Tara Murray
It has been a learning curve for Laurimar this season in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Money Shield.
After earning promotion for this season after winning the Mash Shield last season, the Power sits outside the top four as it heads into the back half of the season.
Power coach Adam Drinkwell admits it has been tough at times.
“So far it has been a real learning curve for us,” he said. “The main thing is we are learning every game.
“Going up the teams you are playing are very well experienced and have been playing at this level for a while.
“We’ve been learning and had some good days and some bad days. We keep showing up each week and we’ve been competitive in every game.”
After losing some key personnel in the lead up to the season, the Power had to make some switches to its line.
A very different looking line up to last season, the Power is starting to find its feet and get some wins on the board.
In the first game after Christmas, the Power played its best match, beating Montmorency in what Drinkwell said was a complete match.
He said it was their best bowling performance of the season so far.
“It’s good to get that confidence going into this part of the season,” he said. “Two-day cricket has been a challenge for all the clubs and finding all the right combinations.
“We’ve had a lot of changes since last year.”
On Saturday, the Power kicked off its two-day clash with Lower Eltham.
The Power batted first and were bowled out for just 83 in the 45th over. Drinkwell top scored with 34, with just two players reaching double figures.
It will be game on when the game resumes this Saturday, with Lower Eltham in trouble at 7-55.
Drinkwell and Patrick Richardson have three wickets each for the Power.
Drinkwell said the game wasn’t playing out how they expected it to.
“It was a funny day of cricket,” he said. “We thought it would favour the batting team, but 17 wickets fell and there weren’t a whole lot of runs.
“The outfield was slow. It was good to be able to fight back and we go into next week 50-50.”
Drinkwell said if they can gain a first innings lead, they’ll look to bat out the rest of the second day.
Having started to find their feet in this grade, Drinkwell said they were keen to see what happens in the last few rounds.
“The competition is really close and if you get on a roll and win three or four games, you’re right in,” he said.
“The first goal is to cement a spot in the Money Shield and win a few games in the back part and who knows what will happen.”
In other matches, Bundoora United made 7-322 against Mernda, while Bundoora Park made 5-254 against Montmorency.
Eltham made 4-246 against Lalor Stars while a Prince Singh 100 helped the Bundoora to 6-323 against Plenty.
