Williamstown gave club stalwart Grant Sandars a 200th first XI game to savour with a nine-wicket win over Endeavour Hills in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association at Sydney Pargeter Reserve on Saturday.
Sandars is only the second Seagull player to achieve the milestone , with Jack Barnes having played 248 games between 1932-33 and 1951-52.
Sandars made a duck, but his teammates picked up the tab – as he has done on so many occasions in a VSDCA first XI career that started back in 1993-94.
Endeavour Hills could muster only 9-144 off its 45 overs. Nathan Bratby was the chief destroyer for the Seagulls with 4-38 off nine overs, while Cain Speakman (2-10) and Nathan Hall (2-25) chipped in with important spells.
Williamstown cruised to the target in a touch over 35 overs. When Sandars departed with the score on 1-1, captain Craig Sheedy (64no) and youngster Matthew Dervan (63no) combined for an unbroken 144-run stand to lead the Seagulls to just their second win of the summer.
Altona strengthened its hold on a top-six berth with a bossy six-wicket win over Bayswater at the Frank Kirk Oval.
Set a tough 197 for victory, the A’s passed the target with ease, thanks to half-centuries to Aaron Maynard (81no) and Tim Collins (56).
Yarraville suffered a 49-run loss to Box Hill and dropped to second-last.
The Eagles were bowled out for 178, with Curtis Maguire’s 79 making the only significant inroads into Box Hill’s 5-227.
