The Kelowna Smashers pitched their season off to a promising start against the Revelstoke Cricket Club on Sunday, April 27, in both teams' second match of this year's Interior Social Tournament.
Revelstoke club president Matthew Bramall got the momentum going right off the bat Sunday at Kelowna's Parkinson Recreation Park, making a run off the opening ball. He grappled with a "bad ball" between swings, but persevered to score six runs over 16 balls.
"I think that's just the lacquer off the new ball," he said. "Six or seven overs, and then it will calm down."
After 32 runs in the opening inning's first wicket, Bramall took on 27 balls in the second to bring Revelstoke to 40.
The third wicket only gained two more runs, but Revelstoke's vice-captain Jagwinder Samra and Gaurav Joshi dug in for the fourth to rebuild the inning. They made strong and consistent contact with the ball to keep their club in it at 68 runs.
However, Revelstoke suffered a fatal batting collapse in the fifth to 10th wickets, capping out the first inning at 111 runs.
"It's another low score, but 112 is much better than what we had last week," Bramall recapped after the game. "Notable improvements with the batting. Still left-hand overs out there, but we'll work on that. Early wickets is what we need again. We made a fantastic start to our fielding last week. Let's go for the same again."
In Sunday's second inning, Revelstoke's first wicket came after 22 runs.
"Sensing an opportunity, the slow-ballers came on and made an instant impact," Bramall recounted.
The second wicket arrived with 26 runs, followed by a third at 66.
"Boundaries started to come regularly, but we worked hard for a third wicket," Bramall added. "But suddenly we were under pressure, and dropping four catches in three overs put us on the backfield."
The fourth and final wicket ringed in at 94 runs. The Smashers took the day's victory by six wickets and left with 113 for the weekend win.
"We're improving," Bramall remarked. "It's a noticeable difference from the game against Salmon Arm. Still left-hand-overs out there and a couple of dropped catches, but we're getting better and better each game."
More recently last Sunday, May 4, Revelstoke didn't have a match and took a break, while Kelowna lost to the Vernon Strikes by two wickets, going out at 125.
Now three weeks into the tournament, VCL (Vernon-Coldstream-Lumby) Cricket Club leads with a net run rate of 3.475 over two games. Salmon Arm Cricket Club follows with 2.998 over three, and the Smashers place third with 1.206 over two. Revelstoke sits in ninth out of 10 teams in the tournament, down to -4.853 from two games.
Starting 9:30 a.m. this Sunday, May 11, Revelstoke plays Kamloops Cricket Club at Rae-Mor Park. At the same date and time, Kelowna faces the Okanagan Lions, who haven't played yet this tournament, on home turf at Parkinson Recreation Park.
Watch Bramall's recap of Revelstoke and Kelowna's April 27 match at .