East Albury coach Dylan Weeding admits he would definitely change his decision to bat first after failing to gain an outright win over Wodonga Raiders
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The Crows picked up only 12.36 points for the first innings win, while St Patrick’s grabbed 17.29 to jump into the top six after posting an outright win over New City.
There’s been four outrights this season and, in all cases, the losing team has batted first.
“Oh definitely, we probably made the decision to bat day one on the back of the extreme heat policy being enforced,” Weeding said.
“It was meant to be 43 degrees, so we thought if we bowl and bowl them out cheaply, and then chase it down, we could only play maybe 40, 50 overs of cricket.”
The Crows declared on 7-211 after 66 overs, and then had Raiders teetering on 3-14 after day one.
But Lindsay Kerr batted superbly in making 50 as Raiders lasted 55.5 overs, and he then delayed the Crows’ attack by top-scoring again with 25 in the second innings.
“He looked good, he was a very good bat,” Weeding said.
“He basically took it away from us, we didn’t bowl poorly or drop any chances.”
The Crows remained sixth, but given seventh-placed Tallangatta now faces Raiders, and will start odds-on to gain an outright, the pressure is on East to produce something similar against second-bottom New City.
“We’d love an outright, but at the end of the day, we’ve just got to win well,” Weeding said.
“We don’t want to try and get caught up in chasing a big result and not getting there, and fall over at the last hurdle.
“It could go against us, we might win and not get that many points and still miss out if results go against us.”
We don’t want to try and get caught up in chasing a big result and not getting there, and fall over at the last hurdle.
- Dylan Weeding
Whether the Crows can hold their spot or not, Weeding says the season has been a success after winning only two matches last season.
“I would have thought so, our success wouldn’t be marked by wins and losses, our success would be measured on the development, of our kids especially, but also our overall playing group,” he said.
‘We’ve come a long way in 12 months definitely, but I think it’s just the start for us.”
The Crows have an exciting batch of youngsters, led by teenager Austin Shepherd.
“Against ‘Lavi’ and Belvoir, he batted nine or 10, and he would have been our best bat, he was terrific,” Weeding said.
“He would have batted for an hour and made a couple of 20s, and for a 15-year-old kid to do that was unbelievable.
“(Lavington’s) Ryan Brown was bowling short at him, bowling full at him, and just couldn’t get him out and I spoke to Ryan after the game and he said, ‘he’s going to be a gun, isn’t he?’.”
Shepherd will miss day one against New City due to football commitments.
“I would hope our season lasts longer, I think the boys deserve it,” Weeding said.