Premier Cricket 2018-19: Fitzroy Doncaster snaps its four-game losing streak
It took until the last weekend in February, but Fitzroy Doncaster has its first win of 2019 after a 124-run triumph over Melbourne University.
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It took until the last weekend in February, but Fitzroy Doncaster has its first win of 2019.
The Lions snapped a four-game losing streak with a 124-run win over Melbourne University to keep their spot in the Premier Cricket top four.
Fitzroy Doncaster’s attack turned the screws either side of the lunch break as the home side fell from promise to peril chasing 282, losing 4-20 to collapse to 6-83.
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New-ball pairing Trent Lawford (2-37 off 10 overs) and Chris Moore 2-34 off 19.5) each grabbed two wickets, while young quick Sam Elliott cleaned up the tail to finish with 4-46 from 12.4.
Uni was bowled out for 158 in the 59th over, falling out of the top eight with one two-day game remaining before finals.
The Lions hope to welcome back former Tasmanian quick Andrew Perrin, who has not featured since the Round 11 defeat against Carlton, for the Round 15 fixture against St Kilda.
The result also assured Fitzroy Doncaster of a double chance for finals if it can account for the Saints, which need the points to be any chance of jumping back in the top eight.
Fitzroy Doncaster captain Ejaaz Alavi said the performance was a return to form for his side, which had dropped four games on the trot for the first time under coach Michael O’Sullivan’s watch since he took the reins in 2014-15.
“We were back to our usual ways, everyone played their role, we bowled really well in partnerships and there wasn’t really any standouts. Everyone chipped in and did their bit,” Alavi said.
“We were able to build pressure throughout the innings and the pressure brought chances.”
Alavi said his side was able to extract enough from the wicket that offered sideways movement and bounce for the quicks.
“We had a simple plan and we just wanted to bowl as many maidens, bowl as many dots as possible to build up the pressure and we didn’t want to go searching for wickets, which we might have done for a lot of the previous games,” he said.
“We had the whole 96 overs to build pressure, bowl maidens and that was the focus to have a very simple plan.”
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