By Ewen McRae
A Geeth Alwis century was not enough to get St Albans’ First XI over the line as it fell to its second loss of the summer.
It was always going to be hard to chase Seddon’s mammoth 348 from last week, and with regular wickets falling it proved a task too big for the visitors in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association’s senior division.
Alwis was the lone shining light for St Albans, continuing his strong start to the summer, posting 119 after batting through most of the afternoon.
St Albans’ coach Rob Nikolic said the knock showed a lot of class.
“He’s in very good form after moving up the order a bit this year,” Nikolic said.
“I think playing at a higher level on some good pitches and against good bowlers is really suiting him. He’s the kind of bloke that will step up as the standard increases and lift his own game.
“It was just unfortunate that no one could stick around with him for long enough.”
St Albans started the day strongly, with Brenton Cook (24) and Simon Lambert (14) laying a strong platform with a 35-run opening stand.
Chris Sole (2-40) got the breakthrough when he enticed an edge from Cook, and Damith Priyadarshana (1-51) was able to do likewise to Lambert as both openers fell in quick succession.
Alwis and Pawandeep Singh (7) were slowly building a partnership when Kendrick Hatton was introduced to the attack, and the wheels started to come off the St Albans’ innings from there.
Hatton trapped Singh in front, before bowling Billy Whitford and Shanaka Silva for ducks to have the visitors reeling at 5-65.
St Albans had its best patch of the afternoon when Buddika Hasaranga – who was batting down the order because of an ankle injury – teamed with Alwis to post a 77-run stand and give the innings some respectability.
Hatton grabbed his fourth when he dismissed Hasaranga for 32, and the innings fell away from there as the next three batsmen made just 10 runs between them.
Photo Gallery: Seddon vs St Albans
Number 11 Maksym Sosnowski stuck around with Alwis long enough to get him to triple figures, before opening up the shoulders to finish with a quickfire 30 not out.
Alwis was the final man dismissed, giving Hatton 5-61 for the day.
With back-to-back losses, Nikolic said the improvement had to come from the bowlers and fielding group.
“Our biggest thing we spoke about after the game was improving our fielding and supporting our bowlers,” he said.
“We want to be disciplined in the field, making sure we’re throwing our bodies around, cutting off runs and holding our catches, and not giving ourselves big scores to chase.
“We feel like we’re pretty good with the bat, so if we can support our batting with the ball and in the field we think we’ll be able to turn it around.”
MORE VTCA NEWS
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/seddon-stays-strong/
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/sydenham-hillside-delivers-westmeadows/
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/short-sharp-and-painful-spell-gets-win-for-caroline-springs/
