Harper Sercombe
Sydenham-Hillside is in a strong position heading into the mid-season break in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division.
Last season’s division 1 premiers were again dominant on the weekend defeating Westmeadows by eight wickets.
“We sort of weren’t sure what to do with the wicket looking good, every week we’re playing at a new ground, new venues against new teams, it’s all new territory for us,” Storm coach Warren Hackney said.
“We turn up each week just mulling over what to do if we win the toss.
“This week we decided to bowl first and it wasn’t looking like the best decision five overs in, they got off to a bit of a flier and were at 50 in no time so it was looking a little bit dicey early on.
“Thankfully we were able to change things up when we brought the spin on, the spinners seemed to take the pace off quite a bit and their bats just seemed to struggle a bit with that.
“To go from having 0-50 to all our 146 gave us a target that we were quite comfortable being able to chase down and our top order just went to work and it was nice to pass them with overs to spare and only a couple of wickets down.”
One spinner that really impressed in getting the Warriors all out for 146 was Shehan Wedikkara who took 5-25 from just under eight overs.
“He’s a left arm orthodox, he’s in great form at the moment so for him to take his second five-for in successive games, we’re really, really pleased for him,” Hackney said.
With the bat the Storm were clinical, making the runs in 30 overs and only two wickets down, finishing 2-147.
“Our openers got us off to a good start,” Hackney said.
“Unfortunately Deakyn McIntyre seems to be getting starts, but hopefully after Christmas he’ll be able to build on those and go on with things, he reached the 20s before going out.
“It was left to Anthony [Alleyne] and Ishan [Peiris] to carry on and they were able to complete the bulk of the work before Ishan fell just before the end.
“Our top order has been very good and we’re quite pleased with where we sit at the Christmas break.”
The Storm are now sitting comfortably within the top four heading into the break which is a major success already Hackney said.
“If you had offered us that we’d be in the top four at the Christmas break at the start of the year coming into our first season in senior division we would have gladly taken that,” he said.
“So we’re pleased with where we sit right now but it’s certainly not something that we can get complacent about there’s bigger challenges ahead, but we deserve to be where we are, we’ve worked hard and we’ve just got to keep that up post Christmas and step it up.
“We put in a big pre-season so it does feel like a good time for a break, we’re looking forward to freshening up and coming back ready to go.”
