By Justin Schwarze
A crazy day of cricket between Melbourne Sixers and Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll in the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) District Competition saw drama, wickets and even sets the stage for a potential outright result.
In the first innings, an astonishing seven wicket haul from Niluka Gamage helped bowl Melbourne Sixers out for just 63.
“He bowled very clean and tidily,” Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll president Nick Mueller said.
“He’s good at reacting to what the batters at the crease are doing.”
Notably, Melbourne Sixers batter Hasitha Jayaweera timed out without facing a delivery.
The Marygoons responded with the bat brilliantly, with Bijith Balakrishnan falling just short of a century, scoring 97.
“It was a great opportunity for him to spend some time at the crease and score some runs.
“He absolutely blasted them and he’s not a shy batter.
“He respected the good balls, but if it’s not a good ball, it’s absolutely going.”
James Markland followed suit and made a knock of 72 not out, allowing Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll to declare at 2/184.
As an outright victory was in sight, the Melbourne Sixers were forced to go back to the batting crease.
This time, the hosts were much better, before a flurry of wickets derailed their hopes.
Once again, as wickets fell, the Sixers order failed to be ready.
The second innings saw another batters time out, after three ducks.
The host side were bowled out again, this time for 152.
When play continues on day two this week, Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll needs just 36 runs to win the game in outright fashion.
“We feel confident and are trying to gauge where the competition is at and build good team chemistry,” Mueller said.
Elsewhere, a fantastic century from Chathura Imbulagoda led a strong day for Officer.
The matchup of premiership contender Officer and second-placed Lang Lang was highly anticipated.
Imbulagoda’s ton came off 127 deliveries faced and included 12 fours.
He was well-supported, with William Carlyle bringing up a 57 not out and Jack James also notching a slow grinded half-ton of his own.
The Bullants batted until the 65th over, when they declared after Kuldeep Sidhu was dismissed, posting a score line of 8/310.
After the change, the remaining 12 overs in the day were dominated by Officer with the ball.
Devon Gabriel-Brown and Cooper Pursell decimated the Lang Lang batting order, with Gabriel-Brown especially damaging, taking four wickets himself in just five overs.
He also had an economy of 1.6, including three maiden overs.
Two Tiger batters were dismissed on their first ball faced, and a further four failed to score more than four, leaving Lang Lang at 6/23 at stumps.
With the competition moving to two-day matches, the visitors trail by a massive 287 runs with four wickets in hand.
Play continues at Rob Porter Reserve on Saturday 2 November.
A shaky start for Cranbourne Meadows saw opening batter Jass Dhaliwal removed by Jaan Balasuriya for a golden duck against Carlisle Park.
However, this didn’t prove to knock the Rebels as they fought their way to 218, thanks to 66 from Agyapal Sidhu.
To end the day, Carlisle Park took to the crease for 11 overs.
Those overs proved to be costly for the Vikings, losing Ethan de Vries and David Nutting without either registering a run.
Opener Ethan Davies defended for the rest of the day, but watched as two more partners fell.
Heading into day two, the visitors require 192 runs to win with six wickets in hand.
Over at Chandler Oval, Pakenham Upper Toomuc looks for 37 more runs with seven wickets in hand against Emerald.
After six wickets from Raja Sadiq held Emerald to 129, the Yabbies lost three before settling to 3/92 at stumps.
Action for day two gets underway on Saturday.
