Westmeadows ease past Keilor to claim maiden VTCA Senior Division win

Promotion winners Westmeadows claimed a milestone win on Saturday against Keilor as Ryan Blair and Chinthaka Jayasinghe played key roles.

Ryan Blair in action for Westmeadows. Picture: Hamish Blair

It wasn’t pretty but Westmeadows secured its maiden VTCA Senior Division victory on Saturday.

The Warriors, Division 1 North premiership and promotion winners last season, eased by Keilor by four wickets to bring up the milestone win at Willowbrook Reserve.

After winning the toss and sending Keilor in, Ryan Blair’s 4-18 helped skittle the visitors for just 102 in 26.3 overs.

The Warriors stumbled early, falling to 2-1, before Chinthaka Jayasinghe steadied the ship and Aaron Evans (27) and Clay Campbell (20 not out) saw their team home with 14 overs to spare.

“It’s nice to get off the mark,” Westmeadows captain-coach Tarek Moughanie said.

Ryan Blair took four wickets for Westmeadows. Picture: Hamish Blair

“I felt we could have the week before but didn’t, so it was about playing a more complete games yesterday.”

“We’re under no illusions … we need to continue to improve in all facets of the game but it’s nice to be 1-1 and if we can get over the top of a rampaging Yarraville, we’ll be 2-1, which is what I was hoping for.”

Keilor reached 33 without loss before Dean Pitts (2-24) picked up the key wicket of Robert Clements (17) and when fellow opener Daniel Stavris (15) fell the next over it triggered a fatal collapse.

Despite Nathan Beever’s 31 not out, the Blues lost 8-67 as Blair ripped through the tail and Malith Cooray collected 2-24.

“The bowlers, coming off last week they were maybe a little down on confident, but after a couple of overs they found a rhythm and it turned quickly,” Moughanie said.

“Ryan is a very hard bowler to pick up because he’s a bit of a slinger, he’s taken four wickets and bowled 11 wides, so they were having trouble getting bat on ball.

“Malith was fantastic with the ball, he was probably our best bowler yesterday, and could have easily ended up with a few more wickets.”

Moughanie and fellow opener Danny Law both failed to trouble the scorers but Jayasinghe rescued Westmeadows.

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Moughanie lamented late wickets but always felt the game was in hand.

“I didn’t play for the conditions, the ball was hooping it around, I wanted to try and knock off 20-30 off quickly to make it more comfortable,” he said.

“We’ve got a pretty deep line-up, so we weren’t too concerned, CJ batted really well and was supported by Aaron and Clay.

“Clay’s hitting everything out of the middle at the moment and I dare say he would have got plenty if we had more runs to chase.”