Byrne heroics not enough for Rochester

“Our first goal was to get the win, but I was aware that might not be within our reach,’’ he said.

“We decided to try and play out time during the day and just failed to do that.”

Cuttriss and his bowling outfit didn’t take too long to remove the remaining four wickets after a two-hour delay to day one of the match meant Fire Brigade was only 6-168 at stumps last week.

The last four wickets fell for 54 runs, the Fire Brigade outfit all out for 222 as wicketkeeper Jake Gascoyne top scored with 58.

Three run outs and three wickets for Myles Wade accounted for a bulk of the wickets, while Fraser Cleary’s two wickets and singles to Joe Hamilton and Kyle Waters brought the Fire Brigade innings to a close in the 64th over.

Rochester’s run chase started disastrously when Blake Evans, after a half century in the opening round, was dismissed with the fourth delivery of the innings.

In the 15th over Joe Bunce was out for 18, but a promising 36-run stand between opener Brandon Byrne and captain Cuttriss righted the ship.

It ended in horrible fashion when Cuttriss was run out for 22, with Byrne continuing his defiance at the other end until the 67th over of the match.

He had 10 different batting partners, faced 188 deliveries and batted for almost five hours for his 82 runs (including 10 boundaries).

It was Byrne’s highest score in the Goulburn Murray’s A-grade competition, having captained the Rochester B-grade team last season.

He played in the first premiership with Rochester when the two clubs came together several seasons ago.

“He plays his role really well,” Cuttriss said.

“That his highest score in A-grade and it was a chanceless innings.”

Joe Hamilton, 20 runs from 70 deliveries, attempted to back Byrne in surviving the afternoon when Plan B was put firmly in place by the Rochester brainstrust.

But when Hamilton was dismissed in the 49th over, no other Rochester batsmen managed to score double figures.

Oliver Williams was the fourth man out and Fraser Cleary spent half an hour in support of Byrne for an eight-run return.

His dismissal signalled a mini-collapse as teenager Matt Harrington — a replacement for an ill Sean Williams — and Kyle Waters were removed for the addition of just seven runs. That left Rochester 8-152.

Byrne was the ninth man out, but not before a 19-run stand with another teenager Nate Rasmussen, who was the last man out after facing 21 deliveries for his two runs.

Cuttriss was glowing in his praise for the Fire Brigade club, who allowed Harrington to bat as a substitute for Sean Williams.

The experienced all rounder ended up in hospital on Friday night and was unable to play.

"We gained permission from Fire Brigade to bring in a sub, which was good of them,“ he said.

Rochester’s A-grade team will play its first game for the season at Rochester this weekend, against Moama at Moon Oval.

“We are really excited to be able to play our first game back in town,” Cuttriss said.