By Jonty Ralphsmith and Marcus Uhe
Kooweerup and Cranbourne Meadows posted imposing first innings totals in the first day of round 5 in A Grade of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA).
Steady contributions and smart partnerships were the recipes for the Demons, with skipper Brannon Harrison’s 80 leading a quintet of individual scores en route to a team total of 293 against Pakenham.
Rebels batter Sanjeev Dhankhar, meanwhile, scored a punchy century in Cranbourne Meadows’ 313, as opening partner Narinder Kumar and number four Mohit Mandora tested Merinda Park’s fitness.
A late innings flurry of 56 off 32 from Gurpreet Sandhu, batting at nine, countered a brief momentum shift as Brad Hodge and Harkamal Singh didn’t let Cranbourne Meadows’ middle order settle.
Meanwhile, an unbeaten 111 from middle-order batter Zac Shepherd helped Clyde post a commanding 8/308 against Devon Meadows as skipper Mick Floyd was miserly with 5/77.
Tooradin’s Luke Adams did the early damage to keep Cardinia to 199, with his side 1/40 in pursuit at stumps.
In B Grade, Joshua Westra’s 133 off 200 at the top of the order was the highlight, which helped deliver Upper Beaconsfield a strong total of 5/265.
The more aggressive Usman Ali in the middle order played a key role in putting the pressure back on the Pakenham bowlers.
Half-centuries to Shane Jack, John Simpson and Nicholas Miles helped Clyde reach 6/231 against Emerald.
Dean Lyddy’s captain’s spell for Carlisle Park was important as he got consistent breakthroughs to finish with 5/43, but Tooradin’s Robert Simpson’s 87 ensured the match remained in the balance at stumps, the Gulls 9/203.
Abhi Sharma’s seven-wicket haul for Officer in the other game has the Bullants in the driver’s seat, 147 runs from victory at stumps with nine wickets in hand.
It was a Saturday for the bowling sides in C Grade, with Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll, Pakenham Upper Toomuc and Lang Lang all on the front foot.
The Marygoons ran through Cardinia for just 149, led by a skipper’s spell of 4/30 from Nick Mueller, and they sit at 3/64 in response.
Pakenham Upper Toomuc kept Devon Meadows to 9/159 and Lang Lang sit at 0/26 chasing Officer’s 134.
The outlier of C Grade was Merinda Park, openers Nathan Francis (73 off 55) and Brett Irvine (75 off 117) firing the Cobras to 9/311.
Merinda Park’s D Grade side, meanwhile, fell just 19 runs shy of a humiliating defeat of Emerald after running through the Bombers’ batting line-up with ease at Cranbourne West Secondary.
Jamie Smith and Russell Alison took three wickets each as the visitors could only muster 93 in 43 overs, Bodie Hughes top-scoring with 27.
In reply, Merinda Park reached 75 with 10 wickets in hand by the close of play.
Where the Bombers struggled, Melbourne Sixers flourished, hitting 250 against Clyde.
Shane Webster took 5/59 for the Cougars but he did little to contain Konara Mudiyanselage who hit a dashing 74 off just 76 deliveries to provide the bulk of the Sixers’ scoring.
Clyde resumes the chase at 0/6 next week.
Pakenham Upper Toomuc’s bowlers had an excellent day against Officer, rolling the Bullants for 123 on the Bullants’ home deck.
Tailender Aidan James offered the most resistance with 32 as the Yabbies took scalps in clumps to maintain pressure on the home side, the wickets shared between Dilpreet Singh, Shayaan Anwar, Gunjan Patel and Digesh Bhatt.
Pakenham Upper Toomuc require just a further 106 runs for victory, having reached 1/18 at stumps.
Tooradin was forced to forfeit its contest with Pakenham.
Mansoor Ahmad’s seven wicket haul for Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll stole the show in E-Grade as the Kerala Strikers reached 196.
Strikers captain Riju Rajendran hit one six and 11 fours in a 56-ball 64 to lead the charge for his side but Ahmad’s 7/78 from 22 overs kept the competition’s newcomers in-check.
Ahmad could not repeat his heroics with the ball when batting, dismissed for 15 as Davis Joseph removed both openers before stumps.
The Marygoons require another 150 to win with eight wickets in hand.
The runs were not flowing as much at Kooweerup High School, however, with Merinda Park mustering just 56.
The Demons reached 0/15 at stumps to trail by 41 runs at the close of play.
Pakenham’s John Hutchinson ripped through Officer Green’s middle order to restrict the Bullants to 9/137 from its first innings.
Hutchinson took the wickets of Raneesh Akella, Gurpreet Aulakh and Rudra Bhatt in quick succession to finish with 4/33 from his 22 overs.
Leigh Braford and Emmanuel Megee provided a late fightback with 39 and 26 respectively.
Pakenham Upper Toomuc defeated Officer Gold by forfeit.
