By Marcus Uhe
Berwick is on the brink of pulling off a stunning recovery after a poor performance with the bat on day one against St Mary’s in the DDCA’s Turf 1.
The Bears lasted just 46 overs before it was dismissed for 129 by the Saints at Carroll Reserve, but responded with the ball to have the home side in strife at 6/67 at the close of play.
A stunning six-ball period overlapping the 14th and 15th overs saw the Bears fall in a heap at 6/31 at the fall of Elliot Mathews’ wicket.
Lachlan Brown was left red-faced after shouldering arms to St Mary’s captain/coach Susantha Pradeep on the final ball of the 14th over.
Deeshan Umagiliyage then began the 15th by getting through Matt Robertson’s defences to make it wickets in consecutive deliveries.
Mason Binns lasted three deliveries before Umagiliyage had him trapped in front, while Mathews lasted just one ball, feathering an edge to the awaiting gloves of Safaras Moahomad to make it a 4/0 collapse in just six balls, and a five-wicket haul for Umagiliyage in his eighth over.
Watching the chaos unfold at the other end without having faced a ball was Jordan Cleland, who made an important 40 in a 62-run partnership with Toby Wills and guided the Bears to the tea break, but both were back in the pavilion within two overs of the resumption.
Captain Jarrod Goodes hit two boundaries in the final over of the innings down the ground but his attempt at a third was caught at long-on by Toby Wilson, bringing the innings to a close at 129…Umagiliyage’s 5/40 a standout on the bowling card.
The chase begun terribly for the hosts as Goodes removed the dangerous Moahomad in the opening over.
Relentless accuracy and dot-ball pressure from the Bears made the going tough for St Mary’s who failed to pierce the infield and rotate the strike.
Goodes had Moahomad’s opening partner Raveen Nanayakkara caught at backward point for just 12 and Pradeep LBW for a duck in the 14th over.
Spinners Brown and Mathews removed Resandu Thilakarathna and Keppler Fernandez respectively to have the Saints in a similar predicament of 6/37.
Wendyl Pires and Michael Dudley will resume their 30-run partnership next week but much responsibility falls on the shoulders of Pires as the remaining recognised batter, 63 runs away from a victory that will kick-start St Mary’s season.
Springvale South has set Hallam Kalora Park 270 to chase at home next week despite a five-wicket haul from Hawks star Jordan Hammond.
A 94-run stand between Jordan Mackenzie and Jordan Wyatt for the third wicket provided the bulk of the runs for the Bloods, Wyatt’s 71 off 80 providing the attacking, counter-punching threat to Mackenzie’s steady 70 off 119.
Wyatt freed his arms after the tea break with a particular focus on the spin tandem of Charith Keerthisinghe and Lee Brown, whom he targeted with boundaries, before a leading edge off the bowling of Hammond landed in the safe hands of William Whyte.
His 71 featured five fours and four sixes until he became Hammond’s second scalp of the afternoon.
Mackenzie perished a few overs earlier and the Bloods’ tail did not offer much with the bat, aside from some boundaries from Josh Dowling and Jarryd Straker.
Jackson Sketcher’s absence saw Blade Baxter and Yoshan Kumara elevated up the order but neither managed significant contributions.
Hammond finished with figures of 5/54 off his 19 overs, many of which were bowled into the wind, and included the key scalps of Wyatt, Baxter and Ryan Quirk.
At Strathaird Reserve, a lower order fightback from Beaconsfield saw it reach 7/236.
Captain/coach Mark Cooper was resolute with 54 at the top of the order but lacked support from the core of his batting lineup, the remaining top five adding just 20 with Tyler Clark and Jesse Busacca not contributing.
45 from Kevin Seth, 52 from Trishan De Silva and 30 from Michael Dunstan at six, eight and nine, respectively, ensured the Tigers reached a defendable total, having been 5/90 when Cooper was caught behind by his former strike bowler in Callan Tout.
Tout took 2/36 against his old side while Jeevan Mendis worked his magic for 24 overs to take 3/58.
