By Tara Murray
Greenvale Kangaroos broke through for their first win of the Victorian Premier Cricket season, but it wasn’t without a few nerves.
Having gone close a couple of times this season, the Kangaroos were on the right side of the result against Northcote on Sunday.
Kangaroos captain Michael Stretton said it was pretty exciting to get the first win on the board.
“It was really exciting to get the first win,” he said. “Against a good team as well.
“It got really close and some of us lost a fair bit of hair. It would have been good match to watch, especially for Greenvale supporters.”
Originally a two-day match to be played across the weekend, the match was reduced to a one-dayer, when it was clear grounds weren’t going to be ready for play on Saturday.
Once the game got underway, the Kangaroos were sent in to bat by the home side.
They lost an early wicket, before the second wicket partnership of Zaheer Hussain and Kaushal Silva got things back on track.
The two put on 98 for the second wicket, before Hussain was out 61.
While the Kangaroos lost frequent wickets throughout the rest of the innings, they were able to tick the scoreboard over.
They finished with a more than competitive 6-230.
Connor Hayes finished unbeaten on 55, while Silva contributed 50.
Stretton said the most impressive thing about the innings, was the spread of contributors.
“That’s one thing we haven’t had,” he said. “We have had one contributor in matches.
“Zaheer batted really well at the start and then Kaushal batted well. Connor batted through the innings and gave us some one to bat around.”
Stretton said they never felt confident that they had enough runs on the board, playing on a big ground making it hard to defend.
The Kangaroos got off to good start claiming two early wickets to have Northcote in trouble at 2-22.
Stretton said the opening bowling pair of Sean McNicholl and Liam Fitzsimmons produced their best bowling spell of the season.
“They set the game up.”
Northcote put on 76 for the the next wicket and looked to be travelling along nicely.
The Kangaroos though kept getting frequent wickets, and they went from 2-98 to 6-147.
A couple of late partnerships kept Northcote in the game and they pushed it to the final over.
Stretton said they never felt like Northcote was ahead in the game, but they never felt comfortable.
The Kangaroos were able to do enough, with Northcote falling five runs short of victory, making 8-226.
Hussain, Fitzsimmons and Huzma Ali took two wickets each for the Kangaroos.
Stretton praised the efforts of the whole bowling attack, which stood up under pressure when they needed to.
“We kept taking wickets throughout the whole innings,” he said.
“Sean McNicholl is bowling really fast and he held his nerve at the end and hopefully it will give him some confidence.
“Akash Dahri in his first game bowled really well.
“Fitzy did a good job and Trent Waring bowled well in his first XI game for a while. They were able to execute under some real pressure.”
Stretton said the addition of Wearing provided then some extra experience and they were hopeful he could continue to build.
The day was made even better for Greenvale, with their second XI also getting the win.
Stretton said it was nice to see some reward for effort for both sides.
“We’re hoping to continue to improve and hopefully get a few more wins.
“This year it was always going to be a young side and we would learn a lot of lessons.”
