By Marcus Uhe
Narre North has secured its maiden win of the summer and first since returning to the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 3 competition thanks to a 117-run thrashing of Doveton at home in round eight.
Despite missing playing coach Kiruba Sathiyaseelan, Narre North was able to post a strong first-innings total and capitalise on the Doves’ batting frailties to get off the mark.
Kamran Malik and Aydin Akin’s 109-run stand for the third wicket pushed the home side to 9/225, the club’s highest score in the one day format this year.
Akin top scored with 66, his second half-century of the summer, with Malik adding 43 before becoming the first of Baasil-Bashir Kanwar’s four victims.
Late hitting from Lakshitha Liyanage took them beyond the 200 mark, and put the game well out of reach of Doveton’s batters.
They lasted 37 overs before being dismissed for 108, but it could have been significantly worse, having fallen to 9/75 after a 20-run opening stand.
The final wicket partnership of Kanwar and Haadi Kari delayed the inevitable for 14 overs before Malik completed the job to secure the result for Narre North.
Malik joined Kim Bentick and Fazmin Mohamed in taking two wickets.
Joining Narre North in the winner’s circle is Fountain Gate, which comfortably accounted for Hampton Park at Booth Reserve.
Nitin Sachdeva got the Gators off to a perfect start with a pair of wickets in the opening over as the Lions crawled to 95.
Travis Lacey and Ranees Khaleel did their best to steady the ship for the Lions with a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket but their resistance was not matched by their teammates; remove that stand from the innings and the Lions lost 9/42.
Sachdeva’s inroads at the top of the order allowed for spinner Surya Pratap and teenage quick Nadim Nazif to bowl aggressively in the middle over, with Pratap’s strong summer continuing, taking 4/22.
Nazif Took 2/16 while Sachdeva nabbed 3/17.
The run chase was never in doubt, despite scoring at just 3.3 runs per over.
Amardeep Hothi and Asadullah Khil each reached 24 as the Gators reached the target in the 29th over.
Silverton did not have as much of an easy ride in reaching Lynbrook’s target of 106, scraping home by two wickets in a close-run affair.
Rob North’s 45 was a clear standout on the batting card as one of only three Baker batters to reach double figures.
The only other two, in Charith Anthony and Harkanwal Singh, steered the ship to safety to maintain their place at the top of the Turf 3 ladder.
Lynbrook’s teenage spinner Yashwant Singh took 4/14 from six overs in an impressive display for the Lakers.
Earlier, Singh and Dylan Hayes took three wickets apiece to suppress Laker momentum.
Jatinder Singh top scored with 22.
