Premier Cricket: Fitzroy Doncaster loses two key players but holds talented Melbourne line-up in check

Fitzroy Doncaster will have plenty of work to do with the bat after Melbourne posted a handy total on the opening day of its two-dayer at Schramms Reserve. But things could well have been a lot worse for the gallant Lions.

Fitzroy Doncaster will have plenty of work to do with the bat next week after Melbourne posted a handy total on the opening day of its two-dayer at Schramms Reserve on Saturday.

Bad luck at either end of the day conspired to make it a tough day out for the Lions who lost new ball bowler Andrew Perrin and veteran Peter Dickson in the opening hour before the Demons banked a half-century from an unlikely source late in the day on the way to posting 9-266.

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Fitzroy Doncaster's Andrew Perrin broke down with a side strain after 4.3 overs on Saturday. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

But, it could well have been a lot worse for the Lions as the day started to go pear-shaped in the opening 60 minutes.

Just three balls into his fifth over Perrin, who’d given the Lions the perfect start by snapping up Melbourne opener Andre de Lange without a run on the board, broke down and was done for the day.

“He suffered a bit of a side strain, which wasn’t ideal,” Lions skipper Ejaaz Alavi said. “It made us a bowler short for the rest of the day. Then we lost Dickson to a bit of a calf strain and we were two fielders down in less than an hour.

“We haven’t had any diagnosis yet, but we’ll find out later in the week.”

The Lions had to quickly call upon the services of a couple of players from the Third XI while sending a couple of coaches, including head coach Mick O’Sullivan, to the thirds game to cover that shortfall.

Sam Elliot, in his debut season, completed the Perrin over and worked hard for a haul of 2-64 off 16.3 overs while reigning Ryder Medallist Trent Lawford shouldered much of the workload, bowling 27 overs for figures of 4-70.

Alavi said he was delighted with how gamely Elliott had toiled despite this being “his first two-day game”.

Trent Lawford shouldered the load with a four-wicket haul. Picture: Hamish Blair

A bowler down, Fitzroy Doncaster looked to have done enough when it had the Demons 7-197 but veteran spinner Sean Sturrock chose the perfect time to raise his bat for a maiden 50 in Premier Cricket.

Sturrock’s 50 not out came off 70 balls, including five fours and a six, and gave Melbourne vital runs late in the day as the Demons set about mustering a more than handy total for the Lions bats to chase next week.

No. 3 Sam Harper top scored for Melbourne, posting 62 off 101 balls with 10 fours, while Blake Thomson (21) and Meyrick Buchanan (10) both spent time in the middle but middled the ball less than they had in the previous round against Casey South Melbourne.

Melbourne skipper Matt Brown kept things going in the middle-order, carding 48 off 126 balls in a shade over 2 and ½ hours with seven boundaries, but when he fell to Lawford it looked as though honours were likely to belong to the home side.

In the end, the visitors needed some clean strikes from Sturrock to set the Lions a 250-plus total.

While Lawford’s four wicket-haul was the highlight of the day for Fitzroy Doncaster, Alavi toiled manfully for 25 overs on the way to 1-57 with 11 maidens while Chris Moore chipped in with 1-57 off 22 overs.

The Lions skipper is confident his undermanned bowling attack has done enough to give the side a big chance to reel in the target next week.

“We are very proud of our effort,” he said. “We stuck it out all day and we’re pretty happy with how we did against one of the strongest batting line-ups in the competition.”

Fitzroy Doncaster skipper Ejaaz Alavi was proud of his side’s fighting effort on Saturday.