BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
WILLIAMSTOWN’S head coach Brenton Hodges made his first century in 10 years of sub-district cricket to virtually carry his side to a nail-biting victory against Brunswick on Saturday.
Williamstown, chasing Brunswick’s previous week’s score of 223, was in dire straits at 4/19 until Hodges and youngster Nick Rainone built a tremendous 187-run partnership.
Hodges was dismissed for 125 with just two runs needed for victory, and when Robert Lennon went two balls later, Williamstown was 9/222.
It took the two tail-enders almost four nerve-racking overs at the crease before James Craigie scored the winning run.
Hodges, whose breakthrough was complemented by Rainone’s first half-century at First XI level, said he never thought about the monumental task that he and Rainone faced.
“We just dug in for a bit,” he said. “When you’re 4/19 and chasing a total of 223 you don’t think about the total.”
“I know it’s a cliché but we took it one ball at a time. All of a sudden a solid partnership had formed and we began to make progress.”
Hodges praised the maturity and poise of left-handed batsman Rainone.
“He was under pressure from ball one, but didn’t seem fazed by the situation and set about building a partnership with purpose and intent,” Hodges said.
“He let a lot of balls go early and then looked to score more frequently throughout his innings.”
“After two seasons in the seniors, hopefully it will prove to be a breakthrough innings.
“We were both disappointed not to finish the job after battling it out for so long, but relieved to just sneak over the line in the end.”
With five Williamstown batsmen making ducks, and all but two failing to reach double figures, Hodges said the was plenty of room for improvement.
“We need to work on minimising double wickets,” he said, referring to the four wickets Williamstown lost without adding a run to the scoreboard.
Hodges said the decision to send Brunswick in to bat seemed a sound one until the rain came and the pitch suddenly favoured the batsmen.
Williamstown’s bowling attack was also dealt a blow when Cameron Smith injured his Achilles after bowling just three overs.
He is likely to be out for two weeks.
Williamstown will take on Preston in a one-dayer of the VSDCA on Saturday.
ALTONA put itself in a position to claim an outright win, but in the end made do with a first innings victory, after successfully defending a first innings total of 87 (Coburg was dismissed for 83), and making 131 in its second innings. Altona had Coburg at 5/74 at the end of the second day’s play.
