WERRIBEE has questioned the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association’s decision to insert Twenty20 matches into the season proper.
The Tigers went down to western suburbs rivals Williamstown by seven wickets in the last over of Sunday’s 20-over-a-side match at the Williamstown Cricket Ground.
Tigers secretary Chris Burton told the Weekly it did not seem right to have so much riding on the outcome of 40 overs.
Six premiership points were awarded to the winner, the same amount the Tigers reaped from a gruelling two-day victory over Elsternwick completed a day earlier.
“To lose six points under Twenty20 conditions hurts a little bit,” he said. “I’d hate to think at the end of the year that those six points are the difference between making us finish in finals or not.
“I just don’t know whether that’s right.”
Burton is by no means against the shortest form of the game. In fact, he was enthralled by Sunday’s game and said the format “is here to stay”. He wants to see Twenty20 remain as a stand-alone midweek competition.
“We’ve got a Twenty20 competition that is played on Tuesday night, which is terrific, and it gives you a chance to play different kids and different players in that format of the game,” he said.
“They are great social events, we get all our junior kids down and they will love watching it.
“When it’s not for points, they can play it so freely, they take on the game differently. But when it’s for points it becomes a different game.”
The Tigers posted a competitive 5-131 off their 20 overs. They made a solid start through veteran David Wolfe (26) and youngster Jake Purton (33).
The problem was their runs did not come at a fast enough rate when compared to the Seagulls’ top order.
“Our first five overs, we probably got to about 30,” Burton said, “where they were able to pressure us and get to about 50. That was the key difference.”
Matthew Dean contributed an important 29 to get the Tigers above the run-a-ball mark.
The Seagulls seemed to be in control for the most part with Craig Sheedy (70) and Nathan Hall (36) putting on 105 for the first wicket.
Their only resistance came in the form of Tigers spinners Tim O’Brien and Adam Alifraco, who put the clamps on mid-innings.
“[Tigers captain] Shaun [Dean] brought on a couple of spinners and tried to mix it up a bit,” Burton said.
“It’s just unfortunate that we were probably five or six runs short of being enough to win.”
The Sunday session left the Tigers outside the top four with a 3-2 record.
VSDCA: Sunday — Twenty20
Firsts: Williamstown 3-134 d Werribee 5-131
Seconds: Werribee 0-92 d Williamstown 90
