Geelong’s Hayden Butterworth takes 5/17 as the Cats beat Melbourne by two wickets

A pair of final over thrillers marked Geelong Cricket Club’s season opener, with the Cats’ women almost pulling off victory on their first grade debut.

Despite a late innings stumble of 3/1, a remodelled Geelong has started its first grade summer in strong style, chasing down reigning premier Melbourne’s target with two wickets in hand and just as many balls to spare.

Needing 240 for victory, young guns Oliver Peake (69), who boasts just a handful of first grade games of experience, and new captain Josh Larkin (50) steered the Cats from the troubled waters of 3/69 — combining for a 106-run stand at Geelong Cricket Ground.

Geelong wobbled a bit when Glenn Hannah removed both Peake and Larkin within 11 runs.

However, an unbeaten 25 from Daanish Mehta and 23 from Harry Hauenstein saw Geelong to safety, despite that late flurry of wickets, with Callum Stow hitting the winning boundary through point.

Opening batter Hayden Butterworth, who claimed a handy 5/17 at the end of Melbourne’s innings, said young Peake excelled coming in at number four.

Hayden Butterworth (left), with Clinton Peake, took 5/17 against Melbourne.

“He looked amazing and not out of his depth, for sure,” Butterworth said.

Earlier, the visitors got off to an imposing start, posting 113 for the opening wicket.

The Cats stymied Melbourne’s run though, taking 3/17 in the middle of the innings and then a stunning 5/5 to close out proceedings as Butterworth cashed in.

“It’s one of those things, when you’re brought on at the back-end of an innings it’s feast or famine,” he said.

“Fortunately I put the ball in the right area and they were mis-hitting them.

“Some days they come off, some days they get smacked to the boundary.”

Butterworth said Geelong was elated to start its campaign with a win over last summer’s two-day premiers.

“We took two pace bowlers into the day and we probably got the better end of the bowling conditions,” he said.

“Round 1 is also a bit of hit and miss, you don’t really know how you’re going.

“They got off to a bit of a flyer, but we didn’t really do anything wrong, they played really well.

“That was probably the surprising thing with Melbourne, their tail usually wags and that’s what makes them so successful.

“They’re usually able to eke out another 20 or 30 runs from their nine, 10 or 11 historically.

“We were fortunate enough to take all the chances that we got, and at least put the ball in the right area.”

Butterworth said with Melbourne passing 200 with about 10 overs to go, the Cats were looking at a target of around 270.

“To actually pull it back there, it was a really good team fielding effort and bowling effort,” he said.

“I think it’s one of the better fielding and bowling performances I’ve seen personally over the past 12 to 24 months in the ones.”

Geelong’s women fall short in first grade debut

Geelong Cricket Club’s debut campaign in Women’s Premier first grade has come close to the perfect start, going down by three runs to Essendon Maribyrnong Park in round one of the T20 competition.

Despite losing the toss and Essendon electing to bat, the Cats started strongly at Geelong Cricket Ground on Sunday with new recruit Aanliya Cheeran removing opener Alyssa Humphries in the fourth over, leg before.

However, Essendon’s Makinley Blows and Tia Davidge settled matters before young leg spinner Grace Jones broke the partnership by dismissing the latter for 24, caught by Geelong’s stand-in captain, Stephanie Townsend.

Renee Moffitt receives her first grade cap from Stephanie Townsend. Picture: Jainarayan Tiwari.

Essendon Maribyrnong Park again settled in before Cheeran removed opener Makinley Blows for 45 off 40 deliveries – through a stunning catch from Jones at point – leaving the score at 3/102.

The visitors eventually finished at 6/123 with Cheeran taking 3/24 and Jones 3/28.

Chasing 124 for victory, Geelong started cautiously and were 0/27 after seven overs.

But then Blows spoiled the party, bowling Townsend for 17 off 22 balls.

Jess Field kept fighting for the Cats before she was trapped LBW by Samantha Bates for 33 off 46 balls, leaving the score at 2/70 in the 13th over.

Aanliya Cheeran and coach Stephen Field. Picture: Geelong Cricket Club.

Geelong lost some momentum as Kira Grace was dismissed for 11 off as many balls while wicket keeper Bianca Deckker was stumped for one.

Despite a handy 18 off 14 balls from Cheeran, Geelong needed 17 off the final over, and despite four runs in sundries, and handy contributions from Cheeran (18 off 14 balls) and Renee Moffitt (18 off 21), the Cats fell three runs short.

Post-match, Townsend said her team did an “exceptional job” on its first grade debut.

“We will take positives from it, we bowled really well, even our fielding was exceptional,” Townsend said.

“We continuously want to become better, as we are learning as a group as we are a very young side, obviously not the result we wanted but we will focus on our next game.”

Debutant Cheeran said her team had “really fought hard” and were showing positive signs after a strong pre-season.

Grace Jones and Joanne Jones. Picture: Geelong Cricket Club.

“I’m pleased with the team’s performance, but we could’ve done better with our batting, but it’s just the first game,” Cheeran said.

Injured captain Tiegan Kavanagh said she expected to be return to the field in the next two weeks.

Senior coach Stephen Field said Geelong’s bowlers were “brilliant”, while making special mention of Cheeran’s all-round performance.

“We will make sure that we improve our batting, as scoring runs on every ball is very important,” he said.

Geelong will face Ringwood in round three on October 15.

Originally published as Geelong’s Hayden Butterworth takes 5/17 as the Cats beat Melbourne by two wickets