This Victorian Sub District Cricket season is about more than just trying to win games for Sunshine . . . the Crows are also trying to win back respect.
The club has struggled to climb outside the bottom four in recent years and first-year president Alex Sorgiovanni thinks it’s time for that to change.
“We’ve been finishing second- and third-last for the last eight to 10 years,” he said.
“We really need to get back the respect of the competition. Other teams are thinking, ‘we’re playing against Sunshine so we don’t have a hard game’.
“Things can turn around quickly. We have the right culture, money-wise we’re going all right, the council has helped with our facilities, which are unbelievable, and we have the committee behind us. All that’s left is for the players to perform.”
Sunshine has finished bottom of the ladder in two of the past three seasons, winning only seven games in that time.
But the Crows showed all the signs of being a team on the rise in round one with a crushing win against last season’s finalists, Coburg.
A loss and a draw in rounds two and three had the club in seventh place in the midst of a logjam of teams, with just one win separating second and 13th.
Sorgiovanni believes long-term improvement in his club’s performances must start at the top of the batting order.
“The batting is where the improvement needs to come from,” he said.
“We need to consistently make over 200. We have the bowling to be able to defend that.
“Sometimes you get lucky and make 150 and bowl them out for 120, but that rarely happens.
“Ideally, I hope we can get eight or nine wins. That would be an unbelievable season for us.
“We have a lot of good players coming through, but whether they stay or get poached by Footscray and those sorts of clubs … that’s part of being involved in pathway cricket.”
In its current match, Sunshine will need to defend 120 on day two against Yarraville on Saturday.
Yarraville will resume at 0-27.
