By Tara Murray
The Greenvale Kangaroos are glad the Victorian Premier Cricket T20 rounds have come to an end.
The Kangaroos went winless in the T20 part of the season that was played across three Saturdays, with the first of those days washed out.
Coaching director Ash Cavigan said the shortest format of the game hadn’t come at a good time for them.
“It can go either way with the T20s,” he said. “We’re not sure our group is at the stage.
“It’s about cricket IQ as well as the skills. We’ve learned a lot and there’s still a lot more to learn.”
Cavigan said looking at a lot of the stats it was the power plays and surges where they struggled the most and they would look at that information deeply.
On Saturday, the Kangaroos faced Melbourne and Casey South Melbourne.
Cavigan said they lost the game against Melbourne in the first four overs of the game after not getting the power play right.
Melbourne put on 0-50 in those first four overs and went on to make 3-170.
It was all single wicket takers for the Kangaroos.
The Kangaroos finished 8-115 from their 20 overs. Odil Perera top scored with 33.
Cavigan said they let slip the game against Casey South Melbourne, which would have given them their second win for the season.
The Kangaroos batted after winning the toss, making 6-154 from their overs.
Will Luxton top scored with 56 while Perera made another 30.
Casey South Melbourne ended up hitting the winning runs with three balls remaining, finishing 4-155.
It was single wicket takers again for the Kangaroos.
Cavigan said they take some positives out of the T20 games.
“For some guys it can be a circuit breaker,” he said. “Odil Perera made a couple of 30s batting at number five and he hadn’t batted in their position so it’s something we’ll look at.
“Musa Hussain was back in the wickets and we need him bowling well.”
The Kangaroos will face Northcote in a one-dayer on Saturday in the last game before the Christmas break.
Northcote sits in 13th spot.
Cavigan said they want to continue to keep building.
“We need to take that next step,” he said. “We need to get more contributions more often and get the basics right more often.
“I think the guys are feeling really positive about it and hopefully throughout the four teams we can get a couple of games on the right side.”
