By David Nagel
Pakenham and Tooradin continue to set a hot pace at the top of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) Premier Division ladder with both delivering in emphatic style on the weekend.
The undefeated Lions reduced Cardinia’s brittle batting line-up to rubble, while the Gulls rode a magnificent all-round performance from Josh Lownds to a thumping victory over Kooweerup.
PAKENHAM 126 V CARDINIA 105
Mesmerising performances from skipper Dale Tormey (18.2-7-4-30) and Jason Williams (31-14-4-46) have propelled undefeated Pakenham (126) to a magnificent victory over Cardinia (105) at Gunton Oval.
The Lions under-performed on day one, but drew on the belief of an undefeated season to gun down the Bulls on their home deck.
Williams bowled unchanged from one end, while Tormey took over after an eight-over stint from Tommy Tyrrell (12-6-2-27) to lead his team to a memorable triumph.
“It’s right up there, you’d put that up there with the Tooradin win from earlier in the season,” Tormey explained.
“I said that to the boys after the game; that these are the type of wins that you can fall back on later, when things get tough and tense come finals time.
“Winning is contagious and if you win the tight ones you don’t tend to panic as much when those situations arise again.
“It’s a good habit to get into, that’s for sure.”
Off-spinner Williams opened the bowling and contained the Bulls brilliantly, bowling 14 maidens in a high-class display of slow bowling.
Tormey threw him the new rock for good reason.
“He (Williams) was super, obviously he opened the week before because we thought he was good match up with Alex (Nooy), spinning the ball away from the left-hander,” Tormey said.
“But basically we just took a leaf out of their book, they didn’t bowl amazing wicket balls, but they didn’t bowl badly, and that was the key for us.
“It’s a small ground at Cardy; if you bowl bad balls you get punished.”
Nooy (31) top-scored for the Bulls, while skipper Jake Prosser (11) and Nathan Volpe (18) threatened to stop the Lions in their tracks with a 24-run stand for the sixth wicket.
At 5/92, chasing 126, the Bulls were in the box seat, but the Lions refused to buckle.
“We were all very calm, the young boys were up and about, and we believed if we got on a roll, got a couple of quick ones, that we’d put them on the back-foot, given they’ve had a few low scores recently,” Tormey said.
“Boof (Williams) gets through his overs quickly, I have a short run up as well, so we tick through the overs and that can apply pressure as well.
“Dot ball pressure in all forms of the game is what we’re looking for.”
Williams claimed four vital scalps, with Nooy, Prosser, Bradey Welsh (9) and Leigh Paterson (3) among his victims.
The Lions head to bottom-of-the-ladder Clyde this week, while the Bulls host an also spluttering Kooweerup.
KOOWEERUP 199 V TOORADIN 5/302(DEC)
Josh Lownds is emerging as a key weapon in the title defence of Tooradin (5/302dec) after the gifted all-rounder completed a career-best performance against Kooweerup (199) at Denhams Road on Saturday.
Lownds, who took 5/48 and finished 57 not out on day one, completed his inauguration with an even century (100) that built the platform for first-innings points.
Brad Butler (73) earned the title of ‘Best Supporting Act in a Thrashing’, while Tyler Evans (29 not out) and super-impressed skipper Cal O’Hare (49) were well-performing extras.
“He (Lownds) is a very good cricketer and always had the potential to be one of the best players in the league, and this year we’re seeing what he can do,” O’Hare said.
“He’s in a really good place off field and that’s helping his cricket a lot.
“It’s great to see him finally reach his full potential…it’s great for the team and great for him as well.”
The Seagulls seem to be cruising at the moment, with depth in all departments, but O’Hare can see one or two things derailing the opportunity of back-to-back glory.
“Two things, we’ve got to get our bodies right – we’ve got too many injuries at the moment – and we need to start holding our catches,” he said.
“We’ve put down four or five chances in the last three or four games, and that’s going to cost us big time if we put down the wrong players.
“Drop (Dale) Tormey or (Chris) Smith in a final and they’re going to make you pay.
“We’re definitely not playing at our best, and that’s exciting that we’ve still got room to improve.”
But, overall, the Gulls’ imposing leader is highly impressed with his chargers.
“Our strength has been having a lot of contributors the whole way down the list,” he said.
“Blokes like Brad Butler, he’s an exciting cricketer and is still improving every game, BJ (Ben Parrott), has been fantastic, and young Tyler Evans is making a significant contribution as well.”
The Gulls head to Officer this week, while the Demons will look to bounce back from two consecutive losses when they head to arch-rivals Cardinia.
Rob Maskiell (2/11) and Gamini Kumara (2/44) were the best of the Demons bowling attack…that welcomes back trump-card Luke McMaster this weekend.
OFFICER 9/210 V MERINDA PARK 208
Officer (9/210) and Merinda Park (208) have done it again.
After the Bullants survived a last-ball thriller against the Cobras on Sunday 16 October, this time they prevailed again with a one-wicket win in their first run-chase for the season.
A hard-hitting half century from Jas Gill (68 off 53 balls) and an overdue return to form for Nick McLennan (60) set the Bullies on the path to victory.
The Cobras fought back through stirring efforts from Sas Perera (3/62), Andy Martin (2/16) and Josh Phillips (2/35), but late heroics from Leigh Boyle (12) and Nick Whitelaw (11 not out) got the Bullants across the line.
Keeper Whitelaw, who whipped off the bails to secure the first victory back in October, was at it again, playing a ramp shot for two to give the Bullants their third win of the season.
“I don’t know what it is between us and them, they’ve both been very close, but I think we almost shot ourselves in the foot on the weekend,” said Officer skipper Ash Smith.
“We were going along well and then gave away a few wickets to make it tight, and that’s something we’ve done consistently over the years.
“We can’t seem to win one convincingly.
“Our attitude is always to maintain wickets and not lose wickets in clumps, but we’ve got a couple of guys that bat pretty much the same way each week.
“Jas Gill hit his third ball almost into the tennis courts at Officer, that’s how he bats, and he got us off to a flyer, but then we lost wickets and made it interesting.”
McLennan, with uninspiring scores of 0, 3, 5 and 0 in his previous four knocks, would then anchor the innings.
“He was copping a bit of stick, and when he got to seven he turned around and said, ‘that’s my highest score for the season, what’s that say about you blokes’,” Smith said with a laugh.
“He was good fun on the weekend and played a crucial role.”
Smith and the Bullants have now set the bar high.
“We’ve got a lot of room for improvement, and we’re really hunting that fourth spot now, and we’re pretty confident we can get there,” he said.
CLYDE (199) V CARLISLE PARK (263)
A growing confidence is developing at Carlisle Park (263) after a five-wicket haul to Senal De Silva (17-3-5-36) launched the Vikings to a 64-run victory over Clyde (199) at Ramlegh Reserve.
Not even a fighting century – that included 13 fours and one six – from reigning Team of the Year member Jason Hameeteman (106) could deny the Vikings from banking their second-consecutive victory…their only two wins for the season.
“We obviously got off to a pretty slow start, but we’ve got a few new recruits and everyone is starting to come together well,” said skipper Teddy Fonseka.
“We’ve had some really good performances; Shalika (Karunanayake) got his ton last week and Senal (De Silva) took five wickets in the same game, so it’s building nicely.
“They’re really good cricketers, and were always going to come to the fore, it was just a matter of time before they showed their class.”
Remarkably, if the Vikings can beat Merinda Park this week, they could head to the break in fourth position after languishing in last place prior to round six.
“That was always the goal for us, to play finals, and we knew we would slowly build into the season and play our best cricket over time,” Fonseka said.
“It’s been good to get the last couple of wins and hopefully be in the four by Christmas.
“There’s still some very good teams around, Tooradin for example, but it looks like the middle spot is available and hopefully we can sneak in there.”
Fonseka has been thrilled with the performance of a long-list of recruits that have transformed the Vikings playing list.
“Mahie (Bodahandi) got 50 and batted well with Shalika last week; Ben (Perry) is a classy player, and all the other recruits have chimed in nicely at times,” he said.
“Ravi (Kodithuwakku) was a very big loss, but the guys we brought into the team have made up that difference, and then some.
“The club did extremely well to attract talent, especially finishing bottom last year, to attract that talent has been an amazing effort from the club.”
De Silva was the clear standout for the Vikings, with Bodahandi (2/48) also chiming in, while Kane Avard (27) provided most support to Hameeteman in the ill-fated run-chase.
