Tara Murray
Sydenham-Hillside made a winning start to life in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 1 competition.
Having earned promotion after winning the division 2 title, the Storm faced St Francis de Sales in their first match of the season, after the first five days of the season were washed out.
St Francis made 8-176 from its 40 overs with Blake McKinnon finishing on 51 not out.
Alexander Barlas and Gayashan Weerasekara took two wickets each for the Storm.
The match went down to the wire, with the Storm losing three late wickets.
They did enough, with the Storm hitting the winning runs with five balls remaining.
The Storm finished 9-178.
Ishan Peiris played a lone hand at the top of the order, making 74.
In division 3, Caroline Springs just fell short against East Keilor.
In their first match in that division, the Falcons restricted East Keilor to 9-135 from its overs.
The Falcons shared the wickets around with four players taking multiple wickets, led by Darrel Brown with three wickets.
The Falcons were quickly in trouble with the bat, losing two quick wickets.
They were unable to get any decent partnerships going and were bowled out for 133 with five balls remaining.
New captain-coach Kevin McLean top scored with 24 as no other batter passed 20.
In division 5, it was a tough start to the season for the Melton Centrals, Melton South Royals and Burnside Springs United.
Centrals, who have dropped down a division this season, started the season with a loss to Sanctuary Lakes.
Sanctuary Lakes made 8-146 from its overs, with a 51 from captain Brett Talbot the key to the innings.
Chathura Jayanath was the pick of the bowlers for Centrals, taking 3-4 off his eight overs.
Centrals were quickly in trouble at 4-23.
While they managed to get a couple of small partnerships, none were able to go on and put together a big score.
Centrals were bowled out for 100 in the 36th over.
Jayanath top scored with 26 as just three players reached double figures.
Melton South Royals fell 11 runs short of victory against East Coburg.
East Coburg made 166, bowled out with two overs remaining. Thiwanka Kekulawala took 4-12 off his four overs.
The Royals got off to a solid start before they started to lose wickets in clumps. At 4-99 they were still in control, but two quick wickets changed that.
The Royals were eventually bowled out for 156 with 14 balls remaining. Praveen De Silva top scored with 21.
Burnside Springs United started life in the VTCA with a loss to Donnybrook. Burnside made 6-163, with Donnybrook making 8-165 in reply.
