Harper Sercombe
Tullamarine is back on the winners list in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association McNamara Shield season.
The Demons won the toss last weekend and decided to bat against Royal Park Brunswick and started the match strong, despite an early hiccup.
The Demons finished at 4-266 with number five Nishitha Weerakoon the star, making an unbeaten 109 off 151 balls.
Captain-coach David Scott was also not out at the end of the innings with 51 from 58 balls.
“We had solid contributions from a number of players which was good,” Scott said.
“Danny’s been a class player for a long time, he’s sort of that steady rock for us up the top, and he’s done it a few times. He looked really good, unfortunately he didn’t go on and make a 100 for himself.
“Nishi [Weerakoon] has been outstanding for us this year already, he just seems to have a lot of confidence, that’s his first 100 for the club.
“After putting 266 on the board we thought that was a pretty good score so we felt pretty confident heading into the second day.”
On day two, the Demons headed onto the field and knocked over Royal Park Brunswick in extraordinary fashion with Harry Meehan collecting seven wickets, with the side dismissed for 105.
“He just didn’t bowl a bad ball, he was on the spot from the start of the day and put them under pressure and made them play everything, he’s a class act” Scott said.
“We brought him across from England to add a bit of talent to our bowling, and he’s been excellent.
“In round one he took four wickets, so he’s been a strong contributor to our eleven and it was a really big day for him.”
The Demons were unable to record the outright victory with the Royals digging in for their second innings scoring 1-37 from 26 overs.
“We bowled quite well in that first innings, so you can’t quite expect to do that too many times,” Scott said.
“We had a chat as a group and said we were going to have a crack at it but it probably wasn’t expected that we were going to go out there and get it.
“But it wasn’t too bad because it gave us an opportunity to give a few boys a bowl who haven’t had much of a chance.”
The Demons face Keilor Park next weekend in another two-day clash at the Keilor Park Recreational Reserve.
It was the Demons second in in three games.
Scott said it was always going to take some time for them to settle in this season.
“Obviously we’re new to the division after coming down a grade, so we’re just trying to find our place and find all the other sides,” Scott said.
“It’s still a few games away until we can start to assess the competition, so we’ll be expecting a tough fight for sure and we’ve got to make sure that we bring similar qualities that we have this week into next week.”
