What better way for Williamstown to test the depth of its bowling attack than to defend a meagre total without its No.1 strike bowler in the opening round of the Victorian Sub-District Association season.
The Seagulls had to treasure the scraps left for them by their misfiring batsmen without the impact of player-coach Mathew Inness.
Inness had pulled up with a sore shoulder after a midweek training session and was ruled out of contention.
Despite this, the team sealed a memorable 32-run victory over Balwyn at the Williamstown Cricket Ground on Saturday.
The Seagulls couldn’t take any chances with Inness, who has had a shoulder operation in the past.
“We just didn’t want to risk him because if he tears it again, there’s another major operation,” Seagulls captain Craig Sheedy told Star Weekly.
“He was a bit sore and there was no way we were going to let him steam in on a dead wicket.
“We just let him have a rest and see how he pulls up for next week.”
Having made just 176 on day one, the rest of the Seagulls had their work cut out for them.
You could bank on a steady hand from Sheedy, who took 4-40 from 19 overs in a continuation of a stellar career.
The all-rounder produces year in, year out for the Seagulls; it is almost a given that he will step up to the plate and come to the rescue.
But the rescue effort was not all on Sheedy’s shoulders.
Speedster Daniel Popa and deceptive medium pacer Nathan Bratby both did a power of work to fill the void left by Inness.
Popa charged in for 2-24 off 20.5 overs, including 10 maidens, while Bratby was hard to read as he mixed up his bowling tempo, finishing with 2-35 off 20 overs, including six maidens.
The discipline shown by Popa and Bratby allowed Sheedy to set defensive fields and restrict Balwyn to just two runs per over.
“The boys were able to consistently keep it in the right areas,” Sheedy said.
“And the batsmen were giving it a good whack but just couldn’t get it through the field.”
“We had a pretty strong off-side field and with the way the wicket was it was hard to get any through the leg side.
“We slowly wore them down.”
Matthew Dervan had a cameo impact with a wicket and a run-out.
The Seagulls will be even stronger when they travel to Ivanhoe on Saturday for the start of a two-day game.
They will bring James Gillard into the side. Gillard returns to his home club after a long stint with Melbourne in Premier Cricket.
“He’s a Willy junior and decided to come back this year,” Sheedy said.
“Hopefully, he’ll make a difference with the bat.”
Around the grounds, Altona (8-101) sneaked home over Preston (99 and 5-160) in a low- scoring affair, but Yarraville (168) sunk to a heavy defeat to Plenty Valley (8-275).
