General News
12 October, 2022
Victory on debut
MORTLAKE cricketers have enjoyed victory on their debut match in the Warrnambool District Cricket Association.
MORTLAKE cricketers have enjoyed victory on their debut match in the Warrnambool District Cricket Association.
After dominating South West Cricket in recent years, the Cats’ move to WDCA for season 2022-23 has already proved fruitful, taking victory in the top two divisions last Saturday.
Todd Lamont, one of three head coaches for the Mortlake club, said he was pleased with his side’s performance against Dennington but would be looking for more aggression with the bat in coming weeks.
“We were probably abit cautious out there but it was a pretty slow ground and only a couple of boundaries were hit for the day,” Lamont said.
“We were pretty rusty with the bat and only managed 119 but our bowlers backed that up and we were happy to take the win.”
Having now entered a new league, Lamont is optimistic his side can make its mark.
Not knowing their opposition, Lamont believes, will allow them to “just play our own brand of cricket and focus on what we’re doing; we won’t be going in with any preconceived ideas of other teams.
“In terms of challenges this season, I think it’s more about not knowing the grounds we will be playing on than the opposition themselves,” he said.
“We haven’t played on many grounds down Warrnambool way in the past so that’s all new to us, and hopefully we’ll be on a turf wicket from early November.”
Mortlake managed 9/119 last weekend before restricting Dennington to 10/75.
Best with the bat for the Cats were Clinton Baker 31, Isaac Wareham 27, Lachie Wareham 27 and Jack Lehmann 11.
Strong performers with the ball included Baker who finished with figures of 2-6 off six overs, Lachie Wareham 4-21, Lachie Higginson 1-10, Jack Lehmann 1-14, Todd Lamont 1-8 and newcomer Lawson Attwood 1-1.
In division two, Mortlake put on a strong performance with the bat, finishing on 3/221 (cc) and went on to restrict Allansford-Panmure Green to 155.
Captain Neil Kelly smashed 89 runs before being caught. He was well supported by Shane Slater on 40 and Charlie Carmody 34 (not out).
Best for the bowlers were Oscar Ritchie 5-15 and Jamie Wareham 4-33.
Mortlake will face Russell’s Creek this weekend; a side Lamont believes is regarded one of the benchmarks in the league.
“There’s a couple of footy trips on this weekend so we will be a bit depleted in terms of availability but we’ll see how we go; some of our division two players will step up so that’ll be a good test for them too.”