By Marcus Uhe
There are rumblings in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 1 animal kingdom.
A 39-run win over the competition’s benchmark side has seen Berwick muscle its way into the top four for the first time this summer.
After dropping their first three contests of the summer, the Bears have roared back to life with a hat-trick of impressive wins, culminating in Saturday’s upset of Hallam Kalora Park at Hallam Recreation Reserve.
In tackling the high-flying Hawks, a side gunning for its sixth win on the bounce, the Bears ran into trouble with the bat in the first innings and dug their way to a respectable score of 8/185.
Hawks opener William Whyte removed Matthew Hague in the innings’ opening over before Jake Hancock, Brodie Herkess and Jordan Cleland all departed for single-figure scores.
Michael Wallace was tasked with the anchoring role, batting the majority of the innings to notch a patient 69 as wickets fell around him, but found resistance late in the piece from Lachlan Brown, who made 33.
Lauchlan Gregson took 4/48 for the Hawks with Whyte just behind on 3/41.
Hallam Kalora Park founding scoring tough in its batting innings and encountered further trouble when key players, Jordan Hammond and Mahela Udawatte both made way in the fifth over.
Losing wickets in groups would become a theme of the innings for the Hawks which wasted a solid platform laid by Leigh booth and Damith Perera.
The two added 55 for the third wicket and advanced the score to 2/70 but departed in quick succession to bring two fresh batters to the crease, with Austin Fardell’s stay at the wicket extremely brief, making it a loss of 3/10.
Another collapse of 3/12 followed later in the innings for a score of 8/116, with the Hawks rolled in the 42nd over for 146.
Berwick’s trio of spinners in Hague, Brown and Elliot Mathews kept the scoring rate down, as Toby Wills took 3/23.
Where the Bears are flying, two other apex predators are slumping, as Beaconsfield and Narre South both suffered a third consecutive defeat, with the Lions falling to the foot of the ladder after a heavy loss to North Dandenong,
A rain delay shortened the contest to a 35 overs-aside fixture but it mattered little, as the Lions lasted just 24 overs, dismissed for 90 chasing 174.
It’s the fourth time in five one-day contests that the Lions have failed to see out 45 overs, highlighting their frailties with the willow.
Ducks for Kyle Hardy, Vikai Kelley and Adam Snelling in the top order had the Lions reeling at 3/4, and despite contributions from Jeevan Mendis and Zac Wilson, Narre South fell into further trouble at 7/48 when spinner Charith Keerthisinghe grabbed two wickets in the 16th over.
Callan Tout would top score for the Lions at number nine with 23, as Sushant Gupta finished the pick of the bowlers with 4/24.
In a complete juxtaposition to its opposition, North Dandenong’s top five all made starts, posting 173 in one of the side’s most well-rounded displays of the season.
Opener Syed Mehmood top scored with 41 as Wilson’s excellent summer back at Strathaird Reserve continued, finishing with 5/37.
Beaconsfield, meanwhile, was found lacking answers against Springvale South spinner Jarryd Straker.
Straker’s nine over spell in the middle of the innings ended with figures of 3/15, before returning later in the piece to grab a fourth, ending with 4/28.
The Tigers posted 9/170, led by 46 from Ashan Madhushanka at the top of the order, but Springvale South needed only 37 overs to complete the chase with seven wickets in hand.
Jordan Wyatt blasted his second half-century of the summer, and sixth innings striking at over 100, with 51 from 27 balls, while Forsyth brothers Cam and Mitch both reached the 30s.
Elsewhere, Buckley Ridges returned to the top of the table after a four-wicket win over Dandenong West.
The staggering summer of Ishan Jayarthana continued for Buckley Ridges, who took his third six-wicket haul of the season to move six wickets clear at the top of the leading wicket-taker’s list.
Dandenong West reached 115 from 44 overs in a defiant batting innings spearheaded by Don Pulukkuttiarachchi’s 43.
There was the chance of an upset when the Bucks fell to 4/57 upon Roshane Silva’s dismissal but a steady 35 from Josh Holden guided his side to safety.
The wickets were shared among the Dandenong West bowlers but superstar Nuwan Kulasekara finished wicketless for just the second time this season.
