In miserable conditions, Werribee Centrals fell to a crushing Victorian Turf Cricket Association loss on Saturday at the hands of Craigieburn.
Resuming the second day of their north-west A1 match on 0-2 in pursuit of the visitors’ 206, the Centurions failed to master the weather as they were skittled for 73 in their first innings.
They then faced the ignominy of following on, and ended the match on 3-74.
With wintery conditions forcing most VTCA games to be called off, Centrals captain Luke Allister said both sides were always keen to play out the match.
“We were down at the ground at 8am trying to soak up the water on the side of the square and get the ground ready to play,” Allister said.
“It took a bit of work just to get it ready to play after the rain on Friday night, but we got on and probably only had a couple of breaks with rain during the day … quick ones since the rain was moving so quickly. I’m glad we played.”
Allister described the pitch as “not underdone, but certainly a bit sticky” and it showed in the Centurions’ first innings – they lost 8-23 at one stage to hand the visitors first-innings points.
Agha Adeel was forced to bat with a runner after tearing a hamstring bowling the previous week, and with a number of young players in the side, the inexperience showed in the collapse.
Allister, who lead from the front with 22, said that despite the poor showing on the scoreboard, there were positives.
“The ball was hooping around and they [Craigieburn] bowled in good areas to make it tough for us,” he said. “We had a couple of kids at 10 and 11 who batted really well with me at the end. Joel Russell held up an end for 15 overs.
“Blake Taylor finished not out and batted time for a bit, too, which showed some good signs for the young fellas.”
While they were sent back in, conditions improved and the batting reflected that as Daniel Williams (37no) and Waqar Shah (21) made good starts at the top of the order in promising signs for the rest of the season.
“It’s pretty much a brand new senior team for us this year,” Allister said.
“I think there’s some good signs early in the season.
“We’ll have to wait and see how we gel over the season, but I’m pretty happy with where we’re at … this game is hard to go by given the conditions.”
