Tara Murray
Keilor opened its season with a win against Westmeadows in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division.
After round one was washed out, cricketers were finally able to take to the park for an official match, for many their first since early March.
For the Blues, they produced a solid first up performance against the Warriors.
Batting first, the Blues made 8-166 from their 40 overs. Dan Stavris top scored with 38.
The Blues started well with the ball, getting the big wickets of Tarek Moughanie, Chinthaka Jayasinghe and Donovan Pell cheaply to have the Warriors in trouble at 3-12.
The Warriors middle order settled, but they lost too many wickets, bowled out for 123 with nearly five overs remaining.
Lucas Elliott was the pick of the bowlers for the Blues, with 3-21.
It was a tougher start for St Albans and Sunshine United, which suffered first up losses to Aberfeldie and Yarraville Club respectively.
St Albans had its moments with the bat on the way to 9-180 from its 40 overs.
Arosh Janoda scored a run a ball 51 and Brenton Cook scored 45 at the top of the order, with most others getting starts and not going on with it.
Abefeldie’s top order got the job done, cruising to 3-183 with 16 balls remaining.
The premiership defence for Sunshine United didn’t start well, as it failed to fire against the Clubbers.
The Clubbers made 6-187 from their overs, with Trent Lawford doing what he does best, making 79 including eight fours and five sixes.
Rhys Dodemaide took 3-31 for the Tigers.
The Tigers were in trouble at 3-10 and never recovered to be bowled out for 98.
Nalin Amarathunga top scored with 23, the only player to pass 20.
In division 1, Sunshine, Deer Park, and PEGS all opened up with wins.
Sunshine needed just 24 overs to chase down West Coburg’s 135. The Crows finished 3-140 on the back of 65 from Kaushal Lokuarachchi in his club debut.
Captain-coach Troy Stone chipped in with 49 having earlier taken three wickets.
Deer Park’s 5-185 on the back of 71 from opener Hashan Wanasekara, proved too much for St Francis De Sales, which was bowled out for 125.
Yoshan Kumara took 4-15 off seven overs.
There were plenty of runs in PEGS match with Tullamarine.
The Demons made 5-224 from their overs with new playing coach Danny Law top scoring with 89 not out.
PEGS got the job done in the 37th over, finishing 8-225.
Rasika Batepola proved vital down the order with an unbeaten 57.
In division 2, Sydenham-Hillside beat Glenroy, while Keilor Park was beaten by Newport-Digman.
Sunshine Heights and Grand United won in division 3, as did Caroline Springs in division 4 and Sunshine YCW in division 5.
