By Jonty Ralphsmith
Beaconsfield proved it is well and truly the team to beat in the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 2 competition on Saturday against HSD at Reedy Reserve, with a 10-wicket win over the second-placed team.
The Tigers’ organised bowling performance starkly contrasted to HSD’s impotent batting, which lacked the maturity to form a partnership or stem the visitors’ momentum.
On a day where experience and leadership was missing, skipper Craig Hookey was not in the First XI, dropped to the seconds, having averaged less than three from five hits so far this season.
Brent Patterson and Ethan French were the only Cobras to reach double digits in a dismal batting performance that saw HSD dismissed for 80, which Beaconsfield chased down in 82 balls.
Beaconsfield opened the bowling with left-arm spinner Ashan Madushanka and he bowled his 12 overs upfront which included six maidens as he tied down an end and got some balls to grip.
He claimed two scalps, while skipper Mark Cooper’s leggies got three, but it was seam-up bowler Jake Cutting who reaped the rewards of their collective economy rate of 2.04.
Cutting nabbed four of the last six wickets as the suppressive start from the visitors’ bowlers put undue pressure on the middle and lower-order to score.
With top spot all but locked in, Cooper said his team will use the last two home and away fixtures, against Keysborough and Cranbourne, to ensure it peaks for finals.
“In two-day cricket you can manipulate it more, but in one day cricket you can lose a game in a five-over period,” he said.
“There is a fine balance between looking to find form for everyone and giving them a look, and team form, so we will look to tinker, but not over the top, because we don’t want to lose momentum.”
After Madushanka had looked to have made the number-three spot in Beaconsfield’s batting line-up his own in the first half of the season, Cooper said the Tigers will embrace flexibility and shuffle it around.
“It will depend on conditions,” he said when asked about the batting order.
“We want to be adaptable for the situation, knowing we were stationery in the first part of the season, so we’re unsure of that.”
