Hoppers Crossing got its first-ever win in Sub-District Cricket on Saturday, but not without a fright.
After the off-season move from Victorian Turf, Cats captain-coach Greg Kennedy was keen to get off to a winning start against Altona.
“We’re over the moon, really thrilled after going over to Subbies” Kennedy said after the win. “The effort put in goes back to July and a really good off-season.
“The players put in extra commitment over and above what they had previously done. It was very easy to get that as they were really motivated.”
The Cats resumed their innings on Saturday at 0-22 chasing Altona’s 167 made on the AFL grand final public holiday.
“We made hard work of the chase and got the winning runs with a couple of wickets in hand,” Kennedy said. “We lost the last two wickets straight after getting the winning runs.
“We should have got them earlier instead of being eight down.”
The Cats were all out for 169, a lead of two, and Altona finished its second innings at 0-34.
Kennedy said the side would take a lot of lessons from the win.
“Everyone looked to keep the tempo up when it wasn’t really needed,” he said.
“We were going at more than four runs an over, when we only needed just over two an over.
“We’ve got some information out of the game, which we will take into next week.”
William Partington-Gardner was the stand- out for the Cats with the bat, making 73.
Kennedy said 21 of the 22 players who played in the club’s top two sides in finals last season had returned and Hoppers Crossing would continue to push younger players through the ranks.
“We’re keen to build on the next generation and we have five under-18 players in the top two sides,” he said.
“Brett Smith is an all-rounder who’s just 18 and was the pick of the bowlers on day one.
“Mitch Ellis is also 18 and played most of last year in the senior side.
“Julian Pope, Nathan Caulfield, Hendro Dias are other juniors who will play in the top two sides.”
Elsewhere, Werribee’s powerful batting line-up carried it to a dominant win against Yarraville.
The Tigers were always in the box seat after smashing 3-306 on day one.
With so many runs on the board, the Tigers bowlers were in all-out attack mode on the second day on Saturday and Yarraville was bowled out for 122.
