By Marcus Uhe
History was made at Glover Recreation Reserve on Saturday as Devon Meadows cruised to a 10-wicket win against Cranbourne Meadows in round 10 of the CCCA District competition.
An unbeaten 229-run opening partnership between William Halton (105) and Lucas Ligt (111) at better than a run-a-ball, shattered a number of club and league records along the way.
It was a club record opening partnership for the first XI, the fourth-highest partnership in club history and the second-highest opening partnership at the Panthers.
Ligt’s ton, which included 13 fours and one six, was his third for the season, equalling Mark Hosking’s tally in the 2008-09 campaign for most centuries in a season at Devon Meadows.
For 17-year-old Halton, now the youngest Devon Meadows player to make a hundred in the first XI, it was his maiden century, and meant that he was involved in the game the entire day, having kept-wicket in the first dig.
Cranbourne Meadows tried just about everything to break the partnership, with nine players rolling their arm over.
Only wicketkeeper Satinderpreet Singh, and Harpreet Singh were spared from the onslaught, with Kanwaljit Handa (0-30 from three) and Jaskaran Singh (0-33 off four) the most expensive.
Bowling first, the Panthers restricted Cranbourne Meadows to 228, bowling them out in the 39th over.
Rohit Sharma was the only batter for Cranbourne Meadows to pass 30, smacking 79 from 46 with two sixes and 13 fours at the top of the order before he was bowled by Arthur Churchill.
All-rounder Chris Cleef took 3-33 from his eight overs, maintaining his lead at the top of the competition’s wicket taker’s list, while Churchill and Ben Hussey took two each.
The percentage boosting victory maintains a significant 24-point gap between second (Devon Meadows) and third (NNG/Maryknoll), and keeps the pressure on Upper Beaconsfield on-top of the ladder.
Chad McDonald’s season-best figures of 4-36 helped the Maroons to skittle Pakenham Upper Toomuc for 166 in 37 overs at Harry Blackman Oval.
Taylor Joyce (3-25) and Daniel Brennan (3-24) shared almost identical figures before Upper Beaconsfield, led by Imesh Jayasekara’s 97, completed the chase four wickets down in the 30th over.
Jayasekara, who fell just short of a second consecutive hundred in the District competition, cracked five sixes and seven fours in his knock, eventually caught by Chathura Jayasundara Bandaralage off the bowling of Matthew Zisos with four runs remaining in the chase.
Zisos was the standout bowler for the Yabbies, taking 2-25 off four overs.
Chandler Recreation Reserve played host to a critical clash between Emerald and Lang Lang, who started the day equal on points, with fourth spot on the table up for grabs.
After restricting Emerald to 9-155, panic would have swept through the Lang Lang dressing room after opening pair Dale Cranston and Shamil Samarasinghe were both dismissed without scoring, by Sam Stapleton and Bailey Tucker, respectively.
But that would be as good as it got for the Bombers; from 2-4, Tigers’ pair Rajind Dassanayake and Theekshana Hettiarachchi steadied the ship, reaching the total after 25 overs without the further loss of a wicket.
Like Jayasekara at Upper Beaconsfield, Dassanayake also fell agonisingly short of the magical three-figure mark, stranded on 99 not out.
In an attacking display, 72 of his runs came in boundaries, hitting 15 fours and two sixes in his brilliant innings.
Gembrook’s difficult season continued, suffering a 62-run loss at the hands of NNG/Maryknoll at home.
With the visitors’ opening batter Mansoor Ahmed retiring out, Gembrook weren’t able to claim a wicket until late in the innings with the score at 0-218, when James Markland was stumped on 99.
In keeper-batter Gregory Interlandi (63 from 90), he found a willing ally, but he was dismissed quickly after Markland as the Marygoons lost 4-1 late in the innings.
After having Markland stumped, Jeremy Everett removed Carter Davis and skipper Nathan Phillips for ducks, as the Marygoons reached 6-241 after their 40.
In reply, Phillips and Markland took three wickets each as they rolled Gembrook for 179 in the 36th over.
Cam Williams (57 off 88) and Mitchell Candy (42 off 44), who were both stumped by Interlandi off the bowling of Markland, were comfortably Gembrook’s best contributors, with seven batters failing to reach double figures.
