It was destruction by construction for Werribee in a nail-biting four-wicket loss to Preston in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-west group season opener at Chirnside Park on Saturday.
The Tigers looked to be heading for victory late in the one-day game before Preston’s lower order batsmen took full advantage of the short boundary on the construction side of the ground to pull off a stunning win.
“We almost had the game in our grasp, but it just slipped away from us in the end,” Werribee captain-coach Tim O’Brien said.
“They needed about 20 off the last two overs and got them.
“It’s a short boundary on the construction side, probably a 40-metre boundary, so one guy got a few over the fence there and got them back in the game.”
The toss of the coin was critical and it did not fall Werribee’s way.
The Tigers were sent in and had to negotiate a tricky opening hour when there was plenty of life in the pitch.
The hosts did not handle it all that well, slumping to 3-28 with Matt Dean, Adam Alifraco and Matthew Burton all dismissed cheaply.
But O’Brien stuck around and reaped the benefits in doing so, making 93.
“I found batting to be tough early,” he said.
“You couldn’t drive early, but then all of a sudden it dried out and you could play some nice cricket shots.
“As a team, we’ve got to be good enough to counteract that and put a decent score on the board, which we probably fell short of.”
Valuable late runs from Marcus Worrall (17) and Matthew Palmer (26 not out) got Werribee to 6-168 – a score that gave them a fighting chance.
But just like the batting side of the equation, Werribee’s bowlers did not fare well early.
Not until off-spinner Michael Kelly was put into the attack did Werribee start to gain control over the game.
Kelly finished with the tidy figures of 2-21 off nine.
“They were in front in the game and then Michael Kelly put a stop on the game and got it back to even terms,” O’Brien said.
“We got a little bit ahead towards the end of the game, but they were able to reel us in.”
Even with Kelly’s stellar performance, Werribee came away empty-handed.
The Tigers face a tough away trip to Melton in a second round two-dayer to get their season off and running.
Meanwhile, Hoppers Crossing had an opening round to forget, going down by 102 runs to Plenty Valley at A.K. Line Reserve.
With the exception of new ball operators Greg Kennedy (2-37) and Brandon Diplock (2-60), the Cats struggled to find the breakthroughs they needed as the Valleys coasted to 5-243 off 45 overs.
Hoppers Crossing was bowled out for 141, with the retired hurt Chris Henry top scoring with 53 and opener James Hook making 33.
The Cats will visit St Bernard’s Old Collegians in a two-day game starting on Saturday.
