SUNSHINE took the honours against Werribee in round one of the inaugural Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association (VSDCA) Twenty20 competition last week.

The midweek match played at Chirnside Park saw the two sides go hammer and tong in the reduced format for the first of three rounds to be played over the coming months.

It was the Crows dressed in blue who took the win under lights knocking off Werribee for 9/116 as they tried to chase down their total of 9/137.

The Twenty20 fixture is a new addition for the association with each team allowed to invite a guest player (Werribee had Footscray-Edgewater young gun Travis Dean, while Sunshine had former AFL player Chris Burton who turned out to be a late withdrawal) and every side is forced to field at least three under-21 players.

Sunshine captain Warren Suares arrived mid-game at the Tuesday night feature, forced to watch from the sidelines because of work commitments.

He said the win was indicative of his side’s attempt to field a well-rounded side as opposed to a team of specialists.

“We have got a team of all-rounders which was what we are trying to promote a little bit more this year - players that are skilled in both sides of the game,” he said. “Really that came about because we hadn’t recruited heavily this year. I thought 137 might be a hard target to defend but we just had a number of bowlers who were able to bowl at different times. That variety in the attack certainly helped.”

What the Crows do have though, according to Suares, is a raft of maturing players who will continue to get better as the season progresses.

“I was saying to the guys earlier this year they are all mid to late 20s, all at an age were they are improving each year.”

It was a slow start to what is considered the fast-paced form of the game, but Sunshine with the help of the middle and lower order, including David Bonavia (27), Matt Stone (21) and Andrew Webb (17), got the scoreboard ticking on their way to 137.

The Tigers looked fierce with the ball early on but could not keep a lid on the opposition as the overs rolled on.

New Werribee recruit David Wolfe was a casualty throughout the innings as he limped from the ground after suffering an injury in his first over putting a dent in the Tigers’ chances.

Chasing 137 the Tigers needed a strong performance in their 20 overs with the bat.

Adam Alifraco (37) and Murray (19) gave it their best shot but the pressure from the Sunshine bowlers, especially Webb who took a tidy 3/23, proved to be the difference.

“We got through for about eight overs for a couple of wickets and we were on track,” Werribee captain Paul Murray said.

“(But) all of a sudden they got a run on and we had 10 overs to get something like 70 or 80. That’s when it starts mounting - the pressure.”

Special guest Dean was unlucky trapped in front lbw for “less than a handful” of runs and without the power hitting of Wolfe the side simply ran out of time.

For Suares it was a good performance but he noted that in the Twenty20 format 21 runs is not that big a margin.

“(It) was a great win but we are certainly not basing the entire season on that,” he said. “Three or four balls that’s 21 runs. Looking at our scorecard, it didn’t look like too many got away. Ideally we would have liked to build a bit more of a partnership at the top of the innings but Twenty20 that is the nature of the game you have to throw the bat out while the field is up.”

Notching up a Twenty20 win in the first round of the inaugural season was a positive for the Crows but, as Suares said, there are “bigger fish to fry”.

In other results from the North West group Twenty20, Altona went down swinging for 8/159 against Coburg 7/170. Christian Hewitt was a man on a mission for the As but even his defiant 74 not out was not enough to get his side over the line.

Williamstown struggled against Melton finishing at 9/76 before Melton easily chased them down with 4/77.

Yarraville went down in a close one to Broadmeadows but the Eagles could not find the wickets with the Broady boys charging to 2/145 off their 20 overs.

An inspired 74 not out from Paul Thomas got the chasers in reach but they fell agonisingly short with 3/142 at the end of the day’s play.

Round two of the VSDCA Twenty20 competition will be played on 24 November.