Game one of round one for the BPL saw the Bayside Pirates and Norths Kings battle it out with some big-name players in either side. Having experience in not only the KFC Big Bash, but in the domestic One Day and Four Day formats lined up, with Andrew Gode captaining the Kings and Simon Milenko for the Pirates. Norths Kings won the toss and elected to bowl on a dewy surface to start the day.
A steady start by the Pirates was quickly disrupted by incredible efforts in the field by Robert Fitzgerald, Josh Brown and Andrew Gode. Scott Palombo joined in the fun with and an incredible catch diving forward in the outfield.
Captain Gode was very happy with the effort in the field, saying “we had to be really smart… and for 95% of it we were really good”.
Andy Michael took to the crease earlier than expected after the Pirates lost wickets early, and steadied the ship with a brilliant 60 not out from 46 balls, while Claye Beams produced a 21-run cameo.
“The ball got wet and the pitch got sticky… if it was on a length, I couldn’t do much with it” said Michael.
The partnership with Michael and Beams saw the Pirates get to see the Pirates reach 6/127.
Kings skipper Andrew Gode was removed early, along with the damaging Josh Brown. This saw Scott Palombo and Jack Cooper continue the chase in damaging fashion. Pirates captain Simon Milenko tried to utilise the conditions, noting an attempt to bowl more into the wicket with lots of variations in deliveries to halt the chase of the Kings. Milenko said the start of the Kings made it difficult to defend.
“They got away pretty early and we were chasing our tail for most of the innings” said Milenko.
The Norths Kings chalked up their first win of the BPL by 4 wickets with 10 balls left to spare.
