Fire and brimstone from the arm of James Freeman was just the ingredient needed for Werribee to successfully defend a small total against Brunswick at Chirnside Park on Saturday.
The paceman had the Wicks’ lower order ducking for cover in a menacing spell that created doubt in the minds of the visiting batsmen from the outset of the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-west game.
Picture gallery: Werribee v Brunswick VSDCA
Freeman, who returned to the club after a stint with Footscray Edgewater in Premier Cricket, took 2-43 off 13 overs, but his impact was more telling than the scorebook indicated.
Before the game, Tigers captain Shaun Dean advised Freeman to “go for the jugular”.
“It was an aggressive spell,” he said. “We had four slips, a leg gully and a bat pad … blokes don’t want to come out to bat when you’re setting fields like that and you know a bloke is bowling pretty quick at your face.
“We had a bit of a chat before the day … I said the shorter ball is going to be your weapon … and see if you can knock the stumps over.
“That’s good for us as a team … it’s something we haven’t sort of had over the past three
years.”
The Tigers had only 146 runs to play with, so they had to be spot-on in everything they did.
They got a head start with Heath Pritchard taking four wickets late on day one to have the Wicks in trouble at 4-15.
The veteran added another to finish with 5-45 in a man-of-the-match performance.
The tenacious Tigers showed how desperate they were for first innings points with a stunning showing in the field.
Three of the six Brunswick wickets taken on day two were run-outs.
The Wicks had only to score at a touch more than a run an over to win the game yet they threw away their wickets.
Pressure on the visitors was due to the Tigers’ combined bowling, fielding and, you could say, negative reinforcement tactics.
“You don’t come to the ground needing six wickets and thinking that three of them are going to be run-outs, but we fielded very well,” Dean said.
“The first two batsmen might have scored two runs in the first four to five overs … we kept reminding them about that sort of stuff and creating false perceptions.
“They had 80 overs to get 110, so it’s all about trying to create the perception that they’re not doing the job.
“If they broke it down, that shouldn’t have been in the equation, but they were trying to pinch runs and that’s a tick to us because we created that false perception that they needed to score.”
Brunswick was all out for 103, handing the Tigers a comfier-than-expected 43-run victory.
The Tigers batted a second time, reaching 5-105, with Tim O’Brien (48no) and Freeman (40) getting some important time in the middle.
Dean was confident heading to the ground that his side could defend the small total.
“I didn’t have any doubts in my mind,” he said.
“We had a good preparation during the week, did a lot of fielding to sharpen up and it paid off.
“We dived on everything, cut off runs and created confusion.
“We certainly made it very difficult for them.”
It was an important win for the Tigers, who are two wins, a loss and a draw after four games.
They will hit the road to play Preston in a two-day match starting on Saturday.
