By David Nagel
A BRENT Murdoch century was the highlight of the day for the Cranbourne region teams on the first day of round five in West Gippsland Cricket on Saturday.
Murdoch (129) and his Cranbourne Meadows team sit seventh on the Sub-District ladder and they started disastrously against bottom-placed Gembrook, losing three quick wickets for just 19 runs at their home ground.
Murdoch came in at the fall of that third wicket, joining his brother Lee (47) at a shaky time and set about turning the Rebels’ slow start to the season around. The pair put on 144 for the fourth wicket before Lee was out LBW with the score on 163, the Rebels out of danger.
Murdoch continued his rampage and looked set for huge double century before losing his wicket with the score on 5/209. Mathew Smith (55) replaced Murdoch and along with the Poole boys, Trevor (42) and Jason (25 not out) saw the Rebels through to 9/336 at the close of play. A great recovery after being 2/3 and 3/19.
@BT Sub Sport News:PREMIER
Fifth-placed Tooradin (256) played host to second-placed Pakenham and after winning the toss decided to bat in hot conditions.
Tom Hussey (77) opened up with Kane Latham (21) to put on a 59-run stand and that was followed by a 60-run partnership between Hussey and Callum O’Hare (25). At 1/119 the Seagulls looked to be cruising.
The middle order failed to capitalise on the great start and Tooradin battled to 8/198 before Bradley Sauer (61) saved the day. He worked well with the lower order and the 58 runs made for the last two wickets could prove crucial in the Seagulls’ defence this week.
A Tooradin win would bring them level with Pakenham while a loss would be a severe setback in their finals aspirations.
@BT Sub Sport News:DISTRICT
Darren O’Brien (100 not out) and Steve Robinson (86) set up an early declaration for Devon Meadows (6/236) in their District match against the visiting Nyora (4/21).
The pair put on 143 for the third wicket as the second-placed Panthers toyed with an undermanned Maroons’ attack, only ending the carnage when O’Brien reached triple figures.
In reply, Nyora failed to cope with the experienced Peter Zauner (3/8) whose seven-over spell at the end of the day has already put the issue beyond doubt.
The Panthers will be looking for outright points in this one.
Two Cranbourne-based teams battled out in the other District contest with Merinda Park (0/22) playing host to the Lyndhurst Vikings (207).
Merinda Park is setting the standard in the division so far this season but they faced stiff opposition from the fifth-placed Vikings.
For the Cobras, Brendan Fairlam (4/47) was the pick of the bowlers while Uma Rattan (2/16) and Jason Pongracic (2/41) provided able back-up. There were no batting stats provided for the Vikings.
@BT Sub Sport News:SUB-DISTRICT
Top team Clyde (126) played host to Tooradin (3/46) in the other local battle on Saturday and after a bright start it all fell apart for the Cougars. Cruising at 2/88 Clyde lost a staggering 7/15 to fall to 9/103 before a 23-run last wicket partnership restored some respect.
David Denton (54) was the only Clyde batsman to get on top of a Tooradin attack led by Sam Clarke (5/33). Clarke took five of the seven wickets in the mid-order collapse with Sean Baker (2/12) taking the other two.
Tooradin look shaky in their reply but have plenty of cattle locked away in the paddock and should get over the line.
