Tara Murray
West Newport believes that it has found what it needs to be a threat in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 2 competition.
After a solid first season in that division, the Lions have looked to add some extra depth to the squad to be more competitive.
Secretary and first XI player Daniel Shanahan said they were looking to use last season as a good base to start with.
“Our coach James Usher has a lot of premier experience over the years and we know what he will do, we’ve looked to compliment him with some other players.
“With the borders opening up again, we had the opportunity to sign these guys in Liam Buttery and Clarke Doughney and we jumped at it. They both have great records overseas.
“We beat a couple of finals teams last year, including Sydenham Hillside who won it.
“We knew what we needed to do to make it and be more competitive in this grade and hopefully we’ve found the prices we were missing to be a threat to the top teams.”
The Lions got off to the perfect start on Saturday, beating Williamstown CYMS.
Shanahan said after the first five days of play were washed out, everyone was excited to get out there.
“It was good to get a win on the board after a frustrating couple of weeks,” he said.
“They have been a pretty strong team in division 2 for quite a while. To get a win early in the season against a team we see playing finals this year is really good.”
After winning the toss, the CY’s were bowled out for 116 in the 30th over.
Shanahan said they started slowly with the ball, before Josh McDonald and Doughney turned the momentum in their favour.
McDonald finished with 5-27, while Doughney took 2-26.
Then with the bat, Usher steadied the ship as the Lions hit the winning runs in the 30th over. The Lions finished 4-120.
Shanahan said the CY’s have a dangerous bowling attack, so they were just focused on getting the runs, but they happened to get them quicker than they planned.
In other matches, Footscray United made a winning start to its time in division 2, beating St Andrews Pascoe Vale.
St Andrews made 9-136 from its overs with Shafraz Mohamed taking two wickets. United made the runs with 11 balls remaining, finishing 6-138.
Ashen Abeykoon finished 31 not out.
Altona Roosters also started their season with a win, beating Kingsville.
The Roosters made 9-145 from their 40 overs with Tharanga Indika top scoring with 53.
The Roosters bowlers then did the job, bowling Kingsville out for 83 with only three batters reaching double figures.
The wickets were shared around with Dishnaka Manoj taking three.
Last season’s runners-up Newport-Digman started with a big win against Keilor Park. The Bulls made 9-175 before bowling Keilor Park out for 116.
In senior division, Yarraville Club fell two runs short of victory against Westmeadows, while the Druids were heavily beaten by Keilor.
