Penirth’s so-called “Mr Wickets” – Donovan Zealand – came up trumps once again delivering his fifth five-fer of the season to help that winning feeling return to Tynefield Park.
Penrith Cricket Club ended a run of five defeats on the trot in the Palace Shield Premier Division as they beat Penwortham by 75 runs on Saturday.
Captain Nicky Burns said it was a good win, with Penrith putting in a great performance, especially in the field.
“We had lost five on the bounce, so we needed to win that game, especially with it being at home,” said Nicky.
“There was a little bit of rain forecast in the afternoon which sort of changed our game plan a little bit, but in the end it didn’t come, so we lost a few overs at the start, so it was reduced to a 42 over game.
“Penrith lost the toss and got put into bat.
“Which we weren’t too concerned about because the pitch didn’t look too bad, but when we went into bat it did quite a bit early on, so we just had to survive a little bit,” said Nicky, who opened the batting for Penrith with Ollie Greenwood.
The pair made a solid start with a first wicket stand of 30 and it was felt that if they could score 160 or 170, they would be happy with that, so to get 186, they were very pleased going into the tea break with a “big last over” which shifted the momentum Penrith’s way.
Top scorer for Penrith with 43 was their overseas amateur Donovan Zealand, who hails from Namibia. Nicky, meanwhile, hit 34 runs and Romario Brathwaite put on 21 right at the end.
In reply, Penwortham were all out for 111. “We bowled OK in terms of the seam bowlers and Donavan Zealand bowled very well to get five for 25. That is the fifth time he has taken a five wicket haul this season in about 10 games,” said Nicky, who added that having the off-spin bowler in their attack was a “huge plus”.
Donavan, aged 24, who is in his first season as Penrith’s overseas amateur, is now the leading wicket taker in the league by quite a distance.
“He has obviously got his aims and his aspirations and long may it continue, because it is huge plus for the side,” said Nicky.
On Saturday, they are playing away at Torrisholme, which will be unknown territory for the Penrith team with them having never visited there before.
But Penrith have got a full strength team apart from Greg Cameron who is serving a one match ban.
“We just want to get a few wins and we can’t wait really. We want to get back into the mix at the top of the league.”
Penrith had a really good start to the season – five wins in five – followed by five defeats before Saturday’s win. At present, they are sitting in sixth, but with only 20 points separating the top six and 12 points for a win, promotion is still very much the aim for Penrith.
With an impending re-shape of the league structure set to take place next year, this season the top six placed teams will be promoted.
“Mathematically, if we win three in a row, we could be top of the league,” said Nicky.
“If we can put two or three wins together, we will be right back in the mix. There’s still a lot to play for with a long part of the season still to go,” he added.
