An Adam De Cicco masterclass helped Cobram produce a dominant Murray Valley Cricket Association win on Saturday.
Facing off against Tocumwal at the Cobram Showgrounds, De Cicco was a force with the ball in hand, taking a combined 13-39 over the two innings to help his side to a win by an innings and 160 runs.
The team’s first two-day game for the season, the result confirmed Cobram would head into the new year on top of the ladder — and as the team to beat.
Speaking after the match, Cobram coach Adam Harwood was happy with the performance.
“Our batting the week before set us up to be able to go for an outright win,” Harwood said.
“We kind of put it into our heads that if we got a few quick wickets then we’d send them back in but it’s always good to get an outright victory and have a good break before Christmas.”
Posting a total of 7-312 on the first day of action, Cobram had the Bloods at 3-52 at the end of the day one, bowling them out for 79 on day two before sending them in again.
In the second innings De Cicco continued his impressive form, while James Daniel picked up a handy 2-5.
With the season now on a break until January 14, Harwood said he was looking forward to more consistency next year.
“I think we’ve had five or six changes every week so we haven’t really got a settled team at the moment and we’re still managing to win so hopefully after Christmas we can get a bit of continuity with our players and if we only had one or two changes every week that’d be good,” he said.
“We’re really happy with all the young kids that have come in and played their part, I think on the weekend we had six under-18s so it was a real positive to be able to get an outright win and show those guys how it’s done.”
Elsewhere on Saturday, Katamatite produced an impressive 140-run win over Deniliquin.
A well-rounded team effort from the Tigers, Benjamin Beaton (3-10), Kepler Lukies (2-16) and Lachlan Phillips (2-25) were standouts with the ball.
Meanwhile, Barooga suffered defeat at the hands of Nathalia.