By Marcus Uhe
What shaped as a potential grand final preview in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 2 competition on Saturday proved to be a one-sided contest in the finish thanks to an excellent bowling performance from HSD against Parkfield.
A rematch of last summer’s preliminary final in which Parkfield emerged victorious, HSD turned the tables to record a comfortable six-wicket win at Casey Fields, easily chasing the Bandits’ total of 151 in the 36th over.
HSD coach Criag Hookey was pleased with his side’s performance, labelling the win as “professional”.
“We still have the belief that we should win absolutely every game that we play, no matter the opposition,” he said.
“It was good to have it fall our way and be a complete performance bar the last 10 overs of our bowling innings.”
A defiant seventh wicket partnership from Steve Cannon and Sanjay Kahawatte dug Parkfeld out of trouble with the bat, having slumped to 7/94 in the 31st over.
An even spread of contributors with the ball helped to curtail the Bandits’ batting card, with the wickets shared between Triyan De Silva, Ryan Patterson and Jawed Hussaini, while those who did not claim a scalp were effective in keeping the scoring rate down.
Patterson was economical in his new role taking the new ball with De Silva, offering just 14 runs from his seven overs.
Last summer’s Gartside Medal winner in De Silva picked up where he left off from last season by removing the opening pair of Nathanial Cramer for 12 and Dishan Malalasekera for four, with Patterson grabbing the dangerous Riley Payne for four also, ripping the heart out of the Parkfield top order.
Prized recruit Sahan Jayawardana offered the most resistance with the bat, hitting 36 off 59 deliveries, but wickets fell around him and restricted their ability to build partnerships.
Cannon and Kahawatte’s 57 runs for the seventh wicket added respectability to the scorecard, while on the bowling front, HSD recruit Hussaini offered the desired impact with the ball, taking 3/23 from his 12 overs.
HSD experienced a minor wobble in the chase but in truth, never looked considerably troubled.
Left-arm quick Jayawardana showed in part why he was so sought-after in Turf 2 by removing the dangerous Zahoor Sarwari in his opening over, and the wickets of Brent Patterson (18), Mackenzie Gardner (32) and De Silva (13) gave Parkfield glimmers of hope, but the Cobras escaped danger by completing the chase in the 36th over.
Hussaini and Anuda Akmeemana added 75 for the fifth wicket to complete the endeavour as HSD staked their claim as one of the teams to beat this summer.
Not that Hookey is concerned about the outside noise.
“I’m not really worried about what other teams think, but I think it’s really important for us that that was a professional win,” he said.
“We did it with 10 overs to go and in the past, we might have done that seven or eight (wickets) down.
“To do that four down with 10 overs to go is a great sign for us inside our club.
“I sent the boys a message after the game and said ‘that’s how we want to win, we don’t want to be seven or eight wickets down when chasing 150.’
“We were really happy with the way we came across and credit to our middle order for getting it done.”
Life in Turf 2 has begun in stunning fashion for Coomoora with a thrilling final over win over Lyndale at home on Saturday.
With just four deliveries remaining in Saturday’s play, a pair of Roos debutants in Sam Wetering and Jackson Noske guided the Turf 3 premiers home in a cliff-hanger at Coomoora Reserve.
The third of Coomoora’s debutants on Saturday, in Jarrod Munday, was instrumental in anchoring the chase of Lyndale’s 189, top-scoring with 48 in the middle order – all without any boundaries.
He added 80 for the third wicket in an important partnership with Joel Robertson, but his run out and Dean Krelle’s dismissal with the score on 155 threatened to unravel.
Munday and captain Liam Hard departed in quick succession shortly after to make it a collapse of 4/24, but the pair of ex-Premier cricketers provided the calm heads when required to steer the Roos home.
Rajika Fernando took 4/42 for Lyndale, having claimed the big wickets of Rahoul Pankhania, Nick Suppree, Jarrod Munday and Dean Krelle.
Earlier, Michael Klonaridis decimated Lyndale’s middle order, taking 5/53 from his 12 overs, having ruined Lyndale’s solid start with the bat.
From 1/87, the visitors lost 8/102 in the back half of their innings with no batter passing 50.
Usman Ali (45) and Keith Ash (39) started the season brightly and added 60 for the second wicket, but things fell away for Lyndale upon Ash’s dismissal.
At Cranbourne, the Eagles’ boom recruit at the top of the order made an instant impact, with new captain-coach Harrison Carlyon showcasing his all-round talent in the Eagles’ opening game of the year against St Mary’s.
Carlyon’s 73 off just 58 balls, featuring nine fours and a six, got his new side off to an excellent start, helping them to post 233 in 44 overs before his 12 overs of spin netted him 1/30 as the Saints reached just 159.
The Jersey international was the clear standout for Cranbourne with the bat, with fellow debutant Mohit Bisht adding a brisk 42.
With the ball, the Eagles took regular wickets to wrap the Saints’ innings up in the final over for just 159.
47 from Junaid Kari and 35 from former Merinda Park batter Rumesh Ranasinghe were the shining lights with the bat for St Mary’s, but seven batters dismissed for single-figure scores made chasing the total extremely difficult.
Tim Fathers and Martin Kelly each took three wickets for Cranbourne at miserly economy rates to keep the pressure on.
Parkmore, meanwhile, began life under Niranjan Kumar’s dual leadership roles with a six-wicket win over Narre Warren.
The Pirates pillaged the Magpies for 133 in 43 overs, completing the chase in the 31st over.
Amila Ratnaike played a lone hand for Narre Warren with the bat, hitting 74 of his team’s total, with coach John Mentiplay’s 15 the next best contribution.
Parkmore gave a disciplined bowling performance, offering just six extras, with debutant Ankit Saxena taking 3/23 from his nine overs.
Parkmore completed the chase in the 31st over, thanks to strong contributions from Satheesh Fernandu and Kyle Gwynne.
Fernandu hit 42 of his 51 runs in boundaries and contributed the vast majority of the 57-run opening partnership, before cameos from Josh Tonna and Ben Graham helped Parkmore over the line.
