By Jonty Ralphsmith and Marcus Uhe
Lower grades action in the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association was this weekend highlighted by an eight-wicket haul to Emerald’s Anthony Flint and rapid-fire centuries to Cardinia’s Matt Welsh, Officer’s Blake Henderson and Devon Meadows’ Jason Brzezowski.
A GRADE
Cardinia’s Matt Welsh played a lone hand with both bat and ball on Saturday on the first day of their fixture against Tooradin.
Arriving at the crease with his side in trouble at 3-35, Welsh rebuilt the innings on his own with a run-a-ball 159, before claiming two wickets after his side was bowled out for 243.
Tooradin will need 202 next week with eight wickets in hand to claim a victory.
In the other matchup between top-four teams, Officer have set Clyde 262 to win thanks to a number of batters making starts.
Seven players passed 20, highlighted by Peter Quinn’s 61 batting at four, as the wickets were shared among the Clyde bowlers.
With Officer, Cardinia and Clyde all tied on 90 points on the table in second, third and fourth respectively, the results on Saturday will have enormous finals ramifications.
In other fixtures, both Merinda Park and Carlisle Park were both bowled for 88 by Koo Wee Rup and Pakenham, respectively.
B GRADE
Anthony Flint had the ball on a string for Emerald, single-handedly putting his team in a commanding position against Pakenham Upper Toomuc.
The 54-year-old right arm in-swinger claimed 8/12 off 10 overs to limit the Yabbies to 64, which Emerald chased down comfortably thanks to a Nicholas Closter half-century, declaring at 1/66.
He knocked all three pegs out of the ground on his first ball of the day, one of two wickets in a miserly opening spell.
It was after tea where he did all the damage, breaking a 20-over partnership and continuing to attack, taking 6/1 off three overs in that period and he was at one stage on a hattrick – ultimately going on to claim three wickets in four balls.
That five of his wickets were bowled, underlined his ascendancy and how fiery the spell was.
An Emerald junior, he is a stalwart of the club and also opens the batting for Emerald.
Pakenham Upper Toomuc was then sent in for the last stanza of the day, and sit at 1/21 at stumps.
Cranbourne Meadows is in an excellent position against Clyde after choosing to bowl first and skittling the hosts for 122.
The visitors were led by Agyapal Sidhu, whose 20.1 overs yielded 4/31, while Amreek Mann also took two wickets as Clyde lasted only 53 overs.
Amarpreet Singh, unbeaten on 34, batted with intent to lift the visitors to 1/43 off 13 at stumps.
A five-wicket haul to Devon Meadows’ Thomas Rowe has set up the possibility of an outright against Upper Beaconsfield, which was bowled out for 92 in 44.2 overs.
Opener William Loudon led the chase and he sits unbeaten on 59 with Devon Meadows ahead by 18 runs with eight wickets in hand and a full day’s play remaining.
C GRADE
There was an air of familiarity on the three C Grade scorecards.
Both Cardinia and Pakenham were dismissed for 125 batting first in their two-day fixtures, and NNG/Maryknoll weren’t far behind on 124.
Officer have 99 more to chase against Cardinia, finishing the day on 2/27 after a five-wicket haul for Luke Crisera during Cardinia’s innings.
Devon Meadows need 112 more against NNG/Maryknoll and Lang Lang 119 against Pakenham, but will start next Saturday three wickets down, after Pakenham finished the day with momentum.
D GRADE
Five maximums, twenty boundaries, and 143 off 117.
That’s how young Officer opener Blake Henderson’s score read on the weekend.
He crushed Cardinia’s attack in a knock which had his team going at a rate of better than a run a ball for much of his time at the crease.
His opening partner, the more experienced Matthew Lucas, was dismissed for 30 when the score had already raced along to 146, underlining Henderson’s dominance.
In particular, he took a liking to Tyler Oates, whose eight overs cost 75 runs.
“Blake had one of those days we all dream of,” Lucas said.
“His favourite shot is a pull/hook shot and they just kept bowling into his body.
“After four or five overs I said to myself ‘I’m just going to get in his head, keep him level, and feed him the strike’.
An Officer junior, he’s yet to play firsts cricket but is well known around the club with his Dad also playing at Officer until last season.
“He was as on as on can be<" Lucas said. "I was just trying to mentor him, if he hit a boundary, I'd support him and let him know we didn't need to do anything stupid: the runs would come. "He maintained the same tempo throughout - if he wanted to hit a ball, he was just hitting it. "He was patient enough to respect the good balls but he was playing them everywhere, there were cut shots and glances and drives over the bowlers as well - the only shots he left out were reverses and ramps so they were all proper cricket shots!" Lucas also highlighted the mutual respect in the partnership: "when I got out, the Cardi boys all said well batted and off I went but Blake actually called me back and said 'mate, it was a pleasure batting with you' and it was nice, I got to dwell on that for the next 140-odd runs we made after that." Nine different bowlers were tried to stem the bleeding for Cardinia: only Rowan Hogenbirk and Chris Remy could sustain some discipline in their bowling, each going at an economy of less than three and picking up two wickets amid the damage. By the time he was dismissed LBW by Remy, the score read 3/219 inside 30 overs. The team declared after 50 overs at 8/280. In response, Cardinia sit at 1/64 after 17 overs, Remy not out on 26 Meanwhile, Emerald was bowled out for 165 after 60 overs, Andrew Kapahnke making a staunch 66 when he came to the crease at 3/9. Kooweerup got through seven overs unscathed before stumps. Pakenham bowled Clyde out for 94 in the other match and sit at 3/62 with a full day remaining. E GRADE Russell Little’s stay for Pakenham was short, but it was crucial in injecting momentum into the innings against Lang Lang. After a scratchy start, he came out at three and hit 10 boundaries, including four over the rope in his 26-ball 54 which got Pakenham going. Simon Davis also played an excellent hand at number seven, scoring 71 off 89 as Pakenham scored 296 off 63.3 overs. Rubbing salt into the wound, Pakenham had three overs at Lang Lang late in the day, and Ray Perkins and John Hutchinson each picked up a wicket in their first over to have the Swampies sitting at 2/4. A Callum Eastburn five-for was not enough for Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll as Tooradin put 5/297 on the board, bowled out after 69.3 overs. Pakenham Upper Toomuc bowled Officer out for 120 and sit at 2/23 at stumps. F GRADE A maiden century for Jason Brzezowski was the highlight of F grade in Devon Meadows’ contest with Koo Wee Rup. Brzezowski slayed the Demons for 102 after Koo Wee Rup made 6-88 batting first. While at Heatherbrae Recreation Reserve, a half-century to Leigh Smith formed the backbone of Merinda Park’s 126. In reply, Upper Beaconsfield reached 8/86 from their 35 overs. Pakenham, who sit in fifth place outside of the finals four, had the bye.
