DVCA 2020-21: Lower Eltham’s Andrew Hone hits half-century in win

With Lower Eltham’s season on the line, captain-coach Andrew Hone produced a vital knock to kickstart his side’s campaign.

Lower Eltham Captain-coach Andrew Hone and Luke Costa played big roles in their team’s win on Saturday. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Lower Eltham captain-coach Andrew Hone arrived at the crease with his team’s season on the line on Saturday.

Having bowled superbly to restrict 2019-20 joint premier Heidelberg to 112 in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Barclay Shield clash, the Kangas were wobbling at 2-22.

But staring at the prospect of a 0-4 start, Hone wasted little time putting the visitors on the back foot.

He was eventually removed for 61 after bludgeoning 11 boundaries and a six, combining with No.3 Sean Mortell (25 not out) for a match-saving 89-run partnership.

Lower Eltham finished 3-115 with 83 balls to spare to lift itself off the bottom of the ladder.

After starting the season with scores of eight, six, nine and seven (in a Northern Region T20 fixture), Hone was pleased to rediscover his form when it was desperately needed and also praised Mortell for his contribution.

“There’s a fair bit of pressure,” Hone said.

“With the side we had in, I had a fair bit of confidence with 90-odd still to get that we’d get it pretty comfortably.

“But in saying that, they’re a very disciplined bowling unit, a good fielding side, so you still have to perform and get the runs.

“There’s a bit of pressure at that point, but we had that good partnership between myself and Sean Mortell – he played a very measured and mature innings.

“My form hadn’t been great going in, and the way that Heidelberg bowl and field, you need to try and disrupt their plans a little bit or they can tie you down.

“Shauny was looking to be steady at one end and my role was to be a little bit more aggressive down the other.”

But Hone said Lower Eltham’s bowling effort “set the game up”, with only three Heidelberg batsmen managing double figures.

Luke Costa continued his good form to dismiss opposition captain Justin Whitcher (4) and Peter Cashen (0) cheaply, finishing with 2-16 from eight overs.

After hammering 122 the previous week, MacKenzie Stanley showed his all-round quality with a haul of 3-11 from 5.3 overs, while Kane Richards collected 3-17.

Hone said he was hopeful the Kangas, who qualified for finals last season, could recover from the tardy start in what shapes as a hotly-contested flag race.

He said unavailability and injury had hurt his team in the early rounds.

“We‘ve got a little bit of confidence in that we were in the same position this time last year, and when we got stability in the side we were able to link wins together,” Hone said.

“But of course you need to be getting to that point pretty quickly.

“In one-dayers, it’s a bit more of a raffle in terms of the outcome.

“We’re seeing all the games as winnable, but you have to perform and if you’re slightly off you have those losses and end up sliding down (the ladder) pretty quickly.

“But we had the win on the weekend … and you look at it and we’re one win off third.

“It’s just a reflection of a pretty even grade at the moment and I’m anticipating there will be a fair few shifts in ladder position across the season.”

Elsewhere in Barclay Shield, North Eltham Wanderers (4-109) remained undefeated with victory over Banyule (107), while Plenty (8-195) won a close contest against Macleod (194) on the back of a fine knock of 96 from skipper Gordon Zull.

Riverside (7-212) proved too strong for Rosanna (111), with Nathan Chrimes contributing 73, and Diamond Creek (9-154) defeated Epping (9-144).