By Marcus Uhe
Early concerns surrounding Keysborough’s form to begin the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 3 season have been cast aside, after becoming the first side to defeat Fountain Gate this summer on Saturday.
Despite a major collapse of 7/11 in the first innings, the Knights reached 140 thanks primarily to the efforts of Christo Otto and Shanaka Perumpuli, who combined for 91 runs.
The pair dug them out of trouble with a 95-run stand, with Otto adding 58 and Preumpuli 33, before the capitulation saw their innings end in the 33rd over.
Fountain Gate spinner Surya Pratap ripped through the Knights’ lower order and tail, finishing with 6/12.
In reply, the Gators lost wickets in clumps, including 4/8, 2/3 and 2/0 at different stages to succumb for 108.
Shantanu Gupta’s 23 was the highest score for the Gators, with no teammate passing 20.
Abhinay Motupalli took 3/32 for Keysborough and Otto 2/15, as the Knights reached three consecutive wins.
Berwick Springs snuck home by five runs against Hampton Park, dismissing the Lions for 165 in reply to 170.
Riley Hillman made 42 for the Titans in a welcome return to some runs batting first, with his the highest score on the batting card.
Six batters were dismissed for single-figure scores but 26 extras from Hampton Park proved costly in the tight result.
Jagtar Dhillon matched Hillman’s efforts with 42 opening the batting for the Lions and he was blessed with more contributors up and down the card, but Berwick Springs brought the innings to a close with nine deliveries remaining.
Seamer Ethan Marinic took 4/23 off nine overs, despite being the sixth bowler thrown the ball.
At Springvale Reserve, Silverton returned to winning ways with a 64-run win over Narre North.
Contributions from Robert North (42), Harsha Dampahalage (65) and Varinder Verk (47) pushed the Bakers to 238, with Narre North reaching just 174 in reply.
Silverton scored 5.37 runs per over but was dismissed in the final over of the innings, with Fazmin Mohamed taking 5/57 for the visitors.
It was an impressive performance with the bat from Narre North, having lost 5/40 to open the innings.
Kamran Malik and Aydin Akin shared a 114-run partnership for the sixth wicket, with Malik reaching 65 and Akin 50, but the next highest scores beyond theirs was just 10.
Harkanwal Singh and Dylan Hayes took three wickets each for Silverton.
Lynbrook thrashed Doveton by nine wickets, easily chasing 107 with nearly half their overs remaining.
Jatinder Singh grabbed 3/26 and Medie Dala 3/22 to continue a tale of woe for Doveton’s batters this summer, which is averaging just 99 runs per innings.
77 from James Kellett ensured the Lakers had little trouble reaching the target, completing the effort in the 26th over.
Lynbrook, Fountain Gate, Keysborough and Silverton each have three wins to open the season and occupy the top four spots on the table ahead of two-day cricket beginning this weekend.
Lynbrook and Fountain Gate shapes as the biggest contest of the weekend between two of the sides on three wins, while Narre North has a tough ask against Berwick springs.
