By Marcus Uhe
Keysborough is the undisputed hottest team in the Dandenong District Cricket Association – and its nearest contemporary isn’t close.
Following a hiccup against Lynbrook to open the season, the Knights have won their last six contests to sit equal top of the Turf 3 ladder, with their latest victory a nine-wicket thrashing of last summer’s runner up, Berwick Springs.
After veteran seamer James Wright took 6/46 to help dismiss the Titans for 161, the second innings became the Chanaka Kahandawala show.
In just his fourth game for the club, the opening batter smacked an unbeaten 133 from 88 deliveries, with 13 sixes and eight fours, to do the bulk of the scoring in the run chase.
So dominant was he in the pursuit that he scored 70 of the 72 runs in the second-wicket partnership with Shanaka Perumpuli, who added a single run to the total.
Keysborough skipper Christo Otto has been delighted with his new inclusion thus far, and believes he is the “missing piece” to the Knights’ premiership puzzle.
“We’re probably an opener short and a batter short, so he’s a perfect fit,” he said.
“He’s probably been unlucky in the first couple of games with how he’s gone out, but he’s scored himself a 50 and snared a wicket, so he’s been unbelievable.
“I couldn’t be happier with having him as part of the group, I think he’ll be a huge inclusion and I think he’ll play a big part for us in finals, hopefully, if we get there.”
Otto himself is enjoying a stellar summer, but missed Saturday’s massacre of the Titans due to a groin strain.
Having relinquished the coaching duties in the off-season, he is relishing life as just the captain of his side, averaging 51 with the bat and taking 16 wickets at 10.5 with the ball, setting the example for his squad to follow.
He concedes that his squad carried an element of naivety into its opening clash of the summer against Lynbrook, and paid the price with a humiliating 153-run defeat – a result he described as the “wake-up call” they needed.
Since then, the Knights have attacked training with vigour and purpose, eager to make their way back up the grades.
“The last two years, the club hasn’t won too many games,” he said.
“We on that first one and the drive and hunger and taste for it grew.
“We’ve definitely been more consistent, which is something we’ve lacked in the last couple of years; we either bowl well in one game and bat average, and then (do) the opposite in the next game.
“We’re stringing games together with bat and ball, which helps.
“We’ve got a new coach in Simon (Vigilante) who’s been running training very well, and we’ve been training better than we have in the last couple of years, which has made a big difference.
“This group, it’s been a rough couple of years, so we haven’t been up there for a while.
“Teams can come after us as much as they want. Hopefully we can stay in the top two, top four before Christmas, which sets us up for the back half of the year.”
Keysborough will shoot for a seventh win on the trot this week when it faces the side that kicked them into gear at the start of the season, in Lynbrook.
Berwick Springs, meanwhile, appear further and further away from the side that reached the last day of last summer.
Jackson Marie remains on the sidelines, leaving a gaping hole at the top of its order.
Archit Vora made an unbeaten 67, continuing his strong form after making 100 against Narre North in round seven.
