Kyle Aubin scores maiden first grade century for Centennials Bulls in loss to Centrals

Centennials skipper Aubin hit 103 runs from 95 deliveries as the opener tried his best to keep the Centrals score of 7-231 in reach, hitting eight fours and four sixes on his way to triple figures.

The required run rate began to creep out of control for Centennials and they'd soon lose 6-25 trying to turn up the tempo.

Aubin was pleased to break the century barrier but said a win to go along with it would have made for an extra special day.

"That's my first hundred in first grade so it was nice to get. I felt like I was going to get one this year, not sure why, but I feel like I've been hitting it well. From ball one in this one I felt locked in," he said.

"Unfortunately it didn't quite get us over the line which would have made it a bit nicer.

"We had them 5-80 and then we just bowled too many boundary balls that they took advantage of. The batted well in the back half of their innings and we let the game get away there.

"With Zane Newham injured most of this year we're just missing that extra bowler."

Adam Shepherd top scored for Centrals with 69. Cam Rasmussen (46) and Darryl Kennewell (40) put on 85 together for the sixth wicket.

Aubin also had a great day with the ball, leading the way with figures of 3-26 from his eight overs.

Kennewell (3-24) and Shepherd (3-35) also showed off their all-round skills by being the best of the visiting attack.

Victory for Centrals has them still in the finals race. They sit five points behind both City Colts and ORC, who are fifth and sixth respectively.

For Bulls it's another loss in what's been a season that never really got going.

It's a similar story to the 2020-21 season for Bulls, who also finished off that campaign with some positive performances in an otherwise challenging season.

Aubin said if the team can just put together a better foundation at the start of the new season they can make themselves a finals outfit once again.

"I guess the thing for us is that over the back half of this year there hasn't been as much pressure on us. We've been out of finals for a while," he said.

"It happened to us last year as well. We finished stronger than what we started so we have to flip that around and hopefully do better next year.

"It's been tough with the numbers that we have. We've been pretty short since the opening rounds so there's still positives."

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