By Marcus Uhe
The Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 1 competition is both as unpredictable as it is predictable.
For as much as you know that there will be a scrap for the lower places in the top four every summer, you also know that the powerhouse clubs are the powerhouses for a reason.
Continued, sustained excellence and high performance over long periods of time sees Buckley Ridges and Springvale South remain in premiership contention, with Hallam Kalora Park buzzing around the mark, so often on the outside looking in; the third wheel to a rock-solid partnership glory in the last three summers.
But now, on a four-game winning streak, it is the Hawks that have muscled their way to the top of the podium, as the competition’s undisputed form side with four consecutive wins.
Their next opponent, Berwick, is on a winning run of its own, winning its last two and re-establishing itself as a top-four threat.
A slow start has given way to a pair of team performances with nearly all key members of the First XI offering solid contributions at some stage in the summer.
The turnaround in form has been largely due to the Bears’ bowling efforts.
They struggled to make breakthroughs in the season’s early whiteball contests, taking just 14 wickets in the first three matches, but have removed all 10 batters in the last two bowling innings, coinciding with a pair of wins.
Removing Matthew Hague will be a key component of the equation for Hallam Kalora Park, with the opener averaging 44.4 from his five knocks this summer, while Jake Hancock, Jarryd Wills and Michael Wallace have each worked their averages into the high 30s.
From there, however, the drop-off is stark, with no other batter making more than 60 runs for the summer.
Hallam Kalora Park’s bowling attack has been on-song to begin this summer and with the form of Lee Brown and Pavandeep Singh, they now offer a dual spinning threat for opponents to tackle.
Their four frontline seamers, meanwhile, are averaging 22 or less, and in the one-day games to open the season, only Buckley Ridges and Beaconsfield took more scalps with the ball.
Hallam Kalora Park won the match-up between the two at Hallam just before Christmas last summer and should expect to repeat the dose.
At Alex Nelson Reserve, Beaconsfield’s ultra-aggressive bowling approach will be put under the microscope by Springvale South.
The most damaging bowling attack in white ball cricket will pose a tricky prospect for the hosts which early in the season became reliant on too few contributors on the batting card.
If the Tigers can roar through the Bloods’ top order, particularly the big scalp of Jordan Wyatt, their chances of creating a major upset will skyrocket.
Taking the chance presented to them, however, is a different story, having lost three matches from winnable positions already in this campaign.
At present, they sit just outside the top four behind Dandenong West, but too many more close losses and they risk falling back into the pack.
Springvale South, meanwhile, is back to winning ways, having toppled Buckley Ridges last round with Wyatt crunching a typically barnstorming century of 59 deliveries.
Beaconsfield are not without a chance, but need to execute at its very best.
Elsewhere in Turf 1, Dandenong West faces its toughest test of the summer this far when Buckley Ridges comes to Greaves Reserve, and the bottom-two sides in Narre South and North Dandenong will battle to avoid being stuck to the foot of the table.
Tips: NARRE SOUTH v North Dandenong, HALLAM KALORA PARK v Berwick, Dandenong West v BUCKLEY RIDGES, SPRINGVALE SOUTH v Beaconsfield.
