ILLINGWORTH DOES THE JOB
A STEVE Illingworth masterclass helped deliver St Peter’s its first win of the season.
Handed more responsibility with bat and ball, Illingworth led from the front, snaring match figures of 8-84 and chiming in with 43 as the Saints downed Thomson at Godfrey St Oval.
He and young quick Jack Jenkins routed the Tigers, who were all out for 37 early on day two after resuming at 6-27 in chase of 100.
Illingworth grabbed 5-12 from 15 overs, while Jenkins snared 3-15.
The Saints then went in search of an outright, looking to expand on their lead of 63.
Illingworth top scored as St Peter’s made 7-126 in 38 overs, before declaring and setting Thomson 190 to win outright.
But Tigers captain-coach Sam Stoneley and Alex Banks provided the visitors with a few tense moments in the second dig.
Stoneley smashed three fours and four sixes in his knock of 41, while Banks crunched one six and four boundaries to lead Thomson to within striking distance.
“It got a little bit tight at one stage when we sent them back in,” Saints coach Anthony Ford said.
“It was some pretty clean hitting. We were actually pretty conservative with the declaration in the end.
“I was going to pull the trigger a couple of overs earlier and I think we scored 20 or 30 off the last two. If you take those two overs and 30 runs off our total, it might have been a disaster.”
Ford heaped praised on the Saints’ quicks, who made the most of a lively pitch.
“There was a bit in the wicket for the whole game, so we didn’t need to use our spinners,” he said.
“Jack had struggled a bit and took a while to get going but he found a bit of form in this game.
“I told Steve that I wanted him to take a back seat and see if the kids could grow without relying on him, but it got to the point without a win on the board that we went back to him and said, ‘you’re going to open the bowling and push up the order with the bat’. “It’s pretty handy to have a guy like him. He’s unbelievable . . . to perform week in, week out.” Ford hopes the victory will help his side relaunch its season. “I had a discussion with the boys after the Marshall game and we’ve certainly got the ability to win games, but it was just a matter of getting some belief,” he said. “Hopefully that comes to fruition. We’ve got to come up against Highton now and they’ve been winning, so it doesn’t get any easier. “If the belief comes, we’ll get on a roll and that’s the plan.”