By Tyler Lewis and Jonty Ralphsmith
A GRADE
Cardinia has handed Carlisle Park an almighty whack in the A Grade season opener.
After winning the toss and having the Bulls 2/3, it appeared to be the Vikings’ day.
But it was far from smooth sailing after Farhan Khalid (1/24 off seven) trapped Travis Welsh in front lbw, as the home side cruised to a thrashing victory from that point on.
The Bulls – courtesy of two half-centuries to Matt Welsh (65 off 72) and Trent Wheller (62 off 53) – blasted their way to 5/221 from their allotted overs.
After dominating with the bat, Wheller proceeded to chime in again, collecting 4/11 from seven overs, as the Vikings fell for just 60.
To rub salt into the wounds, the Vikings 11 bats were outscored by the 21 extras Cardinia handed over.
Pakenham, meanwhile, went down to Merinda Park in a fascinating way.
The Lions posted 4/160 from its 40, with opener Stephen Insall carrying his bat through the innings for 67.
But despite only losing just four wickets, the home side were left runs short, with the Cobras passing the Pakenham total in the final over.
Cobra’s opener Jesse Quigley notched 52 in his sides three-wicket win.
The fascinating scores across A Grade didn’t subject itself to Toomuc Reserve, with Clyde completing a strange performance out at Tooradin.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, the Cougars were coasting.
Both Trevor Bauer (51 from 79) and Ben Buller (52 from 89) posted fifties for the visitors, before the remainder of the side crumbled dramatically.
The Cougars finished with 8/134 after the following eight bats behind Bauer and Buller could only accumulate 22 collectively.
In pursuit of the low total, the Gulls had some troubles of their own at 4/44, but managed to sneak over the line with two wickets and three overs in hand.
In the final game, Officer defended its score of 102 against Kooweerup (10/81).
B GRADE
Clyde’s Beau Hawkins has started his season on a high, placing a dazzling 107 to his name already.
Hawkins faced just 85 deliveries, sending 13 of them to the rope and four of them over it.
He wasn’t alone in stuffing the score book, as fellow opener Ben Knowles (85 off 114) and middle-order bat Gavin Adams (70 off 53) both passed 50.
Poor number three Tristan Walton spent the majority of the afternoon with his pads on, just to see his poles out of the ground after just one delivery.
The Cougars posted a whopping 3/290 from their 40 overs in perfect conditions for batting.
Upper Beaconsfield made a good fist of the run chase, posting 6/207 in reply.
Blake Westra was the pick of the batters for the Maroons, blasting 79 from just 67 rocks.
Devon Meadows too posted a big total, putting 5/234 on the board in its first innings against Emerald.
Arthur Churchill crunched 62, while the four teammates either side of him in the batting order passed double figures.
In pursuit of the big score, Emerald finished with 9/159 on the board.
In the first B Grade close-town rivalry of the summer, Cranbourne Meadows defeated Merinda Park in earnest fashion.
The Rebels posted 8/220 and restricted the Cobras to 8/108.
Despite the Cobras leaking runs at 5.5 an over, the Rebels failed to get opening bowler Adrian Slater (2/9 off eight – five maidens) away.
Without his input, the Rebels scored 6/211 off 32 overs, going at a crisp 6.5 an over.
In the final match of the round, Pakenham Upper Toomuc (7/131) were passed by Tooradin (6/135) with three overs to spare.
Gulls bowler Tim Huguenin made early inroads on the bowling average award, snaring 3/3 off his eight overs.
C GRADE
Pakenham has launched out of the blocks with a strong win over Devon Meadows.
The Lions bowled the Panthers out for 137 in the 34th over, before reeling in the total in the 36th with four wickets in hand.
The Panthers got off to a good start at 0/55, before Luke Wilson (3/19 from eight) took control of the match.
After Wilson’s first, Devon Meadows lost 4/9 and – ultimately – 10/88.
The Lions faced few challenges in pursuit of their first win of the summer as six of the top seven reached double figures.
Officer, meanwhile, has secured a tight win over Lang Lang.
The Bullants posted a lean 8/130, but restricted the home side to 10/121.
Officer stalwart James Quinn added a brace of wickets to his tally, with figures of 2/17 off 6.5.
NNG/Maryknoll had a few stumbles on its way to victory over Kooweerup, but finally secured victory with seven overs and five wickets in the bank.
After withholding the Demons to 8/109 in the first innings, the Marygoons were 3/36 in reply before Maninder Singh steadied the ship.
Singh carved nine boundaries in his match-saving 56 not out, steering his side to triumph.
Cardinia’s summer started a week later than everyone else, enjoying the bye in round 1.
D GRADE
At 9-100, what should have been a relatively straightforward chase for Cardinia against Clyde looked like it could turn ugly.
Harish Kasper (3/9 off three) got two quick wickets to give his side a shot after wickets had been falling semi-regularly throughout the afternoon.
Chasing 111, it was down to Ryley Watts (14 not out) and Ryan Dennis (1 not out) to guide the team home, which they did.
Steven Williams (0/16 ) Craig Dodsworth (1/18), Paul Duyvestyn (3/21), and Joshua Spittal (1/21) all bowled eight tight overs to nearly see their team over the line, but the Cougars ultimately did not have enough runs on the board.
All the run scoring was coming from Russell’s end in Clyde’s innings.
Opting to bat first, Russell’s 59 was the major contribution in his team’s 107, while Shelton Nathan (three off 62), batting at four, absorbed balls and formed an important 58-run partnership with Russel amid the collapse.
Meanwhile, at Toomuc Reserve it was a Ben Warren-Smith show for Cranbourne Meadows, with the opening batter making 40 of his team’s 85 runs.
After 30 overs, Pakenham bowled Cranbourne Meadows out, led by opening bowler Bryce Nay (3-12) and Luke Brennan (3-30).
Robert Newell’s unbeaten 30 at three guided Pakenham to victory.
After seeing off opening bowler Adrian Savage, it was cruisy for Pakenham who went at more than four an over outside of his five tight overs.
In the other game, Emerald forfeited its match against Officer.
E GRADE
A tense, two-run victory to Clyde over Tooradin at Selandra Reserve headlined the E Grade results.
Chasing 211, Tooradin’s innings started positively with both openers going at just under a-run-a-ball for a century opening stand before John Langham was dismissed for 54.
Zachery Bell’s arrival in the middle essentially cued his departure as he was run-out after facing two balls and that stunted Tooradin’s momentum.
Batting at five, Mason Dicks tried to turn the tide with a patient 64-ball 17 but could not form a partnership, and even with the assistance of 34 extras from Clyde, the total was one boundary out of reach.
Gurinder Singh (0/27 off eight overs) was important in holding down an end and Yash Patel got the last two wickets of the game, which left Tooradin needing to rely on the bottom order to get over the line.
Earlier, Singh’s 94 off 79 balls formed the backbone of Clyde’s innings after Shane Jack (21) got his team off to a quick start.
At Lakeside, Cardinia was no match for Pakenham, bowled out for 99 despite an unbeaten 36 from Brad Fitzgerald.
Cardinia then gave 25 extras to Pakenham, which cruised over the target after seeing 27 overs.
A 92-run first-wicket partnership between Kieran James (42 off 68) and Matthew Collins (63 off 93) lifted Officer to 189.
It was slim pickings outside of that, as Lang Lang’s ill-discipline with the ball gifted Officer a further 33 runs.
Bailey Rowe (50) played a lone hand for the Swamp Tigers, bowled out for 95 in pursuit of the target and managing just one boundary outside of Rowe’s accomplished innings.
Brendan and Steve Finch combined for eight of the wickets.
In the other game, Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll controlled proceedings against Pakenham Upper Toomuc.
Each of the top three made contributions, led by Brandon Interlandi’s 53, and then with the ball, Interlandi’s three wickets, alongside Rodney Downes (1-11 off seven), Sean Mortimer (1-6 off five) and Gurwinder Sandhu (3-19 off 5.5) restricted the Yabs to 95.
F GRADE
Hosting was a bad omen for round one teams with the visitors getting up in each game.
At Toomuc Reserve, it was a Blackwell show to start the season, with Pakenham’s Rob and Riley putting on a 66-run opening stand, before Riley was dismissed for 25.
Rob Blackwell got himself to 46 and controlled the first part of the innings, guiding Pakenham to 6/130, with none of Upper Beaconsfield’s nine bowlers able to completely stifle the innings.
At 3/38, Pakenham looked like it would be able to defend the score, but 17 wides and a steadying 40 from Nick Meyers guided Upper Beaconsfield to victory.
The Devon Meadows top order batsmen did not want to stick around longer than necessary to chase down Merinda Park’s target of 122.
After taking two wickets with the ball, Jason Brzezowski whacked nine fours in an unbeaten 50, doing the majority of the scoring in his partnership with Lee Thomas.
Thomas was interested in occupying the crease, making a steady 20 of his team’s 107 runs, with Peter O’Brien the other major runscorer for Devon Meadows with 36.
That came after Merinda Park crawled to 121 off its 35 overs.
Michael Blaby scored 30 at the top of the order and got his side off to a fast start, but once Gerard Healy was dismissed after a 30-run opening stand, the wickets started falling regularly and no partnership could be established.
Meanwhile, Officer forfeited its match against Kooweerup.
