Tara Murray
Taylors Lakes did enough to come away with a comfortable win against Port Melbourne to start the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association south-west season.
The Lions didn’t put out their best performance on Saturday but did enough with the ball and then bat to ensure a first up win.
Lions coach Peter Brasher said they faced Port Melbourne at the right time of the season.
Port Melbourne was bowled out for 113 in the 41st over, before the Lions hit the winning runs, five wickets down and with more than 17 overs remaining.
The Lions finished 5-115.
“We were able to go out there and get the job done,” Brasher said. “We sent them in and would have liked to have rolled them for 80-85.
“To keep them to 113 was still good and we bowled well.
“We had a positive start with the batting and could have won in the first 15 overs.
“Our opener Chalitha Chamoda was 40 off 28 balls before he had a whole body cramp and went out.
“Could have been over in 15-20 more minutes had he stayed out there. It was a bit of a challenge after he went out and we lost a couple of wickets, but were still able to get a comfortable win.”
Brasher said it was a real professional team performance to start the season.
There were no standouts in the bowling group, with Melisha Deshapriya taking three wickets, while Dhanushka Lahiru Kumara and Benjamin Soeradinata taking two wickets each.
Nilan Fernando was also among the runs for the Lions.
Brasher, in his first season as coach, has a different side at his disposal to last season.
Their top two bats from last season in Steffan Roberts and Fernando have returned while there’s still plenty of local talent among the group.
Roberts will captain the side this season.
“It’s a little unknown,” Brasher said. “We have trained for three months but it was good to see what the guys look like on the field.
“We had four debutantes and they pretty much all played their role.”
Brasher said they had some depth in the squad with last year’s captain Lachlan Mar starting the season in the second XI.
He made 87 not out to put his name in contention to get back into the first XI this week.
After a first up win, the Lions have a big test the next two weekends, taking on Spotswood in a two-dayer.
The Woodsmen have been the best west team the past two seasons and started the season with a win against Moorabbin.
“It’s a massive challenge,” Brasher said. “Going from the white ball to the red ball and it’s a good challenge against a mature Spotswood side.
“We can measure where we sit early in the season.”
