THE summer of cricket has arrived, with the WACA Premier and South Metropolitan Cricket Association (SMCA) seasons kicking off on the weekend.
After finishing last season in a disappointing 11th place, Fremantle began their tilt at an improved 2018 by splitting the weekend’s one-day games with a win and a loss.
In their opening match against Scarborough on Saturday afternoon Fremantle won the toss and elected to take to the field, a decision that paid dividends almost instantly when they took two early wickets to have their opponents at 2-12.
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READ NOWDespite a couple of decent partnerships Scarborough struggled to stop the wickets falling and would eventually be knocked over for 157 runs in the 46th over.
Ross Macauley took three wickets, while Jake Carder, Jarryd McPhee and Zach Ferris took two apiece.
Fremantle needed only four batsmen and 35 overs to chase down the total, Carder top scoring with 58.
Sunday’s game against Willetton wasn’t quite as successful as Fremantle fell 14 runs short of victory.
Willetton chose to bat first and steadily worked the ball around the field to finish their overs at a healthy 9-191.
Banned Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft top scored for Willetton with 44 runs, while Fremantle’s Benjamin Moore did most of the damage with the ball, taking 4-25.
Fremantle’s chase started poorly with the loss of Sam Whiteman for just two runs, but a middle order fight back led by Matthew Micale (31 runs) Carder (28 runs) and Brayden Sutton (27) helped drag them back into the game.
Fremantle needed 14 runs off the last four balls of the match when they lost their final wicket and handed Willetton the win.
The double header one-day games continue for Fremantle this weekend with matches against Claremont Nedlands at Stevens Reserve on October 13 and Joondalup at the Iluka Sport Complex on October 14.
In the SMCA’s opening round one-day matches, a half-century to Phoenix’s Jacob Johnson helped his team defeat the SJ Blues by 22 runs, while a huge 89-run innings from Cockburn’s Luke Smith was the standout in their 112 run win over Hilton-Palmyra.
East Fremantle also notched up a win, beating Bicton Attadale by 90 runs.
Round 2 SMCA action on October 13 has East Fremantle hosting Phoenix, Hilton Palmyra taking on CBC and Cockburn playing away against Leeming Spartan.