Tara Murray
For a second straight week, Sydenham-Hillside has shown its fighting qualities in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 3 Roy Picone Shield.
This time round, it has put the Storm in the ideal position heading into the second weekend of the four day grand final against Williamstown Imperials.
The Storm claimed a first innings victory late on day two.
Storm head of cricket Bob Kunesevic said while they were thrilled to be ahead on the first innings, they know there’s still a couple of days of hard work to go.
“We’re pretty happy, but we know there is still another weekend,” he said.
“The boys have worked hard, especially this week. Willy is a quality side, an exceptional side.”
The Storm were sent in and it was slow going on day one, as they finished 7-111.
They would add another 39 runs early on day two, and were bowled out for 150.
Kunesevic said it wasn’t an easy day to bat.
“We got sent in and we probably would have bowled as well,” he said.
“There was a bit in the deck. We knew we had 80 overs to bat on day one and try and get a respectable total.
“If we could push our batting into day two, we would be okay. We were hoping to grind out 180-190 and make a game of it.
“We got about 40 runs on day two to give us a mark. We thought was it enough, who knows?”
Skipper Ben Green top scored with 42.
The Storm started slowly with the ball, with the Imperials putting on 42 for the first wicket.
After that they kept getting wickets, leaving the equation of the Imperials needing 30 runs with three wickets in hand.
In a similar position to the previous week, the Storm found something else and were able to fight back.
Kunesevic said the closeness of the group and the experience of playing together for a number of years really showed through in those moments.
The Storm got the last three wickets to bowl out the Imperials for 127.
Kunesevic said it was a couple of their leaders that stepped up.
“Alston Bobb was fantastic,” he said. “Alston did what Alston does and he took five wickets and was all class.
“They were 0-40 and Ben Green brought himself on and made them play at everything and got a couple of wickets.
“He gave us a chance.”
Despite sitting in a good spot, the Storm aren’t going to take things easy with the game still on the line this weekend.
Kunesevic said they know that the Imperials have a quality bowling attack that they can’t take lightly.
“The boys will be positive,” he said.
“They will take it ball by ball and over by over.”
