1st Grade
1st grade have made a solid start to their one day campaign, defeating a strong South Perth side by 6 wickets at Richardson Park.
South Perth’s team featured state representatives Hilton Cartwright, Cameron Gannon, and Alex Bevilaqua, with Cameron Bancroft and D’Arcy Short available for the Dragons.
Kallen Bond won the toss and elected to bowl, with Zach Ferris (1/16 from 5 overs) claiming an early wicket in his club debut.
Oli Arkinstall was involved in the dismissals of both Cartwright and Gannon, running out Cartwright after a mix-up for 19 and catching Gannon off the bowling of Waheguru Dhillon for 10.
South Perth recovered to 3/99 but collapsed to 118 all out, with Short (3/18 from 9.4 overs) and Dhillon (2/33 from 9 overs) causing the damage.
Ferris, Matt Hanna (1/17 from 6 overs), and Luke Holt (1/17 from 5 overs) all claimed a wicket each.
In reply, the Dragons had an early wobble, slumping to 3/12 after Iszak Milentis, Short, and Blair Walsh all fell cheaply.
A 113 run partnership between Cameron Bancroft (68) and Shayne Wornes (41*) steadied the ship, with Bancroft falling with just 4 more runs needed for victory.
A Wornes boundary sealed a comfortable win with 12 overs to spare.
3rd Grade
A strong all round performance from Stewart Hepburn led the 3rd grade to a first up win.
South Perth won the toss and elected to bowl, with Hepburn top scoring with 44 in a total of 9/168 from 45 overs.
David Cameron (24) and Lincoln Joy (21) also made handy contributions, with some late hitting from Ikky Bhalla and Arnav Pimple lifting the score.
South Perth’s innings was punctuated with regular wickets from Hepburn (3/20 from 9 overs) and Bevan Hargrave (2/20 from 9 overs), who also claimed a stunning catch in the gully.
Pimple, Joy, Cameron Becker and Lachie Searle all contributed with a wicket each.
A last wicket partnership of 29 caused some nerves, but Becker eventually took the last wicket with a searing yorker to bowl out South Perth for 151 and secure a 17 run win.
Unfortunately, the 2nd grade, 4th grade, under 15 and under 17 games were all abandoned due to weather.