By Marcus Uhe
Officer has made a roaring start to its CCCA District season in round two, having sat back and watched the opening week of the competition due to its bye.
Faced with a tricky beginning against last year’s runner up Upper Beaconsfield at home, an excellent showing from the Bullants’ bowlers set the foundations for a blistering evening chase.
The Maroons were immediately in strife, with both openers gone in the first two overs having contributed just a single run.
Outside of Daniel Brennan, the top order battled at Starling Road, Blake Westra’s dismissal for a 22-ball two bringing the Maroons to 6/66 in the 23rd over.
Brennan finished with 46 and added 58 for the seventh wicket with Aidan Whitfield as Upper Beaconsfield finished at 8/133 after 40 overs.
Each of Officer’s bowlers played their role, with wickets shared between Cooper Pursell, Noah Parraga, Jonty Bennie (two each) and Devon Gabriel-Brown (one), while Ash Smith kept the scoring rate low with just 20 runs in his eight overs.
Officer’s opening pair in Jaswinder Gill and Chathura Imbulagoda nearly completed the chase on their own, putting on 124 before Imbulagoda perished 10 runs shy of the total.
Imbulagoda’s 35 off 54 was the composed Ying to Gill’s aggressive Yang, who hit 90 off 70 with three sixes and 11 fours to steer the pursuit in a big blow for Upper Beaconsfield’s Net Run Rate.
Cranbourne Meadows, meanwhile, is making the early running in CCCA District cricket after two weeks as the only side to have won its first two contests.
86 from Rohit Sharma and 56 from Karanbir Tiwana saw the Rebels make light work of Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll’s 4/196, reaching the total seven wickets down in the 32nd over.
Much of the Marygoons’ top order made solid starts, including 2022/23 Eric Winter medallist James Markland (43), Nick McLennan (44) and Nathan Phillips (50), but a run rate of 4.9 paled in comparison to Cranbourne Meadows’ 6.4.
Brandon Interlandi and Wil Taylor were both targeted by the Rebels batters, their three combined overs costing 60 runs.
Lang Lang ensured Pakenham Upper-Toomuc is still searching for its opening win of the season, thrashed by 89 runs at Harry Blackman Oval.
The Yabbies sent the Tigers in to bat but were made to regret the decision by the Tigers’ openers.
Captain Dale Cranston made 60 and Oshadha Ariyadasa 63 to help their side reach 6/199, supported by 30 from former Yabbie Prabath Kobbekaduwa.
Brian Kulasena (3/31) and Sankara Manivannan (2/25) stood-out with the ball for the Yabbies as the only multiple wicket takers.
The home side’s batting innings begun terribly, with openers Devin Wilke and James Stevenage unable to match the feats of their contemporaries.
Nathan McLean removed Wilke and Stevenage for one and four, respectively, setting the tone for a poor Yabbies batting display.
Danuka Prabath was a shining light with 50, but only he and Nick Kyval reached double-figure scores as the home side was dismissed for 111 in the 36th over.
Cranston and Ariyadasa each paired two wickets with their contributions with the bat as the Lang Lang bowlers shared the scalps, joining McLean and Trevette Kerner with two wickets each.
Lang Lang face the rampaging Officer next week, while Emerald will be eager to respond to a heartbreaking round one loss against Cranbourne Meadows at home, having sat back and watched in week two.
The Marygoons host Pakenham Upper-Toomuc while the Maroons have the bye.
