Tigers in box seat over premiers

A COMPOSED and crushing century from playing coach Geeth Alwis and a spirited stand from Gregor Fraser sees Ovens Valley United in the box seat in their first two-dayer of the season. Fraser (55) and Alwis (140*) faced a combined 273 balls to help the Tigers post a monster total of 7d/298 against reigning premiers Yarrawonga Mulwala at McNamara Reserve. Fraser was unmovable, soaking up deliveries and turning the strike throughout, while opening partner Seamus (five) and Michael Roberts (18) fell early. Batting at four, Alwis joined Fraser with scores at 2/32 in the 10th over, and together the pair thrived. The Lakers had no answer for the dynamic duo, every bowling option failing to break through, with the ball going to the rope often. While maiden overs were bowled, Ovens Valley shifted the pressure back on Yarrawonga Mulwala with every over. The pair would stay in the middle until the 39th over after was caught off the bowling of Angus Heslin. Cooper Thomason was a competent partner for Alwis, facing 44 rocks for his 21 runs Alwis would bring up his century in the 60th over, but with plenty of cricket left to play, he raised his bat, put his helmet back on and kept batting. The scoreboard kept ticking along, with the Tigers choosing to declare after 69 overs to have three overs to bowl at the Lakers before stumps, for no loss. Yarrawonga Mulwala will resume at 0/9 this Saturday. Alwis was humble reflecting on his knock, praising his teammates for their patience with the bat. “We played really well as a team to get 298,” he said. “Gregor’s hit two 50s in a row now, he’s settling into the team very well. “After having a couple of quiet games, I had a chat with him, asked him to do a few things with his batting, how to plan his innings, how to build it, things like that. “I initially took the time to build the innings, then accelerate, changing the gears for certain periods. “I didn’t think about catching up with a run a ball in the beginning, I took a long time to get myself in because it’s a good wicket to bat on, but we needed to spend time there. “We struggled to bat our full overs previously, and we only reached 200 once last year, so my plan and the goal for this year with the two-dayers is we bat time. “The boys have taken that seriously, so they’re playing their part and they could do that because I’m showing them how to do it. “Hopefully we can build that into our young players as well.” Still with 290 runs to defend, Alwis said the bowlers would need to battle all day to get the win. “We need to be disciplined, we need to bowl one size of the wicket and be patient,” he said. “I’m pretty sure if we bowl disciplined and be patient, we’ll get the reward. “Chasing 298, it’s not going to be that easy because they need to build plenty of partnerships and we need to make sure we’re not going to let that happen.” Play resumes at McNamara Reserve from 1pm this Saturday.

Tigers in box seat over premiers

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