hitting.
Hamish Baker and Monte Barnes came back to bowl and broke the partnership snaring three quick wickets between them.
With the fall of wickets and Tocumwal’s Brandon Meloury retiring on 50, the Rhinos were able to slow down the run rate.
After the full 35 overs, Tocumwal were 8-123.
The players enjoyed afternoon tea at the new clubrooms with rumours of a certain Rhinos player being chauffeured over despite it only being a 200m walk.
Monte Barnes and Dushan Rathwatte opened the batting and immediately took it to the Tocumwal bowlers scoring close to six runs an over.
Barnes was first to go after being caught for 27.
Deon Van der Berg spent some valuable time in the middle and kept the runs ticking with Rathwatte, who made the most of a couple of sharp chances, retiring on 50 not out.
The highlight of Rathwatte’s innings was a massive six over the deep square leg fence.
Hamish Baker was next in and scored a quick-fire 26 including an effortless straight drive that rocketed to the boundary.
When Baker was caught, Dean Herberte and Stephen Marshall were solid at the crease and finished off the innings, with the Rhinos chasing down Tocumwal after only 27.3 overs.
The Rhinos’ final score was 3-125.
It was a great team effort with a lot of energy in the field.
Top performers included: Dushan Rathwatte on 50 not out and three overs for seven runs; Hamish Baker with four overs, three maidens, three wickets for one run and 26 with the bat; Monte Barnes with five overs, three wickets for 11 runs and a score of 27 with the bat; Cooper King with his first wicket in his comeback game; Prem Reddy bowling five overs for a measly 10 runs.
A few sore bodies might need a rest next week, with the side facing a top of the table clash away against Nathalia.
Monte Barnes was strong on his Rhinos debut in the field, taking two catches, three wickets and scoring 27 runs batting.
Cooper King bowled well for a wicket in his comeback senior Rhinos game, finishing with figures of 1-7 off two overs.
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