By Ewen McRae
Wyndham Vale is off and running for the summer, after grabbing an upset win over a strong Sydenham Hillside team at the weekend.
Wyndham Vale kicked off its Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 4 season with a bad loss, but bounced back in style following the addition of some key players to snare a convincing five wicket win on Saturday, after keeping the visitors to a lowly 123.
Captain David Buchanan said it was a positive first step in the new season.
“I would have batted first, but our bowlers all did really well to keep them to that total, and then to lose just five wickets in the chase was very pleasing,” Buchanan said.
“It was an even contribution across the board, which is what we’re looking for.
“That’s the standard that I expect each week now, and we’ve given ourselves a benchmark and something to build on next week now.”
Sydenham/Hillside won the toss and elected to bat first on a good deck, but it struggled to build momentum from the start as the home bowlers bowled tight lines and made it tough for the batsmen to find a rhythm.
Adam Walls (1-18) grabbed the first wicket to break a 29-run opening partnership, and from there wickets fell at regular intervals.
Wade Kirkwood only bowled five overs, but his 2-7 put his side in the box seat as the visitors had to rebuild. They got quick runs from Ben Green (45), but when he fell with the score on 91 the innings began to unravel.
Photo Gallery: Wyndham Vale vs Sydenham-Hillside
The lower order all struggled to deal with the home bowlers as they were dismissed for 123 in the 35th over.
Lance Macdougall (2-35) bowled in good areas all day, while Manish Chaudhary (2-25) grabbed two late wickets to close out the innings.
With the bat, Wyndham Vale was able to avoid the batting collapses of its opponents, with Chaudhary (25) and Tim Wilkes (33) putting on 43 for the opening partnership, and then Macdougall (33) taking it to the brink of victory.
Wilkes and Macdougall were both dismissed with the score on 93, but there would be no twist in the tale of this game as the Vale’s middle order reached the target with 21 balls to spare. In division three, Seabrook fell short in its chase of West Newport’s 9-180 by 12 runs. Walgama Kankanamge Eranga (3-27), Hitesh Bavarva (2-19) and Sajith Sameera Nanayakkara Vithanage (2-44) did the job with the ball, with just one West Newport batsman making more than 17.
In reply, captain Leigh Edwards (34) and Vithanage (31) made solid contributions, but too few others went on after making starts as Seabrook finished on 9-168 from its 40 overs.
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