By JARROD POTTER
DDCA – Turf 1 Round 6 (day 1)
BERWICK (2/233) put its first innings points on lay-away as North Dandenong (90) failed to find any fluency with the blade or ball.
BERWICK v NORTH DANDENONG
AT EVERY turn lurked a Bears’ wicket – Dushan Wickramarathna (4/20) will feature in a few North Dandenong nightmares this week as the Berwick spearhead crushed the visitors’ hopes. Resilience came from Caleb Millman (25), Dean Gunawardana (22) and Liam Dudding (15), but only in small doses as Berwick restricted North Dandenong to a scant 90 from its 33.4 overs.
It left Berwick with an eternity to bat, notch first innings points and potentially send the visitors back in for a second dose of pain.
Captain Jarrod Goodes (41) struck the boundaries early before copping a straight one from Shane Clark, leaving the rest of the job to Ryan Williamson (52 not out), Brad James (37) and a huge knock from Bathiya Perera (81 not out). Finding his best fluency before Christmas, Perera flogged nine boundaries and four sixes across the Arch Brown Reserve arena to give North Dandenong nothing to smile about heading off at stumps.
Goodes kept his side at the crease – choosing to set a monster tally for the Northerners next week instead of sending them back in at the death. The match resides in his hands now as North Dandenong can only hope to hold on in its inevitably long second innings next week.
LYNDALE v HALLAM KALORA PARK
YOU could only wonder what could have been for Lyndale (1/13) after running through Hallam Kalora Park’s (177) top order. The battle belonged to the home side until tea as Ricky Foulstone (3/35) and Dale Tormey (2/49) razed any Hawk that came near the crease. At 4/30 the Hawks sat dangerously close to their demise in the baking heat, but were able to turn back the clock and bat out 72 overs en route to 177. Liam Mara (2/37) would join the Lyndale bowling party to finish the job. The day didn’t go completely Lyndale’s way as it lost Conal Ranatunga (4) just before day’s end.
HEINZ SOUTHERN DISTRICTS v DANDENONG WEST
HONOURS were split at Reedy Reserve as Heinz Southern Districts (191) put up the par score against Dandenong West. It could have been significantly worse as the Cobras took a while to get warmed up. Three quick wickets to the Bulls left the ketchup makers in danger, but the source of Heinz’s success would come from Matt Cox (40) and Shehan Bandaranayake (40) as they added 65 for the fourth wicket before Cox struck one straight back to Andrew Harry (1/23). Bits and bobs and starts aplenty would highlight the remaining Heinz innings as no one truly booked a big score. Jaswant Singh (3/34) and Peter Atkinson (2/33) worked their way down the Cobras’ scorecard and the skipper would be please with a sub-200 chase next week on a lightning fast Reedy Reserve in the midst of summer.
COOMOORA v BUCKLEY RIDGES
A LITTLE bit from everyone pushed Buckley Ridges (9/228) to the front against the languishing Coomoora. After their earlier loss this week – conceding a 2-3 defeat in the Statewide Twenty20 Cup “bowl-off” against Cranbourne – the Ridges came out with a point to prove as Anuj Dal (48), Jayson Hobbs (46) and Hussain Ali (28) dispatched all and sundry. The pain ran through the order even as number-10 Nathan Beaver (28 not out) connected with anything bowled at-the-death.
A superb bowling effort from Joseph Hawke (4/77) kept the match from getting further out of control while Dillon Gemmell-Smith (2/72) also found himself holding up an end ably at Coomoora Reserve. Joel Robertson (3/11) was the other major scalp snarer for the Kangaroos.
PARKFIELD v SPRINGVALE SOUTH
THERE wasn’t much to cheer about for the reigning premiers on Saturday as Springvale South (8/284dec) avenged its grand-final defeat against Parkfield (1/7). Nathan King (93) had the ball on a string as he smashed the Bears to all parts of Parkfield Reserve for his first half-ton in 2014/15. King would be cruelly robbed of his maiden century as he thickly edged one through to the keeper off Shane Bell (3/20). The Parkfield captain would sparingly use himself, instead preferring Travis D’Souza (1/90) to rattle through 25 overs with his spin.
On the opposition side, Jackson Sketcher (49 not out), Andrew Staude (33) and Ryan Quirk (31) kept the foot on the gas as the Bloods raced towards 300. A fighting declaration late in the day sent the Bears in and import Joe Wheal (0) succumbed in the heat to a straightener from Jarrod Armitage (1/3).
