Harper Sercombe
While Westmeadows is still three spots out of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division top four, there is still much to play for as the race for finals heats up.
On Saturday, the Warriors played the first day of their two-day clash against the Druids.
“That’s the first time that I’ve been to Druids so I didn’t really know what to expect, but we’ve bowled well over the last couple of weeks, so we won the toss and decided to bowl,” Warriors captain-coach Donovan Pell said.
“We probably didn’t get away to the start that we had imagined or that we had the last couple of weeks. Jackson Smith wasn’t playing yesterday [Saturday] and he’s been opening the bowling.”
After a good start by the Druids, reaching 50 without a wicket falling, Pell turned to spin which began to break the game open.
“Our spin twins in Geeth Alwis and Suresh De Silva bowled a really good spell in a partnership where Suresh ended up with four and Geeth ended up with two,” Pell said,
“Then Jarryd Ellis who came up from the twos came in and cleaned up the tail which was good. To roll them for 158 was good.”
Ellis claimed two of the last two wickets with Pell putting a close to the Druids’ innings with a run out. The Druids were stopped at 158 in the 77th over.
“We just got wickets consistently through that period of time which was good and they were pretty slow with the bat, but that’s probably credit to our bowling more than anything,” Pell said.
With three overs remaining in the day when the Druids were dismissed, meant the Warriors were forced to face a solitary over before stumps.
With Pell and his brother Michael, padding up for the six deliveries.
“That was funny because I picked up the ball and ran the guy out with one ball to spare in that over and I turned to Michael and he was fuming because we had to go out and face that one over, but it was alright,” Pell said.
The Warriors will resume at 0-1 next week.
In the senior division, fourth placed Aberfeldie down to the Warriors in seventh are all sitting on 30 points, with all four sides fighting it out for the last remaining spot in the finals meaning a chasing win against the Druids this week could make or break the Warriors chances.
“We don’t want to count our chickens but hopefully we can knock it off next week and see what happens around us, it’s obviously still an unknown,” Pell said.
“Aberfeldie have quite a good draw. They made a big total against Craigieburn and then they have Sunshine United the week after and we need them to lose one of those games.
“The fate of us is partly in our hands and partly in the teams above us, but we can only do what we can and try and knock off Druids first and then go into our last game.”
