Footscray Angliss still has plenty of work to do if it wants to play finals in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Evans-Clark Shield season.
Angliss was back to its best on the weekend, crushing Laverton in a Saturday-Sunday clash, putting them just one spot out of the top four with two matches to play.
On Saturday, Angliss batted first, scoring an impressive 262 before being bowled out in the 70th over.
Jagger Skilbeck at five, who made 55, and Jason Wozniak at eight who finished on an unbeaten 51 were the Angliss best with the bat.
“The guys did really, really well,” president Michael Cox said.
“They put some decent runs on the board, so it was well batted, especially down the lower order. Jase Wozniak came in and scored some important runs and gave us enough runs to attack.”
Saturday ended as strong as it started for Angliss taking three late wickets, putting Laverton 3-10 overnight.
Laverton finished its first innings at 103, before being sent back in and making 6-185.
“It put us in a position of strong belief,” Cox said.
“We obviously knew that it was going to be warm and difficult on the Sunday, so to give our guys the belief that we could finish it off and then possibly put ourselves into a position for an outright win, I think was a really good mindset to have on the Saturday evening.
“It was a real grind on Sunday, Laverton dug in a little bit and it was difficult in those conditions and all the guys bowled really well. Sean Tyrrell held up an end with his spin which allowed us to attack from the other end.
“We had enough runs on the board to put them back in for an outright and again we took early wickets, get the breakthroughs but there were a couple of batters who really performed well for Laverton.
“It was a little bit disappointing and the guys were all keyed up to get the outright win and that would have put us in a really good position coming into the finals series but it was an important win nevertheless.”
The final two games of the regular season for Angliss come against the top two sides on the ladder, with first placed Gellibrand this weekend, followed by Moonee Valley.
If Angliss are any hope of making the final four, they need one win at a minimum.
“We know that we’ve got a couple of tough games coming up against really strong sides,” Cox said.
“We know that if we perform well, we can put ourselves in a really good position to make finals and if we actually make finals, we know that having beaten those sides we could make a dent in the finals. So a couple of big weeks for the lads coming up.”
