South Coast Cricket: Berry-Shoalhaven Heads and Shellharbour lock horns

Berry-Shoalhaven Heads picked up an 18-run victory against premiers The Rail whilst Shellharbour started their season off in sensational fashion with a 13-run win against defending champions Lake Illawarra.

Now the two victorious teams in round one will face off in the competition's second week at Berry Sports Complex.

In recent history the teams haven't played all that often due to Berry-Shoalhaven Heads only joining the competition last season, but that one game has not been forgotten by Shellharbour.

"We've only had the privilege of playing them once, but they looked a tough gritty side," Shellharbour captain Ned Taylor said.

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"They got the win over us last season at home, which we don't forget. And they've played good cricket since and they had a really good round one win against The Rail.

"They played a hard style of cricket. On that particular day they just outplayed us in all three facets and they were deserving of the win. We weren't at our best, but they were certainly at theirs. So we're looking to just go out there and focus on what we know we're capable of.

"Tom Fletcher has started the season with a bag full of runs so he'll obviously be someone that we'll look into a little bit further."

Shellharbour skipper Taylor added that the team were feeling fairly confident heading into the match.

"A win regardless to the time of the year against Lake is always something to hold on to. But it's early and everyone's still knocking off that rust and looking to find rhythm of their own," he continued.

"So we're obviously happy that we got that result. But looking to improve again this weekend in all departments and looking to go on."

Meanwhile in the opposite camp, Berry-Shoalhaven captain Daniel Troy heaped plenty of praise on the team's star batsman against The Rail in Tom Fletcher, who scored 87.

"Young Tom Fletcher was a bit of a start with the bat which helped," he said.

"We knew if we could get through the top order [against The Rail] then we'd probably be OK, but the wicket wasn't amazing either, it wasn't very true. So we were always giving it a chance.

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"We got a bit of a tough few weeks but we're feeling alright. We knocked off all the top teams last year, so we definitely don't feel like we're out of it.

"We only got to play Shellharbour once last year. They're definitely a strong side and they're definitely well trained in the field and all that."

In other fixtures in round two of South Coast Cricket, Kookas face The Rail, Kiama host Lake Illawarra, North Nowra take on Ex Servos and Bomaderry lock horns with Bay and Basin.

Albion Park have the bye this week.

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