Bay in box seat after first day

The visitors were sent in to bat by North Nowra, a decision that surprised skipper Scott Fagerlund.

“I was always gonna bat,” he said. “They sent us in, and I thought: Sweet, thank you.”

North Nowra would quickly rue the decision, as the Bay quickly built a solid first innings.

Anthony Mortimer was the first man to go, falling to the bowling of Hugh Gillen after a quick 12. 

Zac Henstock and Carl Lang would then form a partnership, adding another 45 to the total before Henstock’s wicket at the hands of Damian Spelta.

The skipper Fagerlund joined Lang at the crease, and would quickly take the momentum away from North Nowra.

The skipper made his first century of the season, hitting 17 boundaries in his innings of 125.

Fagerlund had support from Sam Lee (17) and Ryan Hall (15), and quickly pushed the total past 200.

Fagerlund’s wicket started a mini collapse for the Bay, as they lost their final five wickets for 46 runs.

Justin Weller and Hugh Gillen were the two best bowlers for North Nowra, each finishing with four wickets.

Fagerlund was happy with the team’s batting performance.

“It was a very good day for us,” he said.

“It was good for myself to get on the board with the runs for a change.

“I haven’t performed to my best yet this season.”

Fagerlund’s breakout inning for the Bay came at the perfect time, as the club is struggling through its return to first grade.

“I was seeing them like beach balls,” he said.

“Everything seemed to work on the day. I was getting the middle more than anything, and I played a pretty solid innings.”

Looking forward, Fagerlund believes his side is a good chance for victory next weekend.

“Hopefully Mitch Hockey, Luke Condon, and Marty Smart can go through them,” he said.

“There’s meant to be a bit of rain around, so hopefully we can go on with it.

“It was a road when we batted, but I don’t think it’ll be the same next week.”

And for such a young side, a first win would do wonders for the future.

“It’ll be a confidence builder,” Fagerlund said.

“We’ve still got a couple of games to go, so we can kind of upset a couple of teams towards the finals.”