By Gavin Staindl
WITH Christmas and the mid-season break fast approaching, Berwick will have to rebound from a strong performance by last year’s grand finalists, Springvale South, if they want to retain top spot on the Turf One Dandenong and District Cricket Association ladder.
Springvale South was able to record 198 at Alex Nelson reserve despite being robbed of 12 overs due to a rain delay.
Originally falling to 6/99 and forced to leave the pitch at the 50-over mark, Springvale South came out swinging for the remaining 18 overs.
But after successfully chasing down targets of 181 and 193 this season, Berwick coach Gavan Wills remains confident that his team has what it takes to get the win.
James Prendergast (3/28) was the best of the Berwick bowlers even Prendergast was not able to clean up the tail after the rain delay and the runners-up from last year’s grand final began to pour on the runs.
Craig Slocombe (53) and Matt Wenke (35 not out) steadied for Springvale while Gavin Fewkes smashed 25 off 20 balls to set up a promising day-two this Saturday.
@BT Sub Sport News:Mordialloc v Narre Warren
A SOLID 81 by Travis Campbell has given Mordialloc hope of a victory at Ben Kavanagh Reserve.
Batting at number five, Campbell made more in his one score than the rest of the Mordialloc batters were able to score collectively.
The score of 171 was a far-cry from their desired total but Ryan Christie (4/31) and Christopher Jarrett (2/22) swept up the last four wickets without giving up a run.
At stumps, Narre Warren was 0/9.
@BT Sub Sport News:North Dandenong v Doveton
NORTH Dandenong is the only Turf One team this week to have batted out the full 80 overs and as a result, their 229 has put them in a commanding position at Lois Twohig Reserve.
Andrew Brown hit the weekend off with an opening 40 but surprisingly, it was the tailenders who notched the total above 200.
Ninth batter Glen Pepper scored 47 while 16-year old and tailender Javid Khan snapped a four game streak of scoring one run and made 31 not out.
@BT Sub Sport News:Parkfield v Hallam-Kalora Park
AS was the story for most of the matches, the Parkfield v Hallam-Kalora Park match at Parkfield Park suffered a brief pause as the rain came and went, but play resumed with scoring becoming an arduous task.
A slow but necessary 92-run partnership between Parkfield batters Tony Payne (54) and Brad Houghton (49) dragged the score to 128 before Parkfield scraped to 5/160 after 62 overs.
Turf Two
@BT Sub Sport News:Southern Pirates v Dandenong West
A WHOPPING 203-run, third wicket partnership by David Weerden and Anthony Brannan has lifted Dandenong West to 3/260 off 71 at Wachter Reserve.
Weerden (100 not out) teamed up with Brannan (117) to take Dandenong from 2/22 to 3/225.
@BT Sub Sport News:Berwick v Springvale South
LOSING the toss turned out to be the opportunity Springvale South needed to remove itself from the bottom of the Turf Two ladder.
With the chance of rain and a slow Arch Brown Reserve outfield, Berwick sent Springvale South into bat but by the end of the day Berwick were left amazed at their opponents’ score of 4/300.
Springvale opener Mark Keatinge took his time to settle in but eventually made an unbeaten 111 off 212 balls and Roshan Perera also contributed, smashing 89 of 103.
@BT Sub Sport News:Maranatha Methodist v Cranbourne
ECONOMICAL bowling performances by Cranbourne bowlers Robert Cleland and Daniel Diwell have restricted Maranatha to 6/146 at stumps.
Being sent into bat, Maranatha fell to 4/42 thanks to Cleland (2/18) and Diwell (2/24) but a mini-revival in the middle order elevated the team total to 146 from 72 overs.
Fountain Gate, Hampton Park and HSD all had games postponed because of wet conditions.
