DISAPPOINTING one day, near-perfect the next.
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Woodford bounced back from a season-opening loss by beating Warrnambool and District Cricket Association flag favourite West Warrnambool.
The Eels opened their account with an 11-run triumph at Bushfield Recreation Reserve, posting 5-154 batting first and limiting the Panthers to 5-143.
The win went some way to avenging a frustrating defeat to Russells Creek seven days earlier, when they were all out for 80 and lost by 17 runs.
Coach John Houston was at a loss to explain the Jekyll-and-Hyde form, other than to highlight the anything-can-happen nature of Twenty20 cricket.
"Sometimes you can't explain things," he said. "Last week we were chasing a small total, got ourselves off to a really good run rate and should've done it easy.
"We didn't really play to the conditions of the match.
"This week we nutted it out a bit better. Having another game under our belts reinforced the way we need to play. The boys did that.
"There's certainly room for improvement. We had a lot of dots in there we need to score ones and twos off, but that's no different to anyone else."
Kory Howlett was the catalyst of the Eels' victory. The young batsman smashed four fours and a six en route to 49 not out at number three.
He had support from Nick Butters (33) and Luke Wines (20), who put on 70 for the opening wicket.
West was on track to chase down the runs when Alastair Templeton and Englishman Andrew Scott took the score to 1-75.
But Woodford then seized control when Connor Richardson removed Templeton for 66 and Corey McDonald for a duck in the one over, with the score 5-97.
Michael Townsend (27 not out) and Ryan Youl (13 not out) were admirable in their rescue mission but ran out of balls as the Merri conference took a twist.
"It went from being a really close match to us being able to get a bit of control back," Houston said of Richardson's crucial over.
"We had Tyler Fowler and Hank Schlaghecke up our sleeve and Nick Butters with another over of spin. We were able to keep the run rate down."
In other Merri conference matches, Mark Murphy continued his stellar start as East Warrnambool-YCW captain with a second match-defining performance.
Murphy made 66 not out to steer the Broncos to a dominant nine-wicket victory against Russells Creek at Mack Oval.
Creek made 4-121 batting first, with veteran Jayaweera Bandara top scoring with 43 not out.
But Murphy and Tharanga Fernando (35 not out) lifted East-YCW to 1-125 from 16 overs to remain the only unbeaten side in the conference.
Port Fairy secured its first win of the season with a comfortable six-wicket victory against Wesley-CBC at Colledge Oval.
Lachlan Hulands (23), Zac Jones (35) and Ryan McArdle (24) helped the Beavers to 4-103.
But the Pirates reached the target four wickets down with 10 balls to spare. Captain Aaron Williams top scored with 35.
afawkes@fairfaxmedia.com.au