If it could, Werribee would bottle that sweet taste of success over arch-rivals Williamstown in the sub-district cricket.
The Tigers proved far too good for the Seagulls with a 79-run win at Chirnside Park on Saturday.
Tigers captain-coach Mitch Johnstone is in his first season at the club so is on his way to becoming well versed in the history of the rivalry between the clubs.
But he only needed to hear training chatter in the lead-up to the game to know how special it would be for the Tigers to get bragging rights over the Seagulls.
“I wasn’t too aware of the rivalry, but with the talk at training, I can see there isn’t any love lost between the two teams,” he said.
“The boys were pretty excited to beat Willy but that’s a new rivalry for me.”
Werribee has retained its spot at the top of the ladder.
The Tigers are one of four teams with perfect 2-0 records but are statistically the best batting and bowling side in the competition at this early stage.
But Johnstone is cautioning his team about complacency.
He believes the greatest challenges will come from the other side of town when the Tigers are pitted against the south teams.
“We’re under no illusions that it’s going to get trickier,” he said. “We’ll just keep on keeping on playing consistent cricket and we’ll see where it gets us.
“So far so good but we know there’s going to be some tough challenges ahead. We’ve got a pretty level-headed group so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”
The Tigers were always going to be hard to catch when they posted 4-253 on day one.
Williamstown saw out its 80 overs but could not lift the run rate sufficiently enough to make the Tigers sweat. The Seagulls finished on 9-174, a long way short of the target.
“We strangled really well,” Johnstone said. “I don’t think anyone stood out with the ball and bowled fantastically well, but I guess those bowling partnerships meant the run rate required built up and that way we built some pressure.”
Three new Tigers recruits combined to bowl 45 overs between them.
They were effective overs, too, with spinner Johnstone taking 3-24 off 22 overs and new-ball operators Brad Robertson (1-33 off 12) and Aangan Parbhakar (2-27 off 11) tying up the top order.
Parbhakar’s biggest impact came in the field with a direct-hit run-out of dangerous Seagulls captain Dale McDonald.
“He’s the opposition’s best player so that really changed the course of the game,” Johnstone said.
The Tigers will face their first southern test when they travel to Elsternwick for a one-day game on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hoppers Crossing went down to Yarraville by five wickets in a disappointing result on home turf at Hogans Road Reserve.
The Cats fought tooth and nail to defend their small total of 124, producing 30 maidens for the day, but the Eagles were always in front of the run rate and comfortably reached the target.
The Cats will travel to Williamstown for a one-day clash on Saturday.
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