Weather disrupts play

Rockingham-Mandurah were in strong positions in the opening round of the Western Australian Cricket Association first grade season against Fremantle, before rain spoiled the prospect of completed games.

At Lark Hill, the first grade were sent in by the visitors and found trouble at 4-37.

By the conclusion of the full allotment of 50 overs, the Mariners recorded the day’s highest total of 7-191, in no small part by 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 earlyseason wicket that was always going to be tough for batsmen to negotiate.

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

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

This was the tale of the day with second grade 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. Not enough overs had been bowled at the stage of the game, and the second grade was unlucky to miss out on the perfect start for a team which made finals last season.

In the only completed match between the two south coast rivals, the under-15s met in a grand final rematch with the same result six months later.

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 didn’t reckon for Griffin Polglaze who destroyed the middle order for figures of 4-13 from 11 frugal overs.

Lark Hill was washed out for under-17s and third-grade play while the 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 this weekend. The first and third grades will trek to Iluka, and second and fourth will host Centurions.