Ashfield enjoyed a perfect day as it nailed an outright win and stormed into the Gisborne and District Cricket Association B-grade top four.
Having set up the match against Riddell on day one by making 8-325, Ashfield executed everything to plan on day two to seal the outright against the bottom side.
Ashfield president and first XI player Nathan Anderson said it was the first outright win for the side in his time with the club.
He said the club hadn’t seen a day like it in a long time and that the win would give the side a lot of confidence.
“It was good day, a pretty exciting one,” he said. “Everything worked well and the plans we had in place all worked.
“It made being in the field in the heat all day 100 per cent more enjoyable.”
Ashfield shared the wickets around in the first innings as it bowled Riddell out for 106.
The best was yet to come for Ashfield – it skittled Riddell for 47 in its second innings.
Anderson was the destroyer, taking the first six wickets.
“It was just crazy – we just steamrolled them,” he said.
The win moves Ashfield up to third and in with a real shot of making the finals.
That’s something that Anderson and his side didn’t envisage at the start of the season, having finished bottom in B grade last year.
If it wasn’t for the grade expanding to 10 teams, the side could have quite easily been in C grade this season.
“With the fixture we have left, we don’t play anyone above us,” Anderson said.
“We’re looking at a top two finish, but definitely the first goal is playing finals.
“At the start of the year, the goal was not to be relegated. It was to see what we had and to go from there.”
In a boost for the club, Corey Woolley has returned to the side.
Woolley spent the first part of the season at Sunbury United in the McIntyre Cup, before returning to Ashfield, where he has played most of his cricket.
Anderson said Woolley, whose first game back was against Riddell, would add plenty with bat and ball and add some handy McIntyre Cup experience. He took three wickets in Riddell’s first innings.
In other results, Eynesbury slipped outside the top four with a shock loss to Bacchus Marsh.
Macedon, which was in the box seat against Wallan, let slip the opportunity to get a win against a top two side by losing early wickets.
East Sunbury remains in the top four after beating Kyneton and St Anthonys had a massive win against Gisborne.
