IT wasn't a win, but it was a moral victory, of sorts.
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Toronto Workers staved off outright defeat against Wests in their Newcastle district cricket match at Harker Oval on Saturday.
But more important than that, the young and inexperienced Kookaburras didn't fold.
In fact, they took the game right up to one of the premiership heavyweights after being humbled on Day 1.
Toronto was dismissed for just 99 in its first innings.
Wests picked up first innings points when they reached 3-127 at stumps on that first Saturday.
The danger on Day 2 was that Wests would pile on quick runs, establish a 200-run lead, then roll Toronto cheaply again.
But the young Kookaburras were having none of that.
Instead, their bowlers changed the tone of the game on Saturday.
"We took 6-70 in the morning and really stopped them from getting away," Toronto captain Corey Brown said.
Wests declared at 9-200, a lead of 101 on the visitors.
Toronto then displayed the sort of resilience that Brown wanted to see, and reached 6-167 to hold Wests at bay.
"I thought our bowlers executed their plans very well," Brown said.
Representative fast bowler Andy Somerville took 4-35 from 13 overs and was a stand out for Toronto.
"Andy bowled superbly. I don't think there are too many batsmen who would have liked facing him on Saturday."
Right-arm medium-pacer Tim Wilson also impressed despite finishing with 0-44.
"I dropped a catch off Tim's bowling, and there were another four or five chances that fell just short of fielders," Brown said.
"Tim was terribly unlucky, and he had their best batsmen in trouble."
At the change of innings, Brown's instructions were for his batsmen to play their natural games.
"There was no talk of shutting up shop," he said.
Josh Westwood followed the instructions to the letter.
"Josh was really aggressive for his 43," Brown said.
"They were bouncing him, and he was taking them on."
He struck three fours and three sixes.
Ben Roberts (43 not out) and Finlay Thornton (31 not out) saw Toronto out of the danger zone.
"I thought the way Benny and Finlay batted typified our effort on the day," Brown said.
