By Marcus Uhe
A disastrous day for Cranbourne Meadows has the Rebels staring down the possibility of a second-consecutive outright defeat in CCCA District; already trailing by 158 runs at stumps on day one of the two-day clash against Upper Beaconsfield.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat at home, the Rebels lasted only 32 overs before their innings was bought to a close at 106.
Four players failed to trouble the scorers, including two of the top three in Anuj Kumar and Iqbal Soi, with opening bowler Daniel Brennan claiming 4/32.
In reply, Upper Beaconsfield raced to 8/264 in just 48 overs as each of the top five made starts.
Gun performer Imesh Jayasekara top-scored with 57 as the Maroons rattled along at 5.5 runs per over.
Cranbourne Meadows tried just about everything to put the breaks on the visitors, with 10 players asked to bowl by captain Jass Dhaliwal, but only Jujhar Singh (4/31) made any significant inroads.
It would be a significant plummet in form and results for the Rebels, should they suffer what appears to be an inevitable loss, after beginning the season with four wins from their first four matches.
Officer vice-captain Ash Smith’s unbeaten 143 was the catalyst for a big first innings Bullants score against Pakenham Upper Toomuc.
Smith’s innings included nine fours and six sixes in what was largely a lone-hand for his side, with other scores of note outside of William Carlyle’s 53 few and far between.
Smith captained the Bullants in Premier Division last season, before handing over the reins to Cooper Pursell.
Nicholas Kyval played the role of strike bowler for the Yabbies but leaked runs, his 4/82 coming off 13 overs.
The Yabbies will need to be at their absolute best to chase the ladder leaders down next week, with the lowest ‘runs for’ total across the first six rounds of all seven sides in the District competition.
Emerald too stacked on the runs against Lang Lang to give itself a strong chance of achieving its first win of the season, on their home deck.
Captain Owen Thorne top scored with 76 as the Bombers made 324 in 78 overs.
While the top order took their time in the heat, Sembakuttige Lakshan and Nicholas Pascoe did their best to up the run rate later in innings with boundary-heavy cameos.
Tigers captain Dale Cranston was the leading wicket taker with 3/53 from 21 overs.
