By Marcus Uhe
Four teams remain in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s (DDCA) T20 competition following the quarter final rounds on Tuesday 14 January.
The disparity of graded Turf divisions rang true across the four contests, with the team in the higher division in each head-to-head progressing in all four contests.
Hallam Kalora Park, Berwick, Cranbourne and Dandenong West comprise the final four, each progressing with wins over Parkmore, Coomoora, Lynbrook and Silverton, respectively.
Hallam Kalora Park’s blistering batting form continued from the group stage with a second monster score in excess of 200.
Batting first, the Hawks hit the highest team score of the competition to date, making 3/244 against Parkmore, eclipsing their very own mark set in their previous contest against St Mary’s (235).
Hallam Kalora Park’s cream rose to the top in the contest, with marquee signing Matthew Calder making 74, with five sixes and five fours, and captain, Jordan Hammond, reaching 53 with seven fours and two sixes.
The Hawks skipped along at more than 12 runs per over at Hallam Recreation Reserve in a demoralising performance, before keeping the Pirates to 9/143 in the chase.
Parkmore can consider themselves unfortunate – their team score was the second-highest in the four quarter-finals, but was still 101 shy of the target.
Lauchlan Gregson took 3/24 in the defence, backing up from his unbeaten flurry of 26 in the first innings.
At Greaves Reserve, Dandenong West ended Silverton’s run with a commanding six-wicket win.
One of just two Turf 3 teams to reach the quarter-finals on the back of a stunning chase of 171 against North Dandenong, the Bakers were outclassed by the Bulls in a comprehensive manner.
Marquee import Talwinder Prince made 64 of his side’s 100 runs, lasting just 17.2 overs against the Bulls attack, with Simranjit Singh his only teammate to reach double figures in a score of 10.
Quicks, Nuwan Kulasekara, Adam Reid and marquee Sam Fowler did the business early with key top order wickets of Matthew Wall and Anmol Zakhmi, before Malinga Bandara had the middle and lower order in knots while attempting to solve his spinning puzzle.
Bandara finished with 4/12 from his four overs as the three seamers grabbed two wickets apiece.
The Bulls survived an early scare as a fired-up Bakers bowling attack put the heat on the batting line up, and had the Bulls in trouble at 4/36, continuing an unwanted trend for their top order in this competition.
As he did in the final pool game against Narre South, Kulasekara proved the cool head in a crisis that Dandenong West required, making 30, with Bailey Howarth playing the supporting role on 25.
The two put on 68 for the fifth wicket to guide the Bulls to safety, four wickets down, with three overs to spare.
Silverton maximised the value from Prince, who finished with exceptional figures of 2/4 from his four overs.
Lynbrook, Turf 3’s other survivor, was no match for Cranbourne at Casey Fields.
The Lakers lost 9/45 in the back half of their innings, undoing the hard work of Harjinder Sohal and Tajbir Power’s 50-run stand for the second wicket and posting just 107.
Pace-off bowling and seam variations was effective for the Eagles, with Alex Hollingsworth (3/19), Harrison Carlyon (2/25) and Ketan Bakshi (2/4) taking the bulk of the wickets.
Carlyon and Harsaroup Singh ensured the Eagles avoided any stumbles in the run chase, making 92 of the required 108.
Berwick, meanwhile, chased 140 against Coomoora for the loss of just four wickets.
The Bears’ bowling attack ensured the Roos could not find a foothold with the bat in the first innings, with a 43-run second wicket partnership the largest union of the innings.
Coomoora coach Nick Suppree slapped 32 in an 11-ball cameo but finished with nearly as many boundaries (six) and his teammates combined (eight).
Spinners, Elliot Mathews and Matthew Hague combined for five wickets.
Berwick completed the chase in the 19th over, with Jarryd Wills (43), Michael Wallace (32) and Brodie Herkess (25) all making valuable contributions.
Coomoora’s seamers were expensive in the run chase, as spinners Malan Madusanka and Amarjot Singh did their best to keep the Roos in the game.
The eyes of the DDCA now turn to Shepley Oval for the semi final contests on Sunday 2 February.
Hallam Kalora Park will face Berwick, and Dandenong West will tackle Cranbourne next door on Wilson Oval, with the winners of both contests to front-up for the final later in the afternoon.
Berwick is hoping for a second T20 championship in three seasons, after claiming the title in 2022/23.
Cranbourne will fly the flag for the lower grades as the only side not in Turf 1 remaining, and will hope to go one-better than HSD did last summer, which fell at the final hurdle against Springvale South.
