WERRIBEE has rocked the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association with its eight-wicket dismantling of mighty Melton in a one-day game at Chirnside Park on Saturday.
The Tigers went into the clash as rank underdogs and came out the other side with one of their best victories in recent times.
Captain Shaun Dean had the near-impossible task of keeping a lid on the celebrations.
“There was a pretty good feeling in the rooms afterwards,” he told the Weekly. “But we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. It is only round two. It was just good to knock them off in the fashion that we did.”
The Tigers were in dreamland as they had the Lions in dire trouble on 7-28.
Opening bowlers Matt Thomson and Jonathan Burton caused headaches from the outset. The new-ball operators bowled their nine overs straight for an identical return of 2-10.
Stephen Plumridge, the first-change medium pacer, got in on the act with 2-5 off five.
The trio combined for 14 maidens between them – a rare feat in a limited overs battle.
Leg spinner Tim O’Brien finished with tidy figures of 2-26 off 7.4 overs.
The Lions mounted a mini-revival through Nathan Allen (38) and Duncan Harrison (37no), but their score of 96 from 42.4 overs was below par.
“They set it up from the start,” Dean said of his medium pacers. “None of them are express, they’re just good honest bowlers.
“The message was to just do the basics right, get the ball in the right areas.
“We weren’t doing anything special with the ball. We were getting it in the right areas for long enough and they got themselves out.”
The Tigers went to the break with their tails up, but still had a job to do.
“I was getting nervous sitting around and eating tea, thinking you don’t want to stuff this up,” Dean said. “That happens a lot with these low scores, but we did it quite comfortably.”
The Tigers were in cruise control after seeing off the opening bowlers.
David Wolfe added 26 to continue his bright start to the season. Dean (38no) and vice captain O’Brien (31) brought it home.
You can’t underestimate the enormity of this win. The Lions team features a who’s who of Subbies cricket. They have been kings of the west group for the past two seasons.
“We’re still scratching our heads as to how it actually happened that way,” Dean said of the ease of the win.
“You have to put it back into perspective.
“They didn’t have two of their better players [Shane Harwood and Michael Alexander] and we still have a few more players to fit into our side. We’ve got to just keep turning up, ticking the boxes.”
VSDCA RESULTS
Firsts: Werribee 2-97 (Dean 36no O’Brien 31 Wolfe 26) d Melton 96 (Plumridge 2-5 Burton 2-10 Thomson 2-10 O’Brien 2-26)
Seconds: Melton 2-138 d Werribee 134 (Burton 55 Ratnayake 36)
Thirds: Werribee 99 (Brady 30) lt Melton 5-102 (Buchanan 2-19)
Fourths: Melton 9-90 (Duxson 3-11 Buykx 2-5 Dodemaide 2-18) lt Werribee 8-160 (Duxson 51)
