After winning the toss, the Butchers elected to bat on what was a slightly green wicket, however Cottom (22) and Robinson (24*) made easy going of the Wollongong attack, allaying fears of a lively deck.
The Butchers can only have themselves to blame after posting a meager total of 76. Wickets fell at regular intervals with poor batting, rather than the deck to blame. All players need to look at their performances with the willow as the Butchers cannot expect to win games of cricket posting totals such as that.
Encouraging, however, was the fight and determination shown in the field.
Mark Rollestone took a wicket in his first over before Jamal Banfield (4-14) ripped apart the middle order to leave Wollongong reeling at 6-49. Bowling restrictions then brought Jamal's spell to a close and some loose bowling thereafter saw Wollongong limp past the Butchers total.
Rollo then returned to clean up the lower order (some say tail) and he ended up with a maiden bag in the top grade, finishing with 5-37. Some tight length bowling saw Murph snaffle 4 catches behind the wicket.
The Butchers then had to face 1 over at the end of the day, finishing at 0-5, with outright points up for grabs next week.
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