By Lance Jenkinson
Altona had it all its own way on the opening day of its local derby with Williamstown in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west at the Williamstown Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The A’s silenced the home fans with a dominant bowling display that saw a shellshocked Seagulls lose a steady stream of wickets before falling for 140 in the 66th over.
A’s captain Adam Yates said his bowlers were able to extract plenty out of the pitch to cause headaches for the Seagulls.
“It was a good toss to lose in the end,” Yates said.
“It [the pitch] provided our bowlers with some movement and [Shannon] Clarke and James Grubb started really well and got some early wickets.
“We were able to get into their middle order pretty early and create some opportunities throughout the day.
“We were always able to keep the pressure on them.”
Williamstown was in all sorts of trouble at 4-29.
PHOTO GALLERY: Altona vs Williamstown
Not until captain-coach Brent McMinn went to the crease did the Seagulls seem to have some control.
McMinn was the only top order batsman to shine with 29 off 69 balls. The middle order offered some resistance for Williamstown.
Brenton Hodges was top scorer for the Seagulls with 40, coming in after steadying hands from Matthew Twentyman (27) and James Cook (22). Each time the Gulls appeared to be building towards a meaningful partnership, Altona would strike with a wicket.
Clarke was the pick of the Altona quicks with 4-48 off 20.3 overs, while Grubb was miserly with 2-22 off 14.
Yates contained and took some important breakthroughs with his spin to finish with a team best 4-32 off 20.
“I was able to tie down one end and rotate the medium pacers at the other end,” Yates said.
“Everyone was doing their job today, which was really good.”
Altona negotiated a tricky 12 overs late in the day to finish on 0-29. The A’s require just 112 more runs for victory
