St Albans on top after crushing victory

St Albans' Ryan McKendry. Photo by Damjan Janevski.

St Albans has taken up prime position at the top of Victorian Turf Cricket Association north west division.

The Saints crushed Laverton by 121 runs at Laverton Park on Saturday to make it two from two in an impressive start to the season.

St Albans set up its victory with a strong batting show, compiling 9-259 declared off 69 overs.

Geeth Alwis was the star for the Saints with 103 – a stunning bounce back effort after a duck in the opening round.

Alwis was the mainstay of the innings after the top order spluttered along. Tom Langley-Dunn was the pick of the top five with 30, but Jack McGahan was the best support for Alwis with 31 in a 114-run partnership.

Laverton worked hard to bat for 85 overs, but was tied up by outstanding St Albans bowling and eventually dismissed for 138.

Robert Nikolic set the tone with 3-20 off 16 overs, while Alwis took 3-28 off 24 overs.

St Albans has a chance to keep its winning streak alive against early struggler Airport West-St Christophers in a two-day game at Kings Park Reserve starting on Saturday.

Keilor Park is rock bottom after failing to chase down 139 against Altona North at Ray Davies Reserve. The Devils were all out for 116, Ethan McShanag the only bright spot with 44.

Sunshine United suffered a similar fate, falling short of Druids’ 168 at Selwyn Park.

United was bowled out for 146, with openers Scott Dalrymple (30) and Leigh Sheridan (27) top-scoring.

PEGS remains undefeated after defending 193 by removing Aberfeldie for 147.

In senior division, Keilor had to settle for first-innings points after a Seddon fightback on day two at Hanmer Reserve. The Blues easily chased down the 102 target to secure the points, declaring on 9-166, a lead of 64.

Any plans of an outright for the Blues were spoiled after Seddon closed the game at 1-290 in their second dig, including a superb 200 not out for opener Ben Speake.

In the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association, Taylors Lakes is still without a win after two games after losing to Preston by one wicket at Preston City Oval.

The Lions only had 139 to defend, but it took Preston 70 overs to reach the target due to some fine bowling from Yoshan Kumara (5-50 off 25 overs) and Jarrod Wakeling (3-44 off 26).