By Marcus Uhe
A return to form for Narre South on Saturday was the ultimate Christmas reward for Jeevan Mendis’ side in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 1 competition, days out from the 25th of December.
Led by a century for former captain Kyle Hardy, the Lions lifted themselves from the bottom of the table with a much-needed six points against Beaconsfield, ensuring the turkey and pork on wednesday will be rid of any bitterness or sour taste.
Resuming the day at 1/51 with 128 runs required for victory, the Lions completed the job in the 46th over, the 31st of the day, for the loss of only one further wicket.
Mendis brought up the winning runs in classy fashion, reverse-sweeping Abaseen Taniwal for four to the backward square-leg boundary.
The celebrations continued for Narre South, with Hardy reaching his first hundred for the summer on the next delivery.
It came off just 136 deliveries and is his third in just over 12 months of cricket, having made two last summer that ended a previously difficult run of scores for the opening batter.
The run rate intensified as the target became more and more visible, with 78 runs coming off the final six overs before the target was eclipsed.
Overs 43 and 45, bowled by Susantha Pradeep and Tyler Clark, both conceded 20 runs in a torrid showing.
Wickets fell in the desire for quick runs once the job was complete, losing 6/18 in attempts to hit out.
Jake Cutting and Taniwal took three wickets each in that period, with a catch from Michael Dunstan behind the stumps off the blade of Zac Wilson a highlight for the Tigers in a tough opening session.
Narre South declared at 8/204, ahead by 26, on the chance of creating an outright result.
Their hopes were in vain, however, with Beaconsfield taking the chance for an open net session to finish the calendar year.
Andrey Fernando and Riley Clark both reached 32 before hands were shaken after 30 overs.
The next time Beaconsfield takes the field, it will be more than two months since their last victory, having lost its last four contests heading into the break, after a promising 2-1 start to open the season.
Its neighbours over the creek, however, will tuck into the Christmas meal donning paper crowns from Bon Bons with glee after defending 356 comfortably against Dandenong West.
Dandenong West can consider itself unlucky – 256 runs in a second innings would be enough to chase many a total – but the monstrosity of Berwick’s score was simply too big a task.
Shaun Weir played an aggressive role at the top of the order to suggest the Bulls were not going to leave any stone unturned in the pursuit, the key figure in a 65-run opening stand, making 34 of his 41 runs in boundaries.
His intent brought his downfall, however, holing out on the long-on boundary to Jake Hancock to bring his stay to a close.
Venuk Hemachandra and Don Pulukkuttiarachchi did not show the same ambition and desire for quick runs, with Hemachandra the next to go for 37.
He was the first of two victims in quick succession to the Matthew Hague-Jordan Cleland combination, striking twice with the score on 95 as Anthony Brannan came and went for a duck – his second consecutive innings without scoring.
The captain-coach’s scores this year make for uncomfortable reading, posting just 65 runs from six innings, with 41 coming in one knock against Hallam Kalora Park.
The wicket of Riley Siwes in the same passage of play made for a 3/7 collapse shortly before the tea interval, leaving Nuwan Kulasekara and Pulukkuttiarachchi to pick up the pieces.
They added 41 and stabilised proceedings either side of the interval, but with a further 249 runs required from the second lot of 40 overs, the Bears were completely on top.
Hague continued with his offspin after the break and rewarded Goodes’ faith in him by grabbing Kulasekara, caught low down in the infield by Lachlan Brown at short midwicket.
Matt Collett came and went in the space of 11 balls, losing his off stump to the left-arm pace of James Trodd without scoring.
Like his captain, Collett has endured a tough season with the bat, with just 40 runs to show for his five innings.
Bailey Howarth scored some vital time at the crease with 60, as the Berwick spinners capitalised on a vulnerable tail end.
Elliot Mathews broke through Pulukkuttiarachchi’s resistance before claiming Adam Reid and Peter Atkinson to finish with 3/43.
Brown bowled only 2.1 overs but put the finishing touches on the performance by ending Howarth’s afternoon, the final Bulls wicket to fall.
The Bears’ three spinning options combining for seven wickets doubled-down on the significance that the absence of Malinga Bandara had on the Dandenong West lineup, the legspinner unavailable for selection having returned to Sri Lanka for the Christmas period.
His reliability, probing nature and willingness to bowl long spells allows the other bowlers to be rotated at the other end, and was sorely missed the week before, with Berwick cashing in.
Berwick enters the Christmas interval of the season with four wins on the bounce, the form team of Turf 1 playing exceptional cricket and thriving in the longer format of the game.
Dandenong West remain in fifth place, but has work to do in the remaining five matches if they want to qualify for finals, now a game adrift from fourth.
At North Dandenong, Ramneet Dhindsa ensured he finished the pre-Christmas block of games on the nice list, and should expect a stocking full of gifts on Wednesday morning from his North Dandenong teammates.
Dhindsa’s resistance and dogged determination was the primary reason the Maroons avoided the indignity of an outright defeat against a Springvale South side looking for blood – in the form of an extra four points.
Having been dismissed for just 109 before tea, North Dandenong was made to bat again by Cameron Forsyth, seeking 10 points for an outright win.
When Josh Dowling and Nick Boland combined for four wickets in their respective opening spells, to have the home side in all sorts at 4/12, proceedings looked ominous for the Maroons, already destined for a fight to stay in Turf 1 in the back half of the summer.
Dhindsa, however, was having none of it, and erected a one-man wall with an innings of defiance.
He arrived at the crease in the sixth over at 3/11, absorbed plenty of the strike, and blocked and left his way to 11 not out from 118 deliveries.
He faced nearly as many balls as the remainder of his teammates combined – just pipped at 119 – as the Maroons held off the offensive from the Springvale South attack, finishing the day at 7/66.
Dowling finished with four wickets, his second haul of four for the match, giving him eight in the day.
Like their Western counterparts, North Dandenong began the day with a huge challenge at its feet, needing a whopping 385 wins to claim a third win of the season.
A promising start of 3/84 suggested they were in for the long haul, but an implosion from the middle and lower order said otherwise.
From 3/84 at the start of the 27th over, the Maroons lost 7/25 in 13 overs, crumbling to a dismissal of just 109.
Three separate overs in the innings yielded two wickets, as separate mini-collapses of 2/0, 3/3 and 4/3 exposed the Maroons’ lack of temperament once more.
Captain, Tahsinullah Sultani top scored with 34 from 30 deliveries, as Dowling claimed 4/24, and Boland 3/28.
Narre South’s win over Beaconsfield means the Lions leapfrog the Maroons, sending North Dandenong to the foot of the table at the interval, and in the box seat to be playing Turf 2 next summer.
