Rain the only winner so far

At Lark Hill, the first grade side was sent in to bat and in trouble at 4-37.

At the end of 50 overs, the Mariners recorded the day’s highest total of 7-191, in no small part to Brayden Sutton’s 83.

Sutton, jabbing just six boundaries in his 140-ball stay, grabbed hold of the steering wheel and shared 50 plus partnerships with captain-coach Brendon Diamanti (18) and debutant Elliott Lyons (16).

The gnarled opener used a decade of first-grade nous by pouring all of his concentration into dampening Fremantle’s bowlers on an early season wicket that was always going to be tough for batsmen to negotiate.

Chris Loveridge (27 from just 6 balls) provided the fireworks from Sutton’s exercise of risk elimination, launching four huge sixes to entertain the home fans.

Regrettably, Rockingham-Mandurah’s bowlers never had the chance to defend a more than adequate October score as rain tumbled down during the innings break and did not abate.

Rain was the tale of the day, with the second grade side just four wickets away from victory before the weather had the final say at Stevens Reserve. Four wickets to Jamie Ryan sliced through Fremantle’s top order to leave them on their knees at 6-54 attempting to match the Mariners’ 152.

Due to not enough overs being bowled at that stage, the second grade were unlucky to miss out on the perfect start for a team that made finals in 2012-13.

In the only completed match between the two south coastal rivals, the under 15s met in a grand final replay.

The same result eventuated, with the junior Mariners scratched to 129 through Joel Humble’s unbeaten 40 with help from Adam France (24). Fremantle appeared to be exacting revenge at 4-85 but they did not reckon for Griffin Polglaze, who destroyed the middle order with figures of 4-13 from 11 frugal overs.

Lark Hill was washed out for under 17s and third grade play, while fourth grade was in the balance after Rockingham-Mandurah tallied 153 and Fremantle were 1-21 before the heavens opened.

Joondalup, last year’s first grade premiers, await Rockingham-Mandurah in round two.

The first and third grades will trek up the freeway to Iluka Sports Complex, as second and fourth grades host the Centurions at Lark Hill.