The enormity of the situation was not lost on Altona North’s middle-order batsmen.
Sitting in second-last position after three winless rounds, North can’t afford a slip up to local rivals Spotswood on their home turf at Crofts Reserve if it wants to reach Turf cricket’s north-west division finals this summer.
With their innings teetering at 4-70, North’s middle order came to the rescue to produce the bulk of a commanding 7-232 off 80 overs, giving their side a shot of breaking their drought when day two arrives on Saturday.
“We win most games when we get past 200, so we’ve given ourselves a good opportunity,” North stand-in skipper Greg Doyle told Star Weekly.
“But it’s a very flat wicket and they have a good batting line-up so we’ll have to bowl well.”
Doyle snapped his own cold streak to be North’s top scorer with 60 batting at six.
“It was good to get past 50,” said Doyle, who made only 14 in his first three digs.
“It was certainly tiring. There was a lot of running in there as the outfield was pretty lush with the rain during the week.
“Our top order has done a pretty good job this year and no one else has really backed them up, so it was good for a couple of the other guys to chip in.”
Star import Buddhi Samarawickrama produced his top score of 49 for North and looked set for a massive score until a direct hit ran him out attempting a single.
The Sri Lankan has been a welcome addition to the North family and is expected to pile on the runs this season.
“He’s a breath of fresh air with his positivity,” Doyle said. “He always has a smile on his face and he’s always happy to be there.
“Everyone’s embraced him and he’s been good for us.
“Hopefully he can get past the 50 in the next couple of games and push on to some big hundreds as the wickets start to flatten out.”
North’s score was topped up by Dale Mills (23no) and Domenic Diguglielmo (22), while Gene Maurice was the pick of the Spotswood bowlers with 3-45.
Seddon is on the back foot against Keilor Park after posting just 189 at Ray Davies Reserve, but Laverton is in the box seat after bowling PEGS out for 186 at Laverton Park.
In senior division, Yarraville Club was set 214 for victory by Bentleigh at Hansen Reserve.
In west A1, Kingsville Baptists made 257 against Wyndham Vale, who is 0-17 in reply, led by Senad Levic’s 68.
