By Marcus Uhe
Buckley Ridges and Hallam Kalora Park’s round nine showdown will dictate plenty in the race for Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 1 supremacy this summer.
The pair of top three sides are slated to square off at Park Oval in a two-day game beginning this week in a likely finals contest preview, with much of the competition casting a keen eye on next week’s outcome.
A Buckley Ridges win would maintain the reigning champions’ stranglehold at the top of the table and put the Hawks – one of the summer’s best performed teams to date – back in the chasing pack, with the potential to fall to fourth place based on other results.
A Hawks victory, however, could create a three-way tie at the top of the table, pending the outcome of Springvale South’s match against North Dandenong.
The two sides have not gone toe-to-toe at Park Oval since the drawn final contest of the 2022/23 home-and-away season, when Jake Cronin announced himself to the Turf 1 landscape with a match-defining 142.
The Bucks were in the box seat to win that afternoon before rain intervened with the Hawks on the ropes midway through their chase.
Buckley Ridges got the six points in a one-day contest back in round two but Hallam Kalora Park won the two’s last two-day contest in a low-scoring game at Hallam last summer after an ill-fated call from Buckley Ridges skipper Jayson Hobbs to bat first on a difficult surface in round 11.
Lauchlan Gregson, in great touch for the Hawks with nine wickets in his last three bowling performances, took 5/56 in that contest with Ben Hillard and Jordan Hammond guiding the chase home.
Pavandeep Singh and Aasrith Kanuganti have made way in the Hawks’ side for batting pair Jagveer Hayer and Adam Warfe.
Buckley Ridges would appreciate another victory over a recognised powerhouse in order to strengthen their credentials at the top of the table this summer, having not beaten second-placed Springvale South, and winning comfortably against the sides in the bottom half of the table.
A spot in the top four is up for grabs when fourth-placed Berwick welcomes fifth-placed Dandenong West to Arch Brown Reserve.
The Bulls and Bears are tied for points on 24, with the chance to climb as high as third, depending on the outcome of the aforementioned Hawks and Bucks match.
Dandenong West shocked the Bears with a stirring win back in its first Turf 1 contest in round two but the Bears are one of the competition’s form sides at present with wins in their last three matches.
Berwick skipper Jarrod Goodes believed from the outset that two-day cricket would suit his side better than white ball matches and his team’s only red ball match was testament to this belief, as they turned in their best batting performance of the summer with a seven-wicket win over Narre South, led by Jake Hancock’s 109.
It shapes as a fascinating contest between bat and ball, and a day in which the Bulls will rely heavily on its top-end seam attack, led by Nuwan Kulasekara, to get the better of Hancock, Michael Wallace and co.
One side’s three-game losing streak will come to an end when Beaconsfield host Narre South, with finals likely out of reach for the vanquished – almost certainly if that team wears purple and gold.
Meanwhile, Springvale South should handle its North Dandenong assignment.
Tips: Berwick v DANDENONG WEST, BUCKLEY RIDGES v Hallam Kalora Park, BEACONSFIELD v Narre South, North Dandenong v SPRINGVALE SOUTH.
