By David Nagel
You would expect fatigue to be a factor after a gruelling Country Week campaign but that certainly wasn’t the case at Gunton Oval on Saturday when Cardinia (167) hosted Pakenham (1/48).
Cardinia’s two CCCA representatives – Morteza Ali (47) and Travis Wheller (37) – top-scored for the Bulls, while Dale Tormey (24-7-68-6) and Jason Williams (23-9-42-4) bowled 47 overs between them on their way to a clean-sweep of the Bulls’ batting list.
Tormey was one of the real success stories with the ball last season – claiming three five-wicket hauls (6/37, 5/37, 5/64) on his way to 33 for the season – but this is his first foray into that rare stratosphere this year.
He is now the equal-leading wicket-taker in Premier Division, with 24 scalps, and has now taken 13 wickets since Christmas.
Pakenham was made to wait for its initial breakthrough on Saturday but, once it came…the floodgates opened.
A combination of tight and accurate bowling from Tormey and Williams – and a series of loose shots from the Bulls – made it a short day in the field for the Lions.
Ali and Alex Nooy (25) put on 66 for the first wicket before Ali holed out to James Close on the deep mid-wicket boundary off the bowling of Tormey.
Nooy was battling with 13 off 67 balls at that stage but, at 1/66 off 23, there were no major concerns for the home side.
But Cardinia would then lose all 10 wickets in the space of 37 overs to hand the game on a platter to the visitors.
Travis Welsh (9) went conventionally, with the left-hander edging the off-spin of Williams into the safe hands of Sean Gramc at first slip, before those aforementioned loose shots came to the fore.
Nooy, whose last scoring shot was a six, walked across his stumps and was clean bowled by Tormey.
It was an action that made it obvious that he wasn’t thinking as clearly as he was during his magnificent double-century against Carlisle Park last round.
Jacobus Hynes (0) gave Tormey his third, with a loose shot to Jack Anning in the gully, before Matt Welsh (4) gave the Lions’ skipper the simplest of return catches.
The Bulls were 5/115, with Wheller and Bradey Welsh (10) at the crease.
Tormey did make one big mistake for the day, dropping Wheller at short mid-on when he was on 18.
A six over deep mid-on, just two balls later, showed the damage the drop could have caused.
But Wheller would soon become Tormey’s fifth, hitting a hip-high ball to a waiting Dom Paynter in the covers…before tossing his bat in disappointment.
Bradey Welsh (10) then made it five soft dismissals on the trot, hitting Williams to Paynter at mid-wicket, before Dan Salvato (9) pushed a low drive to Tormey at short-cover.
Josh Browne (0) then gave Williams his fourth, hitting another lofted drive to Paynter in the covers, before an attempted late-cut from Dean Henwood (16) gave Tormey his sixth after it nestled nicely into the gloves of Rob Elston.
The Bulls had not made Pakenham wait for more than seven overs for a wicket after Ali’s initial fall.
With 17 overs to bowl, Matt Welsh (1/11) gave the Bulls some hope with the early dismissal of Anning (3), before Tormey (17 not out) and Chris Smith (25 not out) saw the Lions safely through to stumps…requiring just 120-more for victory.
The task is huge for the Bulls, with Tormey currently sitting fifth on the run-scorers list this season (521), but 181 behind Smith (702) …who leads all-comers.
Following on from his most recent innings of 140 not out (Devon Meadows) and 210 not out (Merinda Park), Smith has now made 375 runs without dismissal.
The Lions will lock away third place if they get over the line on Saturday, while Cardinia is already safe in the four.
CARLISLE PARK V CLYDE
Clyde (315) has done everything it possibly can to retain its CCCA Premier Division status next season after the Cougars batted beautifully on their short-away trip to Carlisle Park (0/3) on Saturday.
Currently second-last on the table, the Cougars only need to win this clash against the bottom-placed Vikings to secure their place in the top-flight for 2024/25 with one round remaining in the season.
Much like last season’s battle for survival, the Cougars were once again reliant on their two tall left-handed openers – Trevor Bauer (79) and Michael Vandort (37) – who delivered when needed most.
Vandort was circumspect early, but a lovely flick over mid-wicket for a one-bounce boundary off Kasun Balasuriya (13-5-35-2) reminded all of his exquisite talents.
And when Bauer caressed a full-ball from Ethan Davies (15-1-54-0) back past the bowlers right-hand, in the next over, the Cougars looked in command.
They were 0/72 when drinks were taken after 20, with Vandort (34 off 63) and Bauer (32 off 59) striking at a similar pace.
However, the Vikings dug in for the fight after the drinks break with Balasuriya and Davies bowling a tidy length and just doing enough to keep their fielders interested.
It just had the look and feel that a breakthrough was imminent, and it was no surprise to see Vandort clip one to Vikings’ skipper Ben Perry at short mid-wicket.
Wicket-keeper Shayne Larner was also having a say in proceedings, coming up to the stumps and stopping Vandort and Bauer from batting out of their ground.
Only one scoring shot had been played from the 13 balls after drinks before Vandort lost his patience.
Teddy Fonseka (9) edged one just short of slip off his first ball to Davies…and the Vikings could sense another kill.
They had to wait until the 29th over for that to happen, when Fonseka appeared a little stiff to be given out lbw to Balasuriya.
From square on it looked a little high, and Fonseka’s disappointment was obvious as he stood his ground for some time before slowly trudging from the middle.
The Vikings had taken 2/19 off nine overs since the drinks break and had a foot back in the door.
Brett Reid (53) looked uncomfortable early against the in-swinging ball, but got off the mark with a gentle push to cover that ended with two runs…after an over-zealous throw at the stumps.
A brilliant pull shot from Bauer brought up the Cougars 100 after 30.4 overs.
Perry then made dual-changes in consecutive overs, with Habara Perera (6-0-23-1) replacing Davies and Jaan Balasuriya (16-1-78-4) taking over from his brother Kasun.
Jaan had opened the bowling, which was obviously respected by Bauer; who called for a helmet as the right-hander began his second spell.
The opening bowler has a great change of pace, which Reid discovered painfully after being hit in the helmet in the 35th over.
He retired hurt two overs later, and would only return to the crease after the fall of the fifth wicket in the 65th.
Bauer and Mahie Bodahandi (47) took the score to 173 before Bauer was caught by Davies off the spin of Perera.
Bauer has had a stellar season for the Cougars; scoring his second half-century on Saturday to go with a stylish 120 in round seven.
He took his tally from 344 to 423 on the weekend, becoming one of 11 players to have crossed the 400-run barrier this season.
Bodahandi and Nick Miles (41) then took the score past 200 with a 42-run stand, with skipper Zac Davis (18) also adding valuable runs.
Reid returned at 5/246 and guided the lower order well, scoring his half-century after the score had reached 300.
Max Adams (16 not out) continued his amazing run of not outs, producing his ninth unbeaten score for the season from 12 visits to the crease.
Jaan Balasuriya was the pick of the bowlers for the Vikings, while Hasintha Jayasuriya (2.3-0-15-2) cashed in late with two wickets off the final two balls of the innings.
Mark Henry (3 not out) and Farhan Khalid (0 not out) dodged a tricky two-over period to have the Vikings fully stocked as they begin their search for a miracle day-two victory.
Perry (331), Kasun Balasuriya (325) and Jayasuriya (295) have been the main scorers for the Vikings this season, and you get the feeling one of those three will need to go extremely deep for the Vikings to get the choccies.
KOOWEERUP V MERINDA PARK
Kooweerup (0/15) coach Chris Bright and captain Luke McMaster are facing a ‘positive’ selection dilemma heading into the CCCA finals series after two forgotten stars took seven wickets between them against Merinda Park (234) on Saturday.
Nathan Voss (12.5-4-43-5) was the star of the show for the Demons, taking five wickets in a mesmerising first game for the season, while the legendary shadow of Jess Mathers (14-1-44-2) is looming large after his first Premier Division outing since last year’s grand final.
With regular faces such as Adam McMaster, Cody Miller and Rob Maskiell sitting on the sidelines, Bright and McMaster are going to have some tough decisions to make as the Demons search for their ninth premiership in 15 years.
Kooweerup certainly didn’t have it all its own way on the weekend, as Bevin Corneille (83) and Tyson Bertrand (30) took things up to the reigning premiers from the outset.
The pair put on 62 before Bertrand attempted to heave a shortish Mathers’ ball over the mid-wicket boundary.
Steven Dillon did a great job to run from a regulation mid-wicket to behind square-leg to accept a difficult high-ball with ease.
Mathers then struck again, claiming the big-wicket of Cobras’ star Dan McCalman (8) who steered one to Matthew Bright in the gully.
Voss then went bang, bang, bang…trapping Cambell Bryan (15) in front before having Luke Dinger (2) and Rumesh Ranasinghe (7) both caught behind by Chris Bright.
Matt Bright (12-3-37-1) then deceived Corneille, whose brave innings came to an end after being clean bowled through the gate.
The Cobras could have turned up their toes after Adam Fisher (10) was trapped in front by Voss – giving the lively right-armer his fourth – to leave the visitors in trouble at 7/166.
But a strong stand of 59 between the patient Pawan Thind (24 off 69) and sweet-hitting Liam Bertrand (38 off 34) brought an even balance to the game.
Betrand’s innings came to a close courtesy of a wonderful diving catch from Chris Bright behind the stumps, which gave McMaster (12-4-27-1) his only success for the afternoon.
Thind was the last wicket to fall; caught by Dillon off the bowling of Voss…providing him with a hard-earned five-wicket haul.
Dillon (10 not out) and Lachie Ramage (3 not out) then safely navigated through to stumps, with the Demons set to have some great support as they attempt to hunt down their target this week.
The Demons will celebrate six premiership reunions…ranging from 1974 to 2014.
TOORADIN V DEVON MEADOWS
Relentless slow bowling from Josh Lownds and Peter Sweeney has piloted Tooradin to a powerful position against a patient Devon Meadows (184) on a grinding day-one at Tooradin.
Lownds (19.1-8-16-5) is now one wicket away from being the leading wicket-taker in the competititon after taking his first five-wicket haul for the season.
The crafty right-hander had just five wickets to his name after round six, but has taken a competititon-best 18 wickets over the last six rounds.
Successful spells of 4, 2, 1, 3, 3 and 5 now have him tugging at the coat-tails of Adam McMaster (Kooweerup) and Dale Tormey (Pakenham).
Devon Meadows made a bright start to the ‘Battle of the South Gippsland Highway’ with Country Week stars Will Halton (48) and Lucas Ligt (20) seeing off the new-ball brigade of Country Week teammates Brad Butler (16-3-50-1) and Dylan Sutton (10-2-31-0).
Ligt was first to go, having nudged his way past 550 runs for the season (556) before edging Cal O’Hare (7-1-30-1) through to Ben Parrott.
O’Hare has only taken two wickets for the season…but the wicket of Ligt bulks that figure up quite substantially.
Trent Delaney (28) then looked set for back-to-back half centuries before Butler found him short of his ground.
Lownds and Sweeney (23-7-41-2) then went to work on the middle order in the perfect preparation for finals.
These two will be bowling long spells together in March, there’s no doubt about that, and their combined 42.1 overs would have given skipper Mick Sweeney the ideal opportunity to fine tune.
Jakeb McVicar (26) and Lucas Carroll (28) played patient and defiant innings, but the accuracy and consistency of Lownds and Sweeney is the only genuine success story of day one.
After O’Hare and Lownds made big centuries in round 12, the Seagulls would love nothing better than for Mick or Pete Sweeney to cash in with a big hundred this Saturday.
Pete Sweeney has a top score of 77 this season, while Mick’s equal-best scores of 52 came all the way back in rounds one and three.
Devon Meadows is still a mathematical chance of playing finals, but would need a best-of-the-season bowling performance to keep it in the hunt.
