Greenvale’s international recruits continued to impress on Saturday, this time leading the Kangaroos to victory over Casey-South Melbourne in Victorian Premier Cricket.
Buoyed by the arrivals of two recruits from Papua New Guinea, the Kangaroos restricted the Swans to 136 in the community round played at Benalla.
The Kangaroos replied with 4-137.
Greenvale got off to a perfect start when Aaron Smillie knocked over Australian Test and one-day player Matthew Wade for nine.
“It was massively important to get his wicket,” coach Steve Maddocks said.
“If he’d got away, they would have gone on to a big score.
“They don’t have a player who has made a 50 this season, so we knew the wicket of Wade would set us up. We thought we could chase down the score.”
PNG debutant Norman Vanua starred with the ball for the Kangaroos, with an impressive 5-47.
“We didn’t know what we’d get,” Maddocks said. “He only arrived on Monday and has trained twice with us.
“He had a rugged start but was really good in his second spell. He got the right length and worried the batsmen.”
Maddocks said his side made hard work of the chase.
“We were disappointed we got ourselves in the position of being 3-38 and then 4-63,” he said.
“The English boys [Ben Cox and Jack Shantry] got us out of jail. Hopefully, the top order will look at how they went about it and the patience it required.
“The top four all went out to bad shots. We can’t always rely on Jack and Ben and we don’t want to.”
Cox top-scored with 56 not out, his third 50 in four innings with the club, while Shantry finished on 17 not out.
“Both are professionals and its shows in the way they go about it,” Maddocks said.
“They’ve been better than we expected. They are in Australia for the right reasons; both want to improve their batting.
“Jack bats at nine in England but wants to move up the order to eventually bat at seven.”
Maddocks said that despite the win, the side had a lot to work on.
“The win buoys us and makes things at training more positive,” he said.
The Kangaroos face Ringwood at Russell Lucas Oval this week.
