By Marcus Uhe
The first outright win of the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 2 summer has given Cranbourne an early Christmas present four days before Santa makes his way down chimneys.
Beginning the day with a 51-run lead against St Mary’s, the Eagles’ day could hardly have gone any better, gaining a crucial 10 points in an evenly-poised premiership race.
With just six points separating first from fourth in Turf 2, any advantage in the run home will be extremely vital, and Cranbourne’s buffer may prove critical come the end of the year.
It began with Harrison Carlyon making the final nine runs required for his first century in Cranbourne colours and his teammates continuing with the aggressive approach.
Cam Kelly, Harsaroup Singh and Julius Sumerauer each scored with a strike rate over 100, allowing the Eagles to declare with a 174-run lead, and more than half the day to bowl the Saints out for a second time.
Sumerauer removed both openers again in his first spell before the Eagles’ trio of spinners went to work.
Carlyon, Singh and Ketan Bakshi combined for the remaining eight wickets, wrapping up the innings in the 49th over.
Junaid Kari and Chameera Fernandu were the only batters in the top seven to reach double figures with St Mary’s reaching just 107 in the second innings, still 67 runs shy of Cranbourne’s first innings total.
It’s a horror showing from the Saints, delivering a major hit to their percentage as a double-relegation in two seasons looms large.
Parkmore remains at the top of the table, defending 217 by dismissing Narre Warren for 194.
No team has scored more than 200 against Parkmore’s bowling attack all season, one that is three wickets short of taking every one available this summer, but the Magpies came as close as anyone, despite leading run scorer Amila Ratnaike not available for selection.
Niranjen Kumar leant on Ankit Sexena to bowl the bulk of the overs on Saturday and his new spearhead delivered for his captain, taking 3/39 in 25 overs and bowling eight maidens.
He has 22 wickets this summer at an average of nine, with more scalps than any other seam bowler to date.
Hewafonsekage Fonseka added 2/44 to his 83 last week and Avisha Wilwalaarachchi also grabbed two wickets as the Magpies were dismissed in the 71st over.
At Lyndale, Coomoora returned to the winners list with a trademark ‘get out of jail’ win over the Two Blues.
The home side imploded with victory in sight, losing their final three wickets for a single run with just 11 more required to collect the six points.
Legspinner Amarjot Singh was the hero for the Roos, taking wickets in consecutive deliveries in the penultimate over before quick Sam Wetering finished the job at the other end with the wicket of Zubz Faruk.
It’s Coomoora’s third win of the season by 20 runs or less.
Lyndale looked set to upset last season’s Turf 3 champions thanks to a handful of vital contributions.
Faraz Rahman made 43 and Usman Ali got 30 amongst a clot of single-figure scores, but it was a destructive 21-delivery hurricane of fury from Hemish Don that put them within striking distance.
He nailed a pair of sixes on his first two deliveries from Singh, setting the tone for a captivating half-century with five sixes and three fours.
He reached his 50 off just 19 balls before perishing two deliveries later to Roos seamer Jackson Noske.
Upon his dismissal, Lyndale needed 69 more runs with more than half the day available to bat, and five wickets in hand.
The tempo of the match drastically dipped after Don left the action, however, as Ben Montgomery and Rajika Fernando failed to match his aggression.
Montgomery became Malan Madusanka’s third victim for a 47-ball five, but with Fernando set at the wicket, the task was not insurmountable.
Few sides have won as often as Coomoora in the last 12 months, however, and despite being a month since their last singing of the team song, they found a way to collect another six points, and return their season to the tracks.
Having looked every bit the premiership contender in white-ball cricket, a win in a two-day game, after being on the wrong end of a heavy defeat against Narre Warren in the first red-ball fixture of the summer, will do wonders for the Roos’ confidence that they belong in the top bracket of Turf 2 sides.
Wetering, Singh and Madusanka eached finished with three wickets for Coomoora.
A pair of huge contests will shape the run to the finals when cricket resumes in round 10, as Parkmore hosts HSD and Coomoora heads to Cranbourne.
