By David Nagel
Is it possible to learn anything from a rain-shortened opening round of CCCA District Division on Saturday that saw all four games end in draws?
Carlisle Park, Cranbourne Meadows, Officer and Pakenham Upper/Toomuc will all feel a little ripped off; being in powerful positions until mother-nature once again put the dampener on the first battles for the season.
Carlisle Park (2/45), the Vikings, will feel most aggrieved after being in a dominant position against last year’s cellar-dweller Lang Lang (73).
After winning the toss and throwing the home side into bat, the Vikings rolled the Tigers in 23.4 overs of carnage, with their new-look bowling attack doing plenty of early-season damage.
Boom-recruit Jarrod Armitage (2/20 off 5) made the early breakthrough, removing Tim Miller for a duck, before Jaan Balasuriya (1/13) joined in the party.
And when Armitage had Theekshana Hettiarachchi (4) caught by Ethan Davies, the Swamp Tigers were 3/17 and seemingly in all sorts of trouble.
Opener Rumesh Abeysinghage (33) provided the only bright light of the innings, striking one boundary and a maximum during an enterprising knock that came off 42 deliveries.
Abeysinghage and Damien Quinlan (5 off 19 balls) worked hard to resurrect the innings, before the wheels well and truly fell off.
Davies (3/18) took the first of his three wickets, trapping Abeysinghage in front, before Rob Fuller and Adam Hassan combined to run out Quinlan.
Hassan (3/18) then claimed three wickets in quick succession, with Nick Peake (0) having his castle knocked over, before Oshadha Ariyadasa and Nathan McLean were both catapulted to the pavilion for two.
Davies then mopped up the tail; the Tigers losing a remarkable 7/22 in the latter part of their innings.
The Vikings tried hard in reply, with Dave Nutting (22 off 16) leading the charge, but were ultimately cut short by the rain; just 29 runs shy of their target with plenty of overs left to bat.
The Vikings will take a lot of confidence into another away trip against NNG/Maryknoll this week, while the Tigers will need to regroup on a road trip to Melbourne Sixers.
Officer’s feared bowling attack looks to be once again at the top of its game after the Bullants had the better of Emerald (5/91) at Chandler Reserve.
Jonty Bennie (2/22), Cooper Pursell (1/10) and Noah Parraga (1/22) had the home side on the back foot; 4/44 at one stage, with Ethan Crosher (17) providing most resistance from the Bombers top order.
Trent Rolfs (25) and Michael Hoban (10 not out) then stopped things from getting out of hand with a 28-run partnership that stopped the charging Bullants in their tracks.
Ash Smith (1/12 off 8) claimed the wicket of Rolfs, but rain soon intervened after 33 overs of play.
Officer host Pakenham Upper/Toomuc this week, while the Bombers head to Lawson Poole Reserve to take on a dangerous Cranbourne Meadows.
The Rebels produced the best batting display on day one of the season, being 5/179 off 33 overs when play was brought to a standstill against competition newcomers Melbourne Sixers.
The Rebels top-order all got away to starts, with openers Manu Goraya (43) and Sanjeev Dhankar (29) in fine touch – hitting 11 boundaries between them – before Tanvir Singh (42) and Karanbir Tiwana (29 not out) continued the top-order dominance.
The Sixers were their own worst enemies, conceding 19 extras, with 14 wides amongst that lot.
They also dropped catches, and will need to sharpen that part of their game if they’re to come close to challenging the better teams in the competition.
And finally, Pakenham Upper/Toomuc had the upper hand when stumps were pulled against NNG/Maryknoll (56.1) on Saturday.
A revitalised Lucas Plozza (2/5 off 5) took bowling honours for the Yabbies, while Raja Sadiq (2/25 off 6) was also up and about early.
Ryan Mibus (1/28) also claimed a wicket for the home side, while Gayan De Silva (20), Tharindu Wathudura (17 not out) and Troy Ferguson (11) were the major breadwinners for the Marygoons.
Fixture – Round 2
Saturday 12 October, 2024
Officer v Pakenham Upper/Toomuc
NNG/Maryknoll v Carlisle Park
Cranbourne Meadows v Emerald
Melbourne Sixers v Lang Lang
