Williamstown has rocketed to the top of the sub-district cricket standings with consecutive outright victories.
The Seagulls stunned Endeavour Hills by an innings and 30 runs in a flawless east-west first XI performance at the Williamstown Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Seagulls playing assistant coach Brent McMinn can’t recall being part of a side that has claimed back-to-back outright wins.
“We’re flying at the moment,” McMinn said. “It’s great to get two 10-point victories before Christmas. Those sorts of wins don’t grow on trees. The playing group has got a lot of confidence now.”
Williamstown’s game could not be faulted in any regard.
The Seagulls left a trail of destruction in the Endeavour Hills batting card, bowling the visitors out twice and cheaply – for 128 and 91.
With the bat, they only needed 40 overs to amass an outright winning score of 3-249 declared, superbly driven by McMinn (115) and captain Dale McDonald (86), who combined for a 204-run second-wicket partnership.
The speedy Seagulls scored at better than a run a ball to claim first-innings points before stumps on day one.
“Our main focus was getting the six points straight up,” McMinn said.
“We wanted to get it done and dusted on week one because you never know with the weather and what happens next week.”
Williamstown would not have obtained maximum points in the match without the influence of left-arm orthodox spinner Pat O’Malley, who took 11 wickets for the match, including 7-32 on the second day to leave Endeavour Hills shell-shocked.
“What a performance that was,” McMinn said. “You can’t get much better than that. A lot of his wickets were either lbw or bowled.
“Some would turn and some wouldn’t … when that happens, it’s very difficult to face spin.”
Williamstown has gone from hunter to hunted in a short space of time.
How will the Seagulls handle being the top dogs when they visit Mount Waverley in one-day game on Saturday, their last before the mid-season break?
Meanwhile, Yarraville’s resurgence continued with a 79-run win over Box Hill at the Box Hill City Oval. Left-arm spinner Askshat Buch was the match-winner for the Eagles with 6-28 off 20 overs. Wicketkeeper Mali Pereira had five dismissals, including three catches and two stumpings.
Altona lost for a second game running, bowled out for 110 in its pursuit of Bayswater’s 194.
