WYNDHAMVALE found the enormous task of taking 20 wickets on a single scorching Melbourne day too much last Saturday.
The Falcons had to be content with a first innings crushing of Newport-Digman in the Williamstown and District Cricket Association A1 turf, falling three wickets short of an outright victory that would have sewn up a top-two finish.
The six points gained was still enough to see them hold second and go into a mouth-watering final round encounter with third-placed West Newport with their destiny in their own hands. “We bowled well, took most of our chances. We just ran out of time in the end,” Falcons all-rounder Ryan Radford said.
“We were pretty happy with our efforts. They had a couple of young kids that put up a pretty good fight.”
It was never a question of whether the Falcons would defend their massive score of 380.
A century from Lance MacDougall set it up on day one.
“It was very patient, he worked pretty hard and virtually didn’t give a chance,” Radford said. “Once he got to 100, he accelerated on nicely.”
The Falcons had 20 wickets in their sights on day two but there were too many factors working against them, not the least the temperature, which hit the mid-30s. They could only claim 17 of the 20 wickets needed for maximum points.
It was not through a want of trying.
Young opening bowler Jake Styles finished with seven wickets for the match.
“He’s taken 36 wickets for the year to be the leading wicket taker in the comp,” Radford said. “You can’t ask for much more from him.”
If Williamstown Imperials win in the final round, Wyndhamvale will meet West Newport in the semi-finals.
Where that takes place will be determined when the two sides meet in the last round one-day blockbuster at Wyndhamvale Reserve on Saturday.
“You definitely want a home final,” Radford said. “Whoever wins that game will finish second.”
WDCA
A1 turf: Wyndhamvale 380 (L Macdougall 141 A Ford 4 A Moscatiello , A Mundey 35 J Roze 25) d Newport-Digman 114 (J Styles 4-27 C Plummer 3-39 RD Radford 2-26) and 7-85 (J Styles 3-16 J Dolliver 2-3 RD Radford 2-8).
B1 turf: Bellbridge 96 (J Charge 5-30 M Murphy 2-19) lt Melton Centrals 161 (D Vasjuta 36 A Hulett 35 M Parks 34; A Wilks 5-34 A Masterson 2-29).
C composite: Sunshine United 117 (A Joiya 29; A D’Angelo 5-26 A Walls 2-42) and 3-131 (A D’Angelo 2-33) lt Western All Stars 7-212dec (G Shanks 94 DA McFarlane 70); Laverton 37 (M Shrivastava 5-14 B Hocking 2-5 A Athale 2-23) and 120 (R Singh 28 J Aquilina 26; A Athale 5-28 M Shrivastava 3-14 D Sharma 2-14) lt Tarneit 9-171dec (S Singh 30 R Taneja 29 K Alfred 26; J Kataram 3-28 M Luketic 2-35 E Kozole 2-41 M Kozole 2-43).
