LEAPING into second place on the SCA ladder following an outright victory over Mildura Settlers has been a welcome result for Mildura East.
After dropping their first two games of the season East have since gone 3-1, but the bonus points from last week’s win over Setts have propelled them into second despite Gol Gol, Mildura West and Nichols Point below them all holding a 4-2 record.
After posting 250 with the bat, East dismissed Settlers for 65 and 106 to win by an innings and 79 runs, a welcome bonus a third of the way through the campaign.
Vice-captain Nick Dorman took 5/14 in the first innings, while Liam Naylor’s 4/8 in the second dig gave him six scalps for the match. Ryan Muir also claimed 4/34.
“We certainly didn’t set ourselves to come away with the outright win, this early in the season I think everyone is still getting a feel for the other teams,” coach Josh Berry said.
“We were a bit nervous with 250 on the board and looking to defend that total, but to the boy’s credit they bowled brilliantly.
“The fast bowling group in the first innings of Ryan Muir, Jayden Hunt and Nick Dorman bowled incredibly well and didn’t really give them any room to move, and in the second dig Liam really showed his pace as well.
“I think to be a good team in this competition you need to be pretty well rounded and have plenty of options with the bat and the ball.”
Scottish international Naylor leads the team’s run scoring for the season with 249, while also being their leading wicket taker with 12 scalps.
Josh Andrews has also been in good form with the bat with 232 runs and has been tidy behind the stumps, taking five catches across the two innings against Setts.
Dorman also has a second-best 11 wickets and is third in total runs for the team with 108.
“‘Dormo’ has been quality for a while but perhaps never got a real chance to show it with the bat, but he got us out of some real trouble on day one,” Berry said.
“I think we were 4/102 when he came in and he was able to bat for a bit of time and score some valuable runs (49).
“Liam was obviously brought in primarily for his batting and he doesn’t bowl much at home, but he’s got some real pace behind him which I reckon will have a few batsmen on the back foot.”
Berry believes there is little margin for error this season with the competition being so tight, with only 2.9 point separating second from fifth.
“We believe we’ve got a game that can stand up well to the competition but we just need to have that consistency of performing at the level,” he said.
“We started the season pretty slowly including a round 1 loss to Mildura West, so I guess we use that as a bit of motivation to perform better when we face them this round.
“We’ve been able to move through the gears since then and hopefully we can hit our straps and be in a good position at the Christmas break.”
East face West at Mildura Sporting Precinct.
