All hail Hallam; Eagles soar

Tim Fathers spears in for Cranbourne as the Eagles soared to back-to-back outright victories. 132085 Picture: JARROD POTTER

By JARROD POTTER

DANDENONG DISTRICT CRICKET ASSOCIATION – TURF 1 Round 6 (Day 2)
HALLAM Kalora Park and Cranbourne notched maximum points in a round where the wheat and chaff were well defined.
HALLAM KALORA PARK v HEINZ SOUTHERN DISTRICTS
It all went horribly wrong for Heinz Southern Districts (90 and 91) facing Hallam Kalora Park (173 and 2/9). Heinz could not rouse any resilience in its first innings as its 6/49 overnight was quickly demolished and turned into all out for 90.
Hallam had no qualms sending Trevor Davies and his men back in for a second go and the second effort was marginally better… literally as the Cobras earned an extra run over their first innings. William Whyte (7/37) surged through the Heinz batting card as the visitors’ 91 came about mostly through Justin Davis (24) and Matt Cox (20).
CRANBOURNE v COOMOORA
They had to wait until 2.15pm, but that would be the only significant downside to Cranbourne’s (4/163dec and 0/2) second outright victory in as many weeks following a complete collapse by Coomoora (56 and 108) at Casey Fields.
The only rate Coomoora upped on Saturday was its attrition rate as wickets fell in clumps and at one stage looked like an innings-defeat was likely.
Cam Kelly (3/14), Steve Spoljaric (3/36) and Martin Kelly (2/19) left little doubt as to which side was top of the ladder as the Eagles picked off Kangaroos virtually at will. Gutsy batting from Charith Fernando (30) and Lance Baptist (29 not out) were the only bright lights on a dim afternoon for the visitors.
SPRINGVALE SOUTH v BERWICK
Two Quirks of nature left Berwick (215) licking its wounds as the next generation of Bloods’ batsmen slammed on the winning runs at Alex Nelson Reserve.
Ryan Quirk (79) showed just how prodigious he can become as he bunkered down and saw off the Berwick attack. His 206-ball epic had the 17-year-old showing the elder gents how it was done.
Quirk and his brother Dylan (55) piled on 101 for the fifth wicket after the Bloods were left in a precarious spot at 4/49 following an early mauling from the Bears.
Their effort turned the tables on Berwick and forced the field to spread at Harold Road, leaving the Quirks to push ahead and take advantage. Dylan would fall to a straightener from Ryan Crawford just after notching his first Turf 1 half-ton this season, leaving it to his younger brother to finish the job.
Quirk and captain Craig Slocombe (30) put the remainder on the board before the duo fell just a handful of runs before victory.