By Ewen McRae
Williamstown has wasted no time getting its Victorian Sub District Cricket Association season rolling, piling on the runs in its season opener against Yarraville on Saturday.
Coming into the new south-west second XI season on the back of a premiership last summer, the Williamstown batsmen looked to have lost none of their edge as the top five plundered the Yarraville attack to close the day with 9-325.
Williamstown captain Brent McMinn said he could not have asked for much more from his top order.
“We wanted to get off to a good start in round one, so to get over 300 on the first day and have everyone in the top five get 30 or more is exactly what we were looking for,” he said. “The pitch was a bit low and slow, but we adapted to that pretty well and ticked a lot of boxes.”
Despite losing Craig Sheedy and Dale McDonald in the off season, Williamstown’s batting looked as potent as ever, with Patrick O’Malley and James Cook kicking off the year with a 72-run opening stand.
O’Malley looked in particularly good touch, peppering the boundary rope. Even the loss of Cook for 43 couldn’t slow him down.
McMinn joined O’Malley at the crease and looked instantly at home, their 115-run stand starting to take the day away from Yarraville.
O’Malley was eventually out for a classy 82, but McMinn (60), Matt Dervan (30) and Mitchell Streiff (63) all continued the home side’s pain.
Matthew Grose (2-33 off 14 overs) was economical with the new ball for Yarraville, while off-spinner Joshua Raymer had some impressive moments in his 23 overs, finishing with 2- 0. Mohan D’Souza (3-45) bowled Cook and McMinn.
McMinn said his side was confident of notching up a win this weekend.
Despite some challenging sides in this year’s group, he said he had high hopes for a successful summer.
“We definitely go into day two with lots of confidence – hopefully it’s pretty straight forward and we can get a strong win early,” he said.
“We had a great pre-season, excellent numbers and some really good practice games, so we’ve come into the year with plenty of confidence and we know we’re good enough to mix it with the big boys.
“It’s going to be a tough year this year, with Caulfield and Oakleigh in the group – they’re always very strong teams, so it will be good to see how we go against the best.
“We want to play against the best teams to see where we’re at, so that challenge is coming up soon, which we’re excited about.”
FOR MORE VSDCA
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/plenty-valley-shows-its-class/
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/melton-ready-for-challenge/
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/taylors-lakes-is-up-for-the-fight/
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/cats-prepared-for-chase/
