A SWASHBUCKLING 49-run effort from Kayde Surrey and the cool head of Mark Butters helped Beechworth to a round one win over Yarrawonga-Mulwala on Saturday.
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Both sides were a bit wobbly in their first outing for the season, but a nice recovery from veteran Matt Knight (28) helped the Lakers set a 122-run target for the Wanderers.
The run chase got off to a flying start through openers Surrey and Travis Howe, who put 44 runs on the board before the latter’s dismissal.
Some panic set in for the middle order when the Wanderers required just 40 runs from the final 10 overs, resulting in two costly middle-order run-outs.
But the steadying hand of Butters (14) and tail-ender Hamish Malsem (13) ensured the Wanderers would prevail by the two wickets.
“We didn’t bowl too well early on, dropped a couple of catches, so it panned out pretty well in the end,” Beechworth captain Brenton Surrey said.
“We had to hold our nerve a bit, but we were able to hang in there and get the reward.
“We were very happy to keep them to around 120, I thought we were probably a little bit ahead at the break.
Our last 10 or 15 overs were really good.”
The Wanderers captain said he was hopefully early runs would translate into a strong season for Kayde Surrey.
“It’s good to see him getting some runs nice and early,” he said.
“He had a bit of a lean run last season, hopefully he can get on a bit of a roll from here.”
In other matches, Rovers United Bruck defeated Delatite, City Colts were too good for the Benalla Bushrangers and Ovens Valley United defeated Greta.