Werribee will be seeking quick wickets when its Sub District Cricket clash with Plenty Valley resumes on Saturday, after a lacklustre batting performance to start the match.
After winning the toss and batting first at Plenty Valley, Werribee never really got going – wickets fell at regular intervals after a promising start and they posted 153.
Tigers openers Matthew Dean and Adam Alifraco got off to a solid start on a good pitch, but the loss of Dean for 20 triggered the first collapse of the day.
From 0-38, the Tigers lost 4-9 to put the brakes on their innings, with Alifraco (11), skipper Tim O’Brien (0) and Ryan Alifraco (1) all heading back to the sheds.
O’Brien said the early innings collapse made it hard for Werribee to post a big score.
“We never really recovered from that,” he said.
“It was pretty disappointing to only bat 50-odd overs, with a good pitch and a fast outfield you need to bat your overs to post a competitive score and we weren’t able to do that.
“I don’t think many balls got us out, I think we got ourselves out mostly. It was pretty average batting to be honest.”
Shaun Dean (29) and Stephen Plumridge (13 off 54 balls) came together at 4-47 and set about rebuilding the innings with an attritional 44-run partnership.
Both men fell with the score on 91, and it was left to the lower order to grind out the rest of the innings.
Mathew Palmer (15 off 60 balls) and Michael Kelly (31 off 81 balls) dug in their heels and showed some fight, but the Tigers were eventually dismissed in the 57th over.
O’Brien said if not for Kelly’s innings the day could have been far worse.
“We’re lucky we’ve had him coming in at eight the last couple of weeks,” O’Brien said.
“For him to top score and bat some time out there is what we needed, it could have been far worse without him there.”
Plenty Valley had 18 overs to bat late in the day, and Jonathon Burton was able to grab the crucial early breakthrough when he trapped the dangerous Sean Ayres in front for a duck.
However, that was the only joy for the visitors late in the day, with a dropped catch and a missed run out leaving the Tigers bowlers with plenty of work to do this week.
“We’ve got runs on the board and they’ve still got to get them, so we have to put them under early pressure,” O’Brien said.
