Goulburn hammers Yass Yabbies in first Burns Cup encounter

Leading into the match, the Goulburn team lost "about six blokes overnight", captain Dane Stevenson said, due to injuries and sudden unavailability.

"It was a mad scramble to get a few blokes together, and we had a pull out at 7am on Sunday as well. We managed to get some blokes from first and second grade to fill a team."

This team, hastily cobbled together, travelled to Yass's Victoria Park, where another mishap was soon discovered.

"We actually had a delayed start, the irrigation hadn't been turned off," Stevenson said. "We turned up and both ends of the wicket were quite wet."

After giving the pitch an extra hour-and-a-half to dry, Stevenson won the toss and made the relatively simple decision to bowl first.

But, as tends to happen more often than not in cricket, the wicket was not nearly as unpredictable as expected.

"We used the conditions really well, we bowled how we should'e and took the majority of our chances," Stevenson said.

"We got the better of the conditions, but probably two of their wickets were [due to the pitch] and the rest were from excellent bowling and fielding. The wicket didn't play badly at all."

Young Raheem Abdul from Hibo Gold started proceedings off well for Goulburn, as he took two wickets in his opening spell.

The rest of the wickets were shared between the bowlers as Yass was rolled for 108 from 31.1 overs.

In reply, Raheem and Jack Goodwin complimented each other perfectly at the top of the order for Goulburn.

While the younger opener's circumspect style saw him see off the new ball for roughly 15 overs, Goodwin batted aggressively and took advantage of any loose delivery that came his way.

After Raheem was dismissed, a collapse threatened briefly as Goulburn lost another wicket quickly, but Goodwin's unbeaten half century saw the visitors over the line in 27 overs.

"It was really pleasing for [Goodwin], he's had a couple of scores this year but I think he's starting to hit his straps," Stevenson said.

"Both he and Raheem did a really good job opening up."

The dominance of Goulburn's victory and strong performances from the new members in the side will make the selectors' job more difficult ahead of this weekend's rematch.

Yass and Goulburn will play again this Sunday, February 9, in Goulburn, in the second round of the Burns Cup.

Stevenson encouraged local cricket fans to come along to the match and cheer on the home side.

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