The Gippsland Goannas cricketers travelled to Geelong at the weekend for a 'double header' on Sunday against the Geelong veterans.
The matches were played at the Leopold Cricket Club grounds, where the over 60 team played on the turf, and the over 70s played on the adjacent ground, which had a synthetic pitch.
The new clubrooms were roundly praised by all in attendance.
In the 60s game Geelong won the toss and batted first, amassing 230 runs for the loss of five wickets from their 40 overs.
The best of the Goannas bowlers were Adrian Quirk with 1/11 from five overs, Bernie Symons 1/24 from five, Ray Smith 1/25 from five and guest player Mark Ross (from Ballarat) with six overs, 1/27.
Catches were taken by Smith and Ross, who also had a run out.
In reply the Goannas could only reach 5/136. Smith retired for 33 (65 balls), Graeme Ingle 11, Chris DeVent 22 retired, Keith Orchard 5, Ray Floyd 1, Ross, 9, Symons 20 retired, Peter Anton 14 ret, Andy Slevin 5, Bob Penrose 7* were the contributing batsmen.
On the synthetic, the Geelong over 70s also won the toss and batted first, reaching 186 from their 40 overs.
Ian Southall (eight overs 20 runs) and Gordon Cowling (eight overs 1/21) got the Goannas off to a good start.
Chris Bowen (five overs for 2/25 and Neil Meredith (eight overs for 0/43) bowled well, as Geelong were 3/90 at the 20-over drinks break.
Derek Morris, five overs for 1/14, Bob Duljas, two overs for 1/12, Phill Higgins two overs for 1/18 and guest player Graeme Lewis (Geelong) two overs for 13 runs did the rest of the bowling as Geelong were 6/186 at the close.
There was a small hiccup during the lunch break as one of the Geelong players had a heart attack, but the ambos arrived promptly and transported him to hospital where he had had a stent implanted before the game ended.
Meredith, 40 from 22 balls, and Murray Moore, 30 retired from 30 balls, got the Goannas off to a great nine-runs-per-over start.
Southall, 13 from 13, Bob Duljas, 23 retired, Ian Gibson 16 from 25, Bowen 32 retired, and Higgins 19* took the Goannas past the Geelong score in the 30th over.
The Geelong captain made a special mention of the Goannas' ground fielding, especially the work of Heather Farley and Deidre Hunter who fielded for the entire innings.
Wicketkeeper Gibson had a catch and a very smart stumping and Chris Bowen was awarded the player of the match for the Goannas.
The Goannas over 50 team have a home game against Geelong this coming weekend, while the over 60s have a two-week recess as the respective over 60 and over 65 National Championships are held in Illawarra and Christchurch, New Zealand.
Rob Taylor has been selected in one of the over 60 teams, while Bernie Symons, Rino Metlikovec and Peter Anton will travel to NZ with Victorian teams.
The Goannas over 70 team has a home game, in Traralgon, against the South Gippsland Kookaburras this coming Sunday.