Everything was going at a million miles an hour.
Werribee was taking wickets at a rapid rate and Croydon’s run rate was soaring on the back of the free-wheeling Aaron Fenton.
The wickets were handy for the Tigers, but the runs were coming a little too easily for Fenton, much to the chagrin of Tigers skipper Tim O’Brien.
So O’Brien turned to spinner Michael Kelly to bring about the downfall of the dangerous Fenton, who had amassed a blazing 61 of Croydon’s first 76 runs.
Like the other bowlers, Kelly suffered a bit of stick in the form of a couple of boundaries, but he would have the last laugh with the dismissal of Fenton.
The wicket proved to be the turning point on an extremely positive day for Werribee.
The Tigers rolled Croydon for just 138 and returned fire to be 1-64 at stumps and in a commanding position.
“It was a good time for Mick Kelly to come up and get his scalp,” O’Brien said with a hint of relief in his voice.
“He [Fenton] could’ve made 150 by tea the way he was going.
“I thought he was going to take Mick on, so we’d be a chance to take his wicket.
“He hit him for a couple of boundaries and tried to go again and Mick got him out stumped.”
This was not only Kelly’s spotlight to take. There was hardly a weak link for Werribee with the ball, in the field and later with the bat.
All five bowlers got among the wickets, wicketkeeper Mason Frenkel took a catch to go with the crucial stumping of Fenton, O’Brien pulled the right reins as captain and then Adam Alifraco (35no) and Shaun Dean (11no) guided the Tigers to stumps.
Jonathan Burton’s bowling performance was the icing on the cake. He took 4-45 off 14.3 overs to continue his great start to the season.
“He’s started the year really well and picked up where he left off last season,” O’Brien said.
“Pretty much with Jono, you know what you’re going to get.
“He can bowl all day, he never gets fatigued so he’s one guy you can rely on with the ball to settle in.”
While just about everything transpired perfectly for Werribee on day one, it’s not taking first innings points to the bank just yet.
O’Brien asked his batsmen to start their innings with an element of caution, knowing how tricky the conditions were at the Croydon Oval.
Still, with just 75 runs to get and nine wickets in hand, Werribee will be hot favourites entering day two on Saturday.
“It’s still going to be hard work next week,” O’Brien said.
“The wicket is not an absolute belter, so we’ll have to bat well to get these 70-odd runs.”
