It was almost three months to the day, but the long wait for competitive sport is finally over with Maitland under-16 cricketers breaking the drought on Friday.
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Teams played Twenty20 fixtures in the opening round of the Under-16 division one competition and the under-14s were in action on Saturday morning.
Eastern Suburbs started the season with a hard-fought 19-run win against Northern Suburbs Black at King Edward Park on Friday.
Thomas Thorpe set up Easts' big total of 4/144 with 49 off just 34 balls. Max Field 29 off 26, Andrew York 26 off 19 and Oscar Walker 21 off 23 kept the scoreboard clicking over.
In reply Norths Black made 7/125 led by not out retired knocks of 41 off 40 balls by Lachlan MacIntyre and 40 off 40 balls by Ben Ison.
Rywin Nock was the best of the bowlers finishing with 2/12 off his four overs for Easts.
Northern Suburbs Gold posted 7/123 for a 50 run win against Thornton who were all out for 73 at Black Hill Oval at Maitland Park.
Travis Barber finished unbeaten with 41 off 30 balls for Norths Gold with Keanu Botha contributing 21 off 25 balls.
Monique Krake 2-16 off two overs and Naomi Krake 2-18 off four were the chief wicket takers for Thornton.
Openers William Scanes 22 and Riley Petrie 19 gave Thornton a solid start, but skipper Jaden Lambert with 14 was the only other batsman to reach double figures.
Taylor Atkins (2-1), Charlie Barnes (2-10) and Harrison Knox (2-6) all picked up two wickets for Norths Gold.
Greta Branxton's total of 4-125 was not enough against City United who posted 1/127 to record a nine-wicket win with six overs to spare at Miller Park.
Lewis Jacobs retired not out with 50 off 33 balls to top score for Greta Branxton. James Allerton made 21 off 40 before retiring. Izaac Coyle was the best of City's bowler taking 2-16.
Isaac Edwards 55 not out retired off 32 balls and Nate Blundell 35 off 26 got City off to a flier and they reached their target in 13.5 overs.
In under-14s, Northern Suburbs, Wine Country and Thornton started the season with wins, while Raymond Terrace forfeited against Eastern Suburbs.
Norths bowlers were on top at Kurri Central when they dismissed Kurri Weston Mulbring Blue for 44 after posting 5/93 off their 20 overs.
Dash Baker retired on 39 off 36 balls with the bat for Norths while the bowling was led by Charlie Cotten with 2-8 off four overs and Xavier Gollan 2-0 off one.
Wine Country made 4/107 and then restricted Kurri Weston Mulbring White to 8/101 for a thrilling six-run victory at Allandale.
Wine Country's score was set up by 45 to L Hurst and 30 to L Eather.
Cody Beavis top scored for Kurri White with 32 off 28 balls.
An unbeaten 50 by Sam Bailey and 35 not out by Thomas Long helped Thornton to a winning total of 2/127 against Gresford Vacy Colts at Vacy Sports Ground.
Colts made 7/63 in reply with Jack Butler top scoring with 23.
Long completed a man-of-the match performance taking 3-5 off four overs.
Cricket resumes in all age groups from under-10 upwards next week.
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