Gladstone Park had its focus on an outright victory early in its match against Donnybrook in the North West Metropolitan Cricket Association’s George Luscombe Shield, and it didn’t take its foot off the pedal.
Reducing Donnybrook to 7-18 on day one of the match, the Burras were keen to make the most of their advantage.
While Donnybrook had a late order recovery, a total of 84 was never going to be enough. The Burras had set up a lead of more than 100 going into day two of the match, at 7-229.
Not content with that score, they batted for the first half of Saturday to extend the lead to 207 on the first innings.
The Burras declared at 8-291.
This left them 70 overs to bowl out Donnybrook for a second time, which they did in less than half that, bowling Donnybrook out for 95.
Burras’ skipper Andrew Shanahan said they’d needed to capitalise on their good start to gain points on the leaders.
“It’s the first time in six or seven years, or even longer, since we’ve had an outright victory,” he said.
“There’s a couple of sides in the competition which you have to capitalise on when you’re in a good position.
“We lost to Burnside Heights in a match we shouldn’t have lost. They were playing the top side and looked set for a loss, which is why we pushed so hard.
“We’ve snuck back above them.”
Shanahan said the most pleasing thing about the win, was that different players stood up at different times. The skipper was 49 not out when he declared.
“We struggled with the bat early, but the middle and late order gave it a shrug.
“Jaydan was 40-odd overnight and kept going on day two. He had a ripping match and will be leading our club championship,” he said.
“We had different guys taking wickets. In the second innings, bowlers didn’t even bowl, which shows our depth.”
Ashan DeSilva was another to contribute, making 54 and taking five wickets for the match.
The win moves the Burras to third on the ladder ahead of three one-day matches, including two matches before the Christmas break.
“We play the three sides who have come up this season from the lower grades and we’re really looking to win these.”
In other matches, Northern Lions lost to Kealba-Green Gully.
