TRY telling the warring parties of Werribee Centrals and Point Cook Warriors that it is a ‘dead’ rubber.
The Centurions and the Warriors are locked into first and second respectively in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association west B1 finals.
That is not stopping the two local clubs from engaging in a fierce pre-finals tune up.
“It’s got fairly heated at times, but I think that’s good,” Centurions opening batsmen Chris Duffin said. “Both sides are trying to get the upper hand come finals, which I think is important.
“For us, we want to go through undefeated, and that’s been our goal from the start. They’ve tried to take it up to us.”
The match is living up to the hype of a top of the table clash. There was little to separate the sides on the opening day, the Warriors posting 183 in a stop-start innings.
Their middle order shone brightly, with Phil Pullar (47), David Hicks (37) and skipper Travis Bean (35) causing headaches for the Centurions.
As is so often the case, Aaron Edrich was the pick of the Centurions bowlers with 3-34 off 20 overs. “He came out aggressively in the heat and badged a few guys, which was good,” Duffin said.
Veteran Phil Crea, with his tricky variation slow bowling, claimed 3-50 off 13.
The Centurions made an uncertain start to be 3-57 at stumps.
VTCA
Senior division: St. Bernard’s OC 7-255dec (C Spinella 70 R Grenville 67 M Bergin 37no P O’Connell 32) v Hoppers Crossing 3-96.
West B1: Point Cook 183 (P Pullar 47 D Hicks 37 T Bean 35; AK Edrich 3-34 P Crea 3-50 D Giarrusso 2-26) v Werribee Centrals 3-57 (T Semmens 2-25). Barkly Street Uniting 4-114 (A Hoang 53no L Danaher 26; D Kilfoy 2-22) v Seabrook 113 (T Carr 30; D Williams 3-36 S Johnson 2-10 C Whittaker 2-11)
