By Tara Murray
Plenty Valley responded from a poor start to finish day one on top against Ivanhoe in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-east.
The Bats finished Saturday having made 294 at Yarrambat War Memorial Park, which on paper was another strong performance with the bat.
President Darren Callahan said they were staring down a much lesser score earlier in the day.
“We were 4-30,” he said. “We weren’t in a good position at all.
“Lahiru [Opatha] then came in and put in a wonderful innings. He is one of the better players in the competition and he showed that on Saturday.”
Opatha was the star of the show, making 167 from 163 balls, including 17 fours and six sixes.
Callahan said it was a connection with their coach Mihiraj Wasantha that got him to the club this season.
“He coached him in India in first class cricket,” he said. “He was playing in the Mornington Peninsula and wanted to play on turf and it worked well for us.
“He is 27 which is a good age for us.”
While Opatha was the star of the show, Callahan said they had a number of guys hang around and have partnerships without necessarily putting it on the scoreboard.
Callahan said while they were happy with the total, they would have liked to have batted the whole 80 overs, which they weren’t able to do.
“We keep losing wickets in clumps in a lot of two-dayers,” he said. “We haven’t played a lot of two-day cricket.”
Heading into the match, the Bats were sitting in third spot with five wins from their five completed matches.
Despite basically having a brand new side, Callahan was confident they would be in the finals mix.
“I thought we had a competitive group,” he said. “We’ve been pretty good so far, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Callahan said things were going well across the club.
He said on the women’s side they hadn’t got as many wins as they would have liked but had been competitive in most games.
He said they were working with the Diamond Valley Cricket Association on some initiatives.
Meanwhile in women’s Victorian Premier Cricket, the Bats lost to Geelong on Sunday in the final round of the T20 competition.
The Bats made 7-101 from their overs. Umasha Thimeshani top scored with 60 at the top of the order.
Geelong had no issues getting the runs, finishing 2-103.
The Bats finished the T20 competition in eighth spot.
