A STRONG bowling performance, followed by a good opening stand with the bat, got the Port Panthers Pirates over the line against last season's champion Macquarie Hotel on Saturday.
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Pirates restricted Macquarie to just 115 before passing the total with five wickets left to get off to a great start in the 2015-16 season at Wayne Richards Park.
Ben Woodward's team shared the wickets around on the opening day of the season. Nick Bartlett took three, Woodward and Paul Stait two each and Tom Germon, Shane Williams and Ryan Johnson bagged single scalps.
That was backed up by great batting from openers Williams and Mark Jackson.
The pair put on 86 for the first wicket. Williams fell for 30, but Jackson went on with it, carrying his bat for an unbeaten 51.
He backed himself to hit through the line of the ball.
"He's got a good eye, and he's good to watch," Woodward said of his opener.
He was also impressed with Jackson's opening partner in Williams.
Woodward spoke to the team about the importance of someone taking charge and seeing the team home, and both Jackson and Williams did that.
"He used the pace of the ball well," Woodward said of Williams.
"It would have been a different game if it wasn't for that opening partnership."
Brendan Badenoch was typically testing early on for Macquarie, but Pirates' batsmen saw him off.
"The guys had to play pretty well," Woodward said.
The win has Woodward excited about the season ahead. Pirates put together good batting and bowling performances last season, too, but never have both disciplines clicked at the same time this early.
Woodward put it down to plenty of training and practice matches in the pre-season.
"There has been some poor weather in the past couple of weeks, but it didn't matter as much for us," he said.
Macca's wicket-takers were Badenoch (2-34), Ricky Arnell (2-23) and Chris Cole (1-12).
Captain Michael Pelley said the team was simply outplayed.
"Jacko and Williams made batting look easy on a wicket which I didn't think was easy to bat on," he said.
"In the end, we were outplayed."
Had the team got an early wicket, it could have been interesting.
"When you're only defending 115, you really need that early breakthrough," Pelley said.
Pirates take on Comboyne next weekend while Macquarie locks horns with Wauchope RSL.
Pelley said Wauchope would be hard to beat.
"I had a look at the score [in the game against Port City]," he said.
"It was a very impressive win."