Spinners lift Wyndham Vale Falcons to victory

Wyndham Vale spun a 26-run win over Newport-Digman in the VTCA west A1 at Wyndham Vale South Reserve on Saturday.

The Falcons managed to defend their total of 9-210 declared, bowling the Bulls out for 184. Spinners Michael Nalesnyik (4-56), a new recruit from Footscray Edgewater, and Jonathan Ford (3-47), back after injury last summer, combined for 54 overs to take the home side to victory.

It was the Falcons’ first win of summer, lifting them to mid-table ahead of a trip to third-placed Williamstown CYMS for the start of a two-day game on Saturday.

Werribee Centrals had its first victory this season, crushing Royal Park-Brunswick by 142 runs.

Thanancheyan Arunthavapalan stood out with the bat for the Centurions, scoring 60 from the middle order. Teammate Nathan Johnson set the game up with seven wickets on day one.

In west B1, Seabrook fell a tantalising four-wickets short of an outright win against Barkly Street Uniting. The Streeters were six down, still trailing by 73 runs at the compulsory close of play.

Point Cook failed in its chase for Sunshine YCW’s 168, bowled out for 129.

The Warriors were 7-56 before lower-order batsman Daryl Groves (35) and Raj Sandhu (34) breathed life into the innings, but to no avail, as the Warriors went down by 39 runs.