A red-hot Rutter Park battle saw the two most in-form teams of the competition in Tooradin and Clyde go back-and-forth on day one in round 13 of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) Premier Division.
Both teams entered on three game winning streaks in the approach to finals as the Cougars still look to lock in their spot in the top four.
The coin toss fell in favour of the visitors and they showed no hesitation in electing to bat.
Clyde opening pair Trevor Bauer and Kane Avard dug in early, scoring 29 runs before superstar all-rounder Josh Lownds was brought in as the first change to replace Tyler Evans.
In the first over of his attack, Lownds broke through and got the massive wicket of league-leading runscorer Bauer (13) when the Cougars skipper tried to slash one away and was caught behind on the off side.
It brought X-factor talent Ryan Adams to the crease, and Clyde then established a firm grasp of the contest, with Adams and Avard powering through a relentless Seagulls spin attack.
The pair guided their side to 1/110 at tea, with Adams raising the bat for a classy 50.
Shortly after the break, Adams (67) played a shot out of the air that was pounced on and caught by a diving Cal O’Hare off the bowling of Evans.
The wicket sparked a momentum wave for Tooradin, who then quickly removed Shamil Samarasinghe (2) and Ramneet Dhindsa (0) to remind the Cougars of their lethality.
Thus, the visitors went from 1/123 to 4/130 in the span of five overs.
But opener Avard remained and brought up a well deserved half century, grinding his way to 59 from 183 deliveries.
His knock came to an end when Bailey Lownds caught him off his own bowling with Clyde 5/163.
Russell Lehman then stamped his signature on the match, snagging four late wickets to help minimise the damage and reduce the final total.
The Cougars still batted the full 80 overs and posted 9/215, with Nuwan Kariyawasam (24) and Nick Shannon (21) providing useful knocks in the lower order.
Lehman’s four wickets led the hosts, while Bailey Lownds registered three poles.
“Our focus was for the top four to do the bulk of the batting, face as many balls as possible and set the game up for the middle order,” Clyde skipper Bauer said of the plan coming in.
“I went out at 1/30 which wasn’t a bad start, and then Ryan and Kane got to 1/110 at tea which was awesome.
“Tooradin bowled well with their spin by bringing Bailey and Josh on.
“They probably bowled a bit negatively but it was positive in the way they controlled the game and controlled the run rate.
“They bowled a fourth, fifth and even sixth stump line and challenged Kane and Ryan to take it on.
“We played it well, whether we could’ve played it a little more positively, that’s something I’ve been thinking about.
“All in all it was a good day, 215 feels just below par but it’s equally defendable if we bowl well.
“It came to number six and number seven and Kane playing his most mature innings for the year, making 59 off 183 balls and wanting to take the innings as deep as possible.
“One thing we’ve seen against Tooradin and the other top sides is you can lose wickets in clumps so having one of the top four bat right the way through helps that not to happen.
“From that side of Ryan and Kane, it was very pleasing.”
While the Cougars felt they left runs out in the middle, there is plenty of optimism that comes with the first innings.
“The foundation and the top four taking ownership is a big tick,” Bauer acknowledged.
“Knowing that there is still upside, the middle order didn’t fire and if they do it can add another 30 or 40, it takes that total into 250 or 260 and that’s where it gets a little uncomfortable for the opposition.
“I think the top order is a big tick and the upside that the middle order has room to improve should allow us to believe that those bigger totals are possible.”
Defending 215 will be a tricky task away from home as Tooradin is the competition’s most prolific batting side, having scored 200 more runs than any other team this season.
But a clear plan will be in place to give the visitors as much of a chance as possible.
“I think we want to come up with a plan A and a plan B,” Bauer said.
“Definitely with Luke Kerford and Ramneet who have bowled a lot of spin for us, I think with them being versatile to either keep it tight or switch it around with our seamers to potentially have one end of spin and we rotate our seam.
“Or we could go both ends of spin to save a burst from the seamers maybe before or after tea.
“I’ll be working a couple of scenarios but I think initially we want to fire Ryan and potentially Nick Shannon up for a new ball burst.
“Then we can assess how the batters are playing and if we need to change the tempo or change the rhythm by rotating our bowlers.”
At Rob Porter Reserve, an intriguing matchup between Officer and Upper Beaconsfield has the Maroons well in the hunt.
The Bullants batted first on their home deck and built their innings around Cooper Pursell (43), Jack James (41) and Peter Quinn (37).
Tyler Astle (three wickets) and Will Haines (three wickets) retaliated for the visitors, but Officer saw a chance to strike and made the interesting decision to declare at 9/191.
Upper Beaconsfield saw out the day unharmed at 0/3 in the chase after facing two overs.
A favourable Devon Meadows start away at Kooweerup was soon an afterthought courtesy of a destructive Charith Keerthisinghe spell.
Lucas Ligt and Zach Bates laid the Panthers’ path to 1/60 before Bates (16) was Keerthisinghe’s first wicket; being struck on the pads in front.
Keerthisinghe then got the big fish of Ligt (41) when he was caught by Robert Maskiell to have Devon 2/71.
And apart from crucial Lucas Carroll (33) and Tom Rowe (17 not out) knocks, no other Panther reached double digits as they were knocked over for 152 after 64.1 overs.
Keerthisinghe managed season-best figures of 6/36 from his 19.1 overs to roll the visitors.
But Devon Meadows then caught the Demons off guard as Ben Marsh picked up the wicket of Mitch Davey (0) on the second ball of the second innings.
Kooweerup was determined to get through the day without further loss, with Brannon Harrison (29 not out) and Luke McMaster (8 not out) reaching the end of day one as the Demons are 1/37.
