Sunshine and Sydenham-Hillside were among the winners as the Victorian Turf Cricket Association T20 competition kicked off.
Matches across a number of pools were played on Tuesday night, as the sides turned their attention to the shorter format. Teams play in a round robin competition in pools of three before a knock out stages of the competition.
Division 1 side Sunshine opened its account with a win against St Andrews in the Morris pool group.
St Andrews was bowled out for 72 in the 18th over with Sasindu Deva top scoring with 25, as just two batsmen reached double figures.
Mark Tonge took three wickets for the Crows.
Sunshine lost an early wicket and struggled to get partnerships going, but did enough, finishing 6-78 with 10 balls remaining.,
Selva Tharaka top scored with 21, while Deva was the standout with the ball, taking 4- 9 off four overs.
Sydenham Hillside’s strong form continued with a win against Sunshine Heights in the Smith group.
The Heights batted first and made 4-137 from their overs. Mohsin Abbas top scored with 76 off 63 balls.
It was all single wicket takers for the Storm.
The Storm hit the winning runs with more than three overs remaining, finishing 3-139. Gayashan Weerasekara top scored with 49 not out.
Sunshine United suffered a first up loss to Footscray United in the Taylor group.
The Bulldogs, a division 2 side, made 7-134 from their overs as Munas Mohamed top scored with 34.
The Tigers, who play in two divisions higher, shared the wickets around.
The Tigers were in trouble at 2-1, before slipping to 4-37.
There was little resistance from the Tigers’ tail as they were bowled out for 90.
James Porto was the standout with the bat, making 32.
Bulldogs skipper Shafraz Mohamed took three wickets.
Other winners on the first night of play included Haig Fawkner and Point Cook.
