Eight is the magic number for Werribee – eight wins, that is.
If the Tigers are to get to 8-5 – the record captain Tim O’Brien believes could get his side to the sub-district finals – the Tigers cannot put a foot wrong in the last three matches of the season.
An exciting, but tense, second day’s play is in store for the Tigers in their match against Box Hill, which has an identical 5-5 record after 10 rounds.
“Box Hill are in the same position as us, so it’s pretty much a mini-final for both teams,” O’Brien said. “If we did drop this one, we’d have to do something extraordinary like win an outright and hope results go our way.
“Even if we win the next three, we’re not guaranteed to make it. But we can’t control that – all we’ve got to do is try and play good cricket. If we can be 8-5 at the end … most seasons that will get you in.”
There will be 22 nervous players at Chirnside Park on Saturday with finals on the line.
Box Hill posted 206 in 75 overs on day one, a par score for conditions, so the Tigers will face a challenging but manageable run chase.
“If we can get through the new ball, there’s definitely an opportunity to score and have a good crack at chasing down the runs,” O’Brien said. “The way the wicket played, I was pretty happy with what we’re chasing.
“If we bat well next week, we’ll give ourselves every opportunity.”
It was a “grind” in the heat for Werribee’s fielders on Saturday.
For the most part, the Tigers were faultless, but they let their concentration slip briefly in the last session.
“We had them 9-170 odd and they ended up getting 206,” O’Brien said.
“After a really good mid-session, we probably let ourselves down after the last drinks break, where they put on 30 for the last wicket.”
All things considered, it was a good bowling performance from Werribee, with each of the strike bowlers playing their part.
Spinner Michael Kelly churned out 23 overs for 3-65, paceman Jonathan Burton had 3-41 off 14 and Matt Watt did his bit with 1-26 off 13.
Part-timer Adam Alifraco took a wicket in his first over to finish with 1-12 off three.
The stand-out was speedster James Freeman, who took 2-22 off 13, including the scalp of Box Hill’s top run scorer on the day, Gaurav Parikh, who made 43.
“His second spell was really good,” O’Brien said. “He got us back on top.”
