By Marcus Uhe
Six wickets from Lachlan Brown were critical in Berwick’s defence of 211 against Narre South at Arch Brown Reserve on Sunday in a replay of the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s washed-out opening round.
Brown, an exceptional performer in Berwick navy blue this season with hauls of four and five wickets earlier in the campaign, finished with 6/37 from his 11 overs of left arm orthodox in a crucial middle overs role for the Bears, who dismissed the Lions for 182.
A threatening partnership between Callum Nicholls and Harsha de Silva was curtailed by Brown, who took four consecutive wickets to rip the heart out of Narre South’s top order.
The consecutive wickets of De Silva (78), Nicholls (33), Jeevan Mendis (14) and Brad Parker (3) reduced the Lions from 1/98 to 5/146.
De Silva and Nicholls swept adeptly on both sides of the wicket and formed a strong union early in the order, with De Silva earning a promotion from his usual middle order place in the longer form of the game.
They faced plenty of spin, after Bears skipper Jarrod Goodes turned to Matthew Hague in the sixth over of the defence to bowl off-spin.
The finger-spinning trio of Hague, Elliot Mathews and Brown bowled 25 of the 43 overs the Lions faced in a brilliant strangulation effort spearheaded by Brown.
Sweeping eventually brought Nicholls undone, the stand between he and De Silva ending on 77 when he top-edged to Matthew Robertson at square leg in Brown’s opening over.
At 2/112 at the drinks break after 23 overs, with Mendis joining a set De Silva at the crease, the Lions looked in prime position snatch a victory on the road to kick-start a stuttering campaign.
The two worked singles and picked the gaps as Mendis began to look comfortable at the wicket, Narre South’s run rate matching the required figure of 4.7.
But De Silva chopped on to a tame cut shot and Mendis became the second sweeping victim, Robertson swallowing a second catch despite wicketkeeper Jordan Cleland encroaching on the plummeting Kookaburra.
When Brown got through Parker’s defences, he had swung the momentum of the match completely in his side’s favour.
And when Kyle Hardy hit a catch down Corey Bevan’s throat at long-off, Narre South’s chances were all but over.
The final four wickets fell for 17 runs, Cleland’s leg-side stumping of Callan Tout while keeping up to Goodes the highlight of the innings’ demise.
Earlier in the day, Goodes won the toss and chose to bat under gloomy skies, and would have been questioning his call when Brown was dismissed for a first ball duck in the opening over from Tout.
The situation became even worse when Jake Hancock fell in the third with the score on just 20 as Narre South snatched early ascendency.
But standing in their way was Hague, the counter-punching opener who discovered some touch in the recent round-robin series of the T20 competition.
His fluent stroke-play included nine fours and two sixes on his way to a brisk 85.
He added 84 for the third wicket with Robertson, rotating the strike while Robertson looked for the boundary.
Robertson smacked Mendis’ second ball of the day, and the first ball he faced from the reigning Wookey medallist, for six over Mendis’ head in a clear sign of intent, but Mendis would not be deterred, removing the tall Robertson in his second over for 26.
Robertson’s departure loosened the foundations of stable innings for Berwick, the Bears losing 3/20 including mainstay Jordan Cleland for just one as Narre South seized control, Berwick now struggling at 5/120 with the run rate slowing to a crawl.
Hague watched it all unfold at the other end, and formed a 50-run stand with Ashley Henry to restore order in Henry’s first game in the senior side this season.
Hague departed for an entertaining 85 when he was pinned in front from the bowling of Tout, who struck on his first ball back into the attack.
Henry (42) and Toby Wills then added a vital 41 for the sixth wicket to close the innings, pushing the total to the match-winning 6/211.
Tout was the standout performer for the Lions with the ball, his 3/47 continuing his streak of matches with consecutive wickets in Turf 1 to five.
His opening partner in Cruickshank, however, was uncharacteristically expensive, bowling 10 wides in his seven overs.
Berwick close the first half of the season with a trip to Hallam to face the Hawks, while Narre South return home to Strathaird Reserve to welcome North Dandenong.
Both fixtures are return clashes from round three, with those clashes abandoned due to Melbourne’s wet start to the cricket season.
