Chris Weeks was the one that got away for the Werribee bowlers.
Weeks, the No. 4 batsman, was a lone hand for Kew with 129 off 157 balls in his side’s competitive total of 212 off 70.3 overs in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association at Victoria Park on Saturday.
“He batted extremely well,” Werribee captain-coach Tim O’Brien said.
“He’s a class player, he’s made a lot of runs this season and he continued it against us.”
Weeks timed his innings to perfection. A little slow to start with, he got stronger the longer the Kew innings went.
He eventually exploded to life late on to push the score beyond 200.
“He batted pretty good all day, he was 40-odd at tea and took a bit of time to get going, but he wasn’t scoring that quick until he was batting with their No. 11 and that last partnership put on 60.
“He just teed them up, we had blokes out on the fence, but he was hitting them wherever he wanted to.
“It was lucky we got him out when we did because there was still 10 overs to go.”
Kew went from 9-158 to 212 and in a position to consider itself a chance of victory.
Jack Budd was the Werribee bowler who had the most success.
Budd finished with superb figures of 4-50 off 17.3, including the prized scalp of Weeks.
The young medium pacer continues to impress his coach.
“He bowled exceptionally well,” O’Brien said.
“He’s come along well this year. He’s always bowled OK without taking a lot of wickets, but now he’s starting to take wickets.”
O’Brien was the pick of the Werribee spinners with 2-50 off 16, while opening bowler Jonathan Burton, with 1-30 off 16, and left arm quick Matthew Palmer, 1-17 off seven, put the clamps on the Kew scoring.
Werribee was 1-18 off seven overs at stumps with Matthew Dean the batsman to fall.
The Tigers are confident they have enough batting arsenal to take the victory on day two on Saturday.
“If it’s the same conditions, I’m pretty confident,” O’Brien said.
“We’ve had a pretty good month with the bat, so I’m confident to back the boys.
Lance Jenkinson
