Plenty Valley keen to finish on a high

Plenty Valley is hoping to finish its Victorian Premier Cricket T20 season on a high on Wednesday night.

With finals already out of the equation, the Bats are looking to use Wednesday’s match against Ringwood as a chance to find some form and blood some young players.

Bats coach Adam Drinkwell said they had been competitive in most games, but hadn’t got the results.

It was the case in their most recent game last Wednesday against Prahran.

The Bats made 7-117, which Prahran made with four balls remaining. It finished 5-118.

“We couldn’t finish off our innings,” Drinkwell said.

“We needed another 15 to 20 runs. We bowled well early, before Emma Inglis took the game away from us.

“They chased it down in the last over. It summarises our T20 season, we’ve been in most games, but haven’t been able to finish them off.”

Drinkwell said they were likely to be missing a few players this week, but it gave the opportunity for other players to step up.

As well as playing T20s, the last two weeks the Bats have also been playing one-day matches.

They sit 1-1 having lost to Essendon Maribyrnong Park on Sunday.

“The girls are really looking forward to the one-day season,” Drinkwell said.

“The weekend before they had a really good win against Box Hill. It was the best batting performance against Box HIll in over two years.

PHOTO GALLERY: Plenty Valley vs Prahran

“We changed things up and they worked.

“On Sunday, we were going okay at 2-60. We had some poor shot selection and lost wickets and 102 was never going to be enough.”

Rhiann O’Donnell top scored on Sunday with 32.

Essendon Maribyrnong Park made the runs with ease, finishing 5-103 in the 18th over.

Drinkwell said the key for the side was to ensure that they were putting partnerships together.

They showed against Box Hill what they could do when they achieved that.

The Bats have the weekend off, before resuming the one-day competition with three more matches before Christmas.

Drinkwell said they should get some players back into the side which will help.

Jasmine Nevins will return after being part of the WBBL under-19 exhibition series last week.

Georgia Gall, who is out injured, was also meant to be part of that series. Gall is expected to return as well.

“Jas has had a cracking start to the year,” he said.

“She’s come on leaps and bounds and is in the top 10 scorers for the T20. Georgia was meant to be involved too.

“It’s great for the club.”

In a big bonus, Australian fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck could play a couple of games before Christmas as well.

Drinkwell said good performances in those three matches could really set their season up.