Fletcher Rose scores gritty century to inspire Centrals' first BOIDC win of the summer

Centrals looked dead in the water as they resumed at 7-84 in reply to Kinross' day one tally of 190 and there was never any doubt how Rose would have to be the catalyst for any potential fightback, he began the day unbeaten on nine.

With his tail-end remaining stoic at the other end Rose built on that, slowly edging his side closer to victory with every passing over, taking advantage of the fact Kinross' two most dangerous bowlers in Ed Taylor and George Cumming were away on Orange duties.

Zac Reimer (2) fell with the score at 92 before Rose and Daryl Kennewell (32) added 87 for the ninth wicket, the latter falling with just eight required for victory, signalling a grandstand finish to the first innings.

Ed Dodds (12 not out) remained stoic at the non-striker's end as Rose struck the winning runs and then the pair opened up, lifting their red and blacks to a 53-run lead before the match-winner was finally dismissed for a superb 116.

"The win's definitely more satisfying than scoring a ton, it's great to get one but winning was the most important thing," Rose said.

"Daryl was pretty clear in what he said, he basically just said 'we have to win or we're screwed here' so we just needed to knuckle down and I'd give more credit to guys like him, Zac and Ed for the support they gave me at the end there.

"They did a great job to hold out the Kinross bowlers, they bowled really tight and put up a huge fight like they always do, there's really promising signs for them even though we got the win, it got seriously close at the end there though."

Centrals did go in search of maximum points after being bowled out for 243 but Alex Brien (83 not out) and Max Powell (55 not out) put any chance of an outright result to bed with a 92-run stand.

"Alex and Max batted really well at the end there to stop us having any chance of that outright result," Rose said.

"Alex in particular could be a real run-scoring machine in the next few years I think, he's a confidence player but he looks a million bucks when he's on."

While he said he'd love his side's first win to spark a turnaround, Rose said there's a lot to be done to ensure that happens in the remainder of the season.

"It was great to get the win and we were able to take advantage of the fact Kinross had a few guys out on rep duties but at the same time, it's only our first win and we have to back that up now," he said.

"We've battled to win games and battled to score runs, but we've also battled getting the same side on the paddock with all our shift workers and that kind of thing, it makes it hard, but hopefully that can turn around."

Rose wasn't the only all-rounder who produced a stunning performance with the bat on Saturday afternoon, with Orange City skipper Ed Morrish doing the same and also passing triple figures.

He resumed the second day unbeaten on 68 and worked his way to 97 and then bringing up his maiden top grade ton with a six, belting another immediately after before declaring with his tally at 109 and his side's at 9-361.

"I think Ed's ton is probably the one that deserved to be written about, I reckon that would've been a serious innings to watch," Rose said, Morrish also snared two wickets on Saturday.

Connor Slattery also built on his day one ton in St Pat's Old Boys' easy win over City Colts, moving from 120 to 152 before skipper Adam Ryan declared, he also added a quick-fire 84 for the eighth wicket with Jeremy Russell (58).

Slattery (4-62) then backed up that with a four-wicket haul to complete a player-of-the-round performance, but it was Cavaliers' Mitch Black who was the stand-out with the ball alone.

After his side declared having set CYMS 364 to win, Black picked up Matt Baker (6), Angus Le Lievre (1), Aquinder Dhillion (4), Ed Johnson (18) and Jarrod Urza (0) to finish with excellent figures of 5-61 from a whopping 28 overs.