Bonus points for Railways

Railways secured the first double bonus point of the season after breezing to an eight-wicket win over North County in round 2 of the Albany Cricket Association A-grade competition at Hard North on Saturday.

The grand final rematch did not reach any great heights as the Bulldogs blooded three A-grade debutants and four youngsters in total, while new captain Neil Ferreira, twins Michael and Matthew Ferreira along with Graeme Weinert and Gary McGlade were all missing.

After winning the toss and batting, the Bulldogs reached 8-120 but the Tigers made light work of the run chase, losing two wickets in their emphatic victory.

New recruit Mitch Green scored a half century, while contributions from Alan Pietersen (23 not out) and Matt Walters (19) guided the Tigers to 2-121 in 19.5 overs.

Seamer Aaron Williams took two wickets for the Bulldogs.

To secure a bonus point, the Tigers had to reach the Bulldogs target inside 25 overs and they cruised to that mark, giving the defending premiers three bonus points in the opening two rounds of the new season.

In their first outing of the season, the Bulldogs struggled to form strong batting partnerships.

Veteran Craig Tonkin and fellow opener Brendan Dovey managed 35 runs before Tonkin was dismissed for 18 runs by seamer Ryan Tindale.

Dovey then watched the wickets of Nathan Benson and Williams fall as the opener was eventually out for 27 with the score at 4-80 in the 25th over.

The Bulldogs middle order then failed to provide much grunt as they finished at 8-120 after 45 overs.

Tindale finished with figures of 3-27 from nine overs, while Walters snared two wickets.