It wasn’t the greatest conditions for spinners, but two spinners were able to spin Point Cook to victory and end Caroline Springs’ winning start to the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Roy Picone Shield season.
After a little bit of a slow start to the season, the Warriors have started to find form and made it three in a row on Saturday.
The Warriors had made 199 on day one of the clash with Neeten Chouhan making 87 at the top of the order.
They had the Falcons at 1-1 heading into day two.
Warriors captain-coach Shafraz Mohamed said it was a really good performance from their group across both days.
“It was a pretty big win and we bowled really well,” he said.
“On our home ground with 199 with our spinning attack we are always confident.
“To have them 1-1 overnight was really good and the rest was history and then the spinners came into play.”
Mohamed said with rain in the lead up to the game and on match day, it was always going to be tough to grip the ball.
He said there was drizzle throughout the play and when the ball got wet it made it difficult.
“We’ve got four spinners,” he said. “Our two young ones couldn’t grip the ball.
“Myself and Suresh Thelge had to bowl the majority of the overs. He took five wickets and I took three to get them out for 118 in challenging conditions. It was a really good effort.
“They got a couple of partnerships and Salman Afridi barred really well, making 70 odd.
“With wickets falling at the other end we didn’t try to attack him and give him scoring opportunities.
“We tighten things around him.”
The win is the Warriors third of the season and continues their good form at home, having not lost on their home deck.
Mohamed said they found themselves in a good spot now.
“The youngsters are starting to gel and we’re now starting to win games,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of experience and we have the perfect mix with some talented juniors.
“Things have taken shape since the Point Cook Centrals game and we’ve kept the momentum going.
“It has set the tone.”
The Warriors also had a win midweek in a super over against Sunshine Heights in the T20 competition adding to the momentum the group has.
The Warriors will face Kingsville in a Saturday-Sunday clash this weekend. Kingsville also sits in the top four at this points of the season.
“We’ve got a T20 against Wyndham Vale as well,” Mohamed said.
“It’s a lot of cricket but we’re working to manage the workload. We did a lot of work in the pre-season as we can step back a little when we have a lot of cricket.”
Point Cook Centrals was the only other winner in the Roy Picone Shield on Saturday, beating Melton South.
