After a few years out of first grade the Kookaburras lost their round one match against Wingello.

Following two weeks without much cricket due to a bye round and a washout, players were keen to get back out on the field.

Hill Top won the toss and elected to bat, finishing their 45 overs at 9-257.

Josh Whitfield (47), Dean Webb ( 44 not out) and Simon Reid (40) scored the bulk of the runs for the Kookaburras.

In his first grade debut for Bowral, Matthew Ott bowled well and picked up a few wickets.

Bowral was then dismissed for 139 after 29.3 overs.

Cameron Malcolm opened the batting for Bowral and made a solid 45 runs.

Cameron Arlington took 4-8 from seven overs, Alex Debs finished with 3-24 while Jimmy Debs and Josh Whitfield picked up a wicket each.

Bowral captain David Spies said his team lost wickets “in clumps” and weren’t able to establish solid partnerships.

Keeping Hill Top’s run rate in check became harder after the drinks break when Spies had to bowl part time bowlers due to a slow over rate and the Kookaburras were able to score more freely towards the end of their innings.

“In our competition 250 is a pretty good score. Not many are going to chase that down but I was still pretty confident. We have a strong batting line up,” Spies said.

“Our problem was losing wickets in clumps. We’ve got some things we need to work on. We know what they are and we’ll look to improve.”

With not much time out in the middle and a few new faces in the squad, Spies said he expected the team to improve each week.

“You can’t win a premiership in October.”

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In the other first grade match, Robertson-Burrawang defeated defending premiers Wingello by 59 runs.

Robertson won the toss and had first use of the crease, finishing at 7-267 after 45 overs on a good batting track at Lackey Park.

Dean Roxburgh top scored with 73 runs and was well supported by Matt Arnull (70) and captain Nathan Wright (43).

Heading into the match, Wright said they spoke about last season’s grand final loss against the Tigers.

“It was still hurting a few boys which is good that it means something to them.”

Robertson executed its game plan to bat deep into the innings and back its bowlers to get the job done and take wickets.

Wingello dropped a couple of early catches and the Robertson batsmen took advantage of the opportunities.

The Tigers were 9-208 after 45 overs with Cameron Pike (67), Matthew Pike (23) and Arron Deegan (21) all contributing with the bat.

Wright said his side’s fielding was “absolutely atrocious” with the team putting down several chances in the field but was pleased with his bowlers.

Robertson will now face Bowral, a team yet to win a match in the 2018/19 competition.

But despite this, Wright said they appeared to be a good side and with a few players out this weekend he was “not taking them lightly”.

Wingello captain Grant Pike said while they didn’t reach the target, he was still pleased with his side’s batting performance.

“We had a good crack at it. In the past we might have collapsed and been all out for 70 or 80. To put on 200, there’s some good signs going into the rest of the season,” he said.

“Any team can win on their day. You just need to see off the new ball and try not to lose early wickets.”

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