By Marcus Uhe
Narre Warren will put Coomoora’s ‘win from anywhere’ belief under the microscope on Saturday, having set the Roos 326 for victory in Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 2 cricket.
Led by a second-successive hundred for form Magpies batter Amila Ratnaike, Narre Warren maximised home conditions at Sweeney Reserve to post an imposing total that will require the absolute best from Coomoora’s batting lineup.
Ratnaike, recruited from Leongatha Town Cricket Club in the Leongatha & District Cricket Association, followed up his 101 against Lyndale the week prior and 86 two games back against St Mary’s with 117 on Saturday as the key to Narre Warren’s innings.
Joining coach John Mentiplay with their side in trouble at 3/54 in the 24th over, the two added 146 for the second wicket before Mentiplay fell for 46, with Ratnaike reaching triple figures late in the partnership.
His century included two sixes and 17 fours and moves him ahead of HSD batter Mackenzie Gardner as the competition’s leading run scorer for the summer, with now 379 runs to his name from five innings.
Important knocks from Narre Warren’s lower order batters in Ben Swift (29), Waduge Fernando (37) and Avinav Singh (25) ensured the home side batted out the 80 overs, and capitalised on the platform built by their new star teammate.
While Narre Warren took 56 overs to reach 200 runs, the next 100 milestone required only 21 overs.
Coomoora’s bowling attack, the Roos’ strength to open the season in white ball cricket, was cut down to size in the longer format, with even Malan Madusanka’s economy rate finishing just below five runs per over.
He was the only bowler to grab multiple wickets, with singles going to Jackson Noske, Dean Krelle, Michael Klonaridis and Amarjot Singh.
Coomoora’s premiership-winning opening batter Lance Baptist, in his first contest of the summer having returned from a calf strain, has a big role to play if the Roos are to maintain their unbeaten run.
Narre Warren, however, has taken fewer wickets than any other side in the competition from the opening block of the summer, with more required from the likes of Ruwan Jayaweera and Kumara.
HSD enjoyed similar success with the bat on Saturday, reaching 336 against St Mary’s at Carroll Reserve.
86 runs from Ethan French and 97 from Triyan De Silva gave HSD a strong foothold and helped the Cobras to score at more than four runs per over across the course of the afternoon.
Where French was meticulous and considered in his innings, scoring at a strike rate of 49.7, De Silva played the role of aggressor with a strike rate of 82.
The pair added 151 together for the third wicket before French lost his wicket to Junaid Kair, while De Silva was Rumesh Ranasinghe’s second of the victims, just three runs shy of triple-figures.
Late-innings ball-stirking from Harry Funnell and Zahoor Sarwari gave the innings a late jolt in momentum and further increased the degree of difficulty facing the Saints next week.
Ranasinghe was the pick of the St Mary’s bowlers with 3/46.
Parkfield’s batting issues continued against Cranbourne with the Bandits rolled for 190, with only all-rounder Hansika Kodikara passing 50.
Martin Kelly took 4/41 as the Eagles completed the innings in the 78th over, leaving them in the box seat to consolidate a top-four position and put a gap between themselves and the chasing pack, led by Parkfield in fifth position.
Parkfield opening pair Nathaniel Cramer and Dishan Malalasekera hit single-figure scores and Sahan Jayawardana joined them with just seven.
Partnerships between Shahwali Mosavi and Travis D’Souza (56) and Steve Cannon with Kodikara (53) did the bulk of the scoring for the Bandits, who lost wickets in clumps throughout the day at home.
The chase will be trickier than usual for Cranbourne, however, due to the absence of captain-coach Harrison Carlyon.
Parkmore, meanwhile, needs to defend 258 against Lyndale in an evenly-poised affair.
78 from star recruit Satheesh Fernandu and 68 from Kyle Gwynne at the top of the order accounted for 56 per cent of the Pirates’ total haul, with 28 from Hewafonsekage Fonseka the next-best contribution.
English import, Callum O’Connell, managed just one on senior debut.
Captain Ben Montgomery took 3/23 for Lyndale, with Harry Singh, Faraz Rahman and Rajika Fernando each taking two wickets.
