By Jonty Ralphsmith and Marcus Uhe
A GRADE – ROUND THREE
429 runs were hit in 80 overs between Cardinia and Pakenham in a high-scoring 19-run win for the Bulls.
Kim Bentick’s unbeaten 76 pushed the Bulls to 224 from their allotted 40 overs that the Lions were unable to reach at Cardinia Recreation Reserve.
Like Cardinia, Tooradin also managed to eclipse the 200-run barrier, hitting 222 against Devon Meadows.
Bailey Lownds (70) and Shane Somers (57) added 83 for the third wicket to push them to the imposing score, before keeping the Panthers to just 7/115.
Lownds backed-up his performance with the bat by taking 3/8 from his eight overs with the ball, as no Panther made more than 19.
Cranbourne Meadows reached Clyde’s 122 in the 24th over for the loss of just four wickets thanks to Sanjeev Dhanker’s unbeaten 64, while an early collapse of 3/5 from Kooweerup against Merinda Park was too much for the Demons to overcome, falling 38 runs shy of Merinda Park’s 165
ROUND FOUR
Tooradin made it two wins from two matches in A-Grade cricket over the weekend, thanks to a comprehensive victory over Clyde on Sunday.
The Seagulls easily accounted for Clyde’s 83, with Steven Russell’s dismissal in the 25th over seeing the Cougars fall to 8/34, before Kapil Lekamwasam and Will Round did their best to restore some respectability to the performance.
At Toomuc Reserve, a middle order implosion of 6/32 saw Merinda Park throw away a promising start against Pakenham.
Anthony Ponweera took 4/20 to help keep the Cobras to 8/146, which the Lions chased in 36 overs.
Ponweera added a half-century to his four-wicket haul in an excellent all-round performance.
Kooweerup’s John Bright hit a half-century in boundaries alone in his 46-ball 74, which contained six sixes and four fours, as the Demons easily defended 183.
Cardinia’s contest with Cranbourne Meadows was abandoned without a ball bowled.
B GRADE
5/19 from Agamjot Dhindsa helped Officer roll Upper Beaconsfield for 107 at Upper Beaconsfield on Saturday.
The Maroons lost their last five wickets for eight runs before Officer completed the chase with ease for the loss of just two wickets, led by 52 runs from Peter Symons.
Officer and Pakenham are the only two undefeated sides remaining in B-Grade, with Pakenham completing a 76-run win over Clyde.
The Cougars could only offer 90 in response to Pakenham’s 166 with Zac Downes the leading bowler, taking 3/17.
Tooradin inflicted the Melbourne Sixers’ first loss in B-Grade history, chasing the Sixers’ total of 102 for the loss of just five wickets, while Carlisle Park fell 26 runs short of Emerald’s 184.
C GRADE
The theme of a gloomy Saturday of C-Grade cricket was low scores, with three teams bowled out for less than 100.
Jonathon Rewell helped Pakenham Upper Toomuc run through Cardinia, the opening bowler’s four wickets proving instrumental.
The Bulls never looked likely to chase down the target of 120, losing six early wickets and eventually bowled out for 82.
An Anthony Brown five-wicket haul reduced Merinda Park to 90 all out.
Brown finished with figures of 5/17, dismissing five of the top six batters to have the visitors innings in disarray early, before guiding his team to a four-wicket win with a calm 25.
Lower-order runs from Virat Bishnoi and Dylan Aluthwatta helped Officer reach 7/139 after being in early trouble.
That was plenty of runs for the bowling attack to work with as four Nar Nar Goon batters were dismissed without scoring in Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll’s total of 59, Cody Mackay the pick of the bowlers.
Lang Lang made light work of chasing Kooweerup’s 9/132, opener William Wykes unbeaten on 57 in the seven-wicket win.
D GRADE
Big first innings scores was the flavour of D-Grade on the weekend, with Pakenham, Merinda Park and Officer each passing 200 to set unassailable chases.
Russell Little continued his strong form with a quickfire 53 off 35 for Pakenham, well-supported by Robert Newell’s 52.
Clyde was plucky in response, but fell by 80 runs.
Once it fell behind the imposing run rate which exceeded 5.5 from the get-go, they could never catch it up, despite Salman Faiz holding the innings together with 60.
Leigh Smith was the main attraction at Merinda Park, smashing 68 after Huyskens and Chris Smith set a strong foundation opening the batting.
Smith helped the Cobras to 6/213, before Daljit Singh’s 4/10 off eight helped consign Pakenham Upper Toomuc to 80.
At Tooradin, Officer opening pair Shannon Marum and Shane White batted the Gulls out of the game.
Marum was the busier of the pair while White absorbed pressure, the pair scoring 76 and 62 respectively to steer Officer to 4/204.
Four-wicket hauls Jamie Harvey and Abhay Singh kept Tooradin to just 87, of which Mark Prendergast scored 59.
Meanwhile, Emerald’s clash with Melbourne was washed out.
E GRADE
Merinda Park’s unsuccessful chase of Kerala’s 235 was the highlight of E-Grade.
Chasing 235, John Cuthbertson gave his team every opportunity to reach the target with an unbeaten century.
He whacked 13 fours and five maximums before retiring on 123.
He combined well with Paul Humphrey but no-one was able to continue their momentum through the middle-order, the Cobras losing by 13 runs despite losing just three wickets during the big chase.
The story was very different for the Strikers, six players reaching double figures in a strong team performance led by half-centurion Ramandeep Singh.
In other E Grade action: Devon Meadows beat Pakenham Upper Toomuc by six wickets, Kooweerup easily chased down Officer’s 122, the Marygoons forfeited their clash against Pakenham, while no cricket was played between Cardinia and Officer.
