Harper Sercombe
Everything is set up for Greenvale Kangaroos to snatch its first win of the Victorian Premier Cricket season.
On Saturday, the Kangaroos were sent to the field against the Camberwell Magpies and made the most of their opportunities, dismissing the Magpies for 220 from 84 overs.
“It’s always good to take 10 wickets,” Kangaroos coaching director Ash Cavigan said.
“For our bowling group, it was a good confidence boost for them, because it was tough going the week before down in Geelong (declared at 4-354).
“It was good for that bowling attack to bounce back and good for Praveen Dilanka to get some wickets (4-41).
“There was a good run out in there as well, we’re working pretty hard on our fielding at the moment to make sure that it gets up to the standard it needs to be at this level.
“So it was a good day, good result and the boys have put themselves in a really good position to chase them down and win the game.”
With a young bowling attack, and a new captain at the helm, Cavigan said it has been a learning curve for the group.
“It’s all new, all round,” he said.
“So they’re just trying to find out what suits certain bowlers in terms of conditions and the batters they come up against and getting the combinations right.
“We’re working through a lot of that at the moment, but they rock up to training and do the work and they’ve given us 100 per cent effort and that’s all we can ask for at the moment.
“We’ll keep learning and getting better I hope.”
After bowling the Magpies out, it was nervy times in the Greenvale camp when Justin Galeotti and Odil Perera took to the crease to see out the final two overs of the day’s play. They were resume at 0-0.
“No one wants to go out and bat at that time,” Cavigan said.
“If you go out and lose a wicket or two wickets at that stage, you leave feeling as though you’ve had a bad day rather than a really good day.
“So a really solid day for the boys, 10 wickets and none down, ready to rock up next week and hopefully put up a really strong batting performance.”
To chase down the 221 runs required, Cavigan said there is one key to success for the Kangaroos.
“Partnerships. That’s the one that’s key for us,” he said.
“I think for most batting groups, partnerships are what you want.
“Significant partnerships is what we talk about, so wherever they occur, we’ll take them at any stage, whether it’s early in the innings, middle or late.
“We’re pretty quietly confident that our batting can be a really strong part of our cricket this year, we’re keen to see Justin Galeotti and Damith Perera bat for a long time.
“Odil Perera has been really strong for us as well, so those three guys we’re looking for a strong performance for them.
“The boys proved last week that we do bat deep and they’re all capable so we’re feeling pretty good about it, but we’ve got to go out and do it.”
The Kangaroos are yet to dip under a score of 200 for the season, and they will be hoping they can keep this record rolling on Saturday.
