Demons beat the wet
PORTARLINGTON overcame trying weather to grab its first win of the season, defeating Drysdale by 53 runs on Saturday.
After totals of 90 and 75 in their first two matches, a Damian Vassiliou 63 helped the Demons finally reach a defendable score of 158, setting up a tight victory with just over two overs remaining before the rain-interrupted match would have been deemed a draw.
Portarlington coach Tony East was relieved his side found some fluidity with the bat, but admitted Drysdale copped the brunt of the tough conditions while in the field, making the ball difficult to handle.
“We won the toss and batted early and it was a good toss to win given the conditions,” East said.
“You weren’t going to get value for your shots, the ball just stopped and was tough to bowl with.”
With showers a constant threat to cease play, the Demons got their 40 overs and ensured a tricky run chase for Drysdale, who needed to bat out 37 overs to reach a draw.
East went for more experience at the top of the Portarlington batting order, given his side’s recent low totals, and the hard-hitting Vassiliou capitalised in his first game of the season.
Port’s favourite son combined with captain Andrew Wedge (27) to give his side every chance of posting a solid score.
“We changed things around, we even put Paul McGrath up at the top who normally bats in the middle but in these one-dayers I think he’s good value up there,” East said.
“We’ve been two or three for bugger all and then it’s back to the walls to try and bat your overs, so it allowed everybody to relax a little, even though we did lose Paul early. To score 158 … it’s just a completely different ball game for our bowlers.”
Port grabbed clusters of wickets throughout Drysdale’s innings, led by Paul Wells, whose 4-21 included both openers.
It looked at one stage that Drysdale was going to hang on to a draw, with Troy Jones combining with Nick Hallam and Jarvis Durbidge in the middle overs to steady the innings with a lower-order collapse Port’s only chance of victory.
Drysdale then lost 4-2 in the dying overs, leaving Jones stranded not out on 19 and 2.3 overs remaining before the match would have been drawn.
“It was pleasing to get off the mark but it’s only one game,” East said. “We want to be competitive and want to be right up there with some of these sides but we’re going to have to put more than that again on the board.”