By Jonty Ralphsmith and Marcus Uhe
A Grade
Devon Meadows’ successful chase of 306 against Clyde was dubbed by president Mick Floyd as among the most special wins he has been part of.
Everything the Panthers tried turned to gold, with makeshift patient opener Anthony Brown’s century guiding his team to victory in what was clearly the highlight of A Grade.
Nathan Kleinig and Pete Deighton capitalised on the foundation, their partnership in excess of 50 going at better than a-run-a-ball to complete the enormous chase.
Elsewhere in A-Grade, a six-wicket haul by Blake Terlaak helped Cardinia to a 30-run win over Tooradin, Kooweerup won by 70 runs against Pakenham despite Steve Insall’s 74 and Merinda Park was no match for Cranbourne Meadows, going down by 163 runs.
B Grade
Emerald’s chase of 232 at Ramlegh Reserve highlighted B Grade action.
Openers Declan Cocks (49 off 90) and Ian Crosher (80 off 114) went at a good clip from the get-go, combining for a 100-run opening partnership to put the pressure back on Clyde.
While that pair departed in reasonably quick succession off the bowling of Pratham Patel, Dylan Roche and Jaiden Vanderlaan were able to capitalise on the foundation and see their team to a comfortable eight-wicket win.
After taking seven wickets to consign Melbourne Sixers to 152, Abhi Sharma’s coolness with the bat came to the fore in a tense one-wicket win for Officer.
Coming in at 11 with his side still 20 runs in arrears, he batted with Michael McGuigan for nine overs to patiently steer his team to victory.
McGuigan (35 not out off 101), number 10 Virat Bishnoi (26 off 52) and Sharma (8 not out off 31) overcame a slow start to the run chase, with that trio the only batters to pass 20 for the Bullants.
Set 266 for victory, Pakenham was never able to get enough momentum in their innings to seriously threaten Emerald.
Twin 62s to Ben Maroney and Steve Varty gave the visitors a sniff, but both were dismissed before being able to launch a sustained assault to catch the run rate up.
Led by a tireless Usman Ali spell of 2/44 off 21 overs, Emerald bowled Pakenham out for 195.
Carlisle Park fell 20 runs short of Tooradin’s 9/204.
On the back foot early, Dean Lyddy single-handedly got his team back in the match with a well-made 82, but didn’t have enough players going with him.
His dismissal at the hands of Owen Johnstone effectively ended Carlisle Park’s push, with the opening bowler’s 3/28 off 13 critical in the result.
C Grade
He’s an experienced contributor, and he was at it again on Saturday.
Brent Wilson hadn’t hit his straps yet in three hits this season, but with a target of 312 in front of him, the Kooweerup veteran at the top of the order licked his lips.
The long-time Demon was in for the long haul and played a classical two-day innings, able to go through the tempos to control the run chase and give the visitors a chance against Merinda Park.
His 134 off 171 follows many big knocks, notably a 197 in his first game of two-day cricket for two years last season in D Grade.
Unfortunately for Wilson, his knock, which came mostly with Lachie Wasley (73 off 135) at the other end, wasn’t enough to pull off a herculean chase.
Following Wilson’s dismissal, there was a flurry of wickets, before a stabilising eighth-wicket partnership, but the Cobras were still 12 runs too good.
Lang Lang, meanwhile, edged past Officer in a low-scoring game, Pakenham Upper Toomuc defeated Devon Meadows by 10 wickets and Cardinia beat Nar Nar Goon Maryknoll by 39 runs.
D Grade
Clyde was on the end of a dismal result against the Melbourne Sixers, suffering an outright loss in embarrassing fashion.
The Cougars made just 74 in the first innings before being asked to bat again, where they could only manage 69.
The strife began early with Krit Patel’s dismissal reducing them to 4/3 and Chase Adams’ at 7/18 in the second innings before Cameron Davidson and Ross Elston added 36 for the eighth wicket.
Sanjaya Mudiyanselage took nine wickets across the two innings for the Stars, with 5/14 in the first and 4/20 in the second.
At Officer, an unbeaten 68 from Divyang Patel rescued Pakenham Upper Toomuc from trouble against the Bullants.
From 4/44, Patel and Ryan Gusain navigated the Yabbies from trouble with a 61-run partnership.
Patel scored more than half of his side’s runs in the chase after the top order failed to fire.
Dean Perrow finished with 2/25 in a lengthy 21-over effort.
Merinda Park opening pair Chris Smith and Caleb Allport ensured the Cobras got past Emerald’s first innings total of 93 on their own, registering a 117-run opening partnership.
The Cobras declared with a lead of 106 with an outright win in their sights, but the Bombers offered far more resistance in the second innings to reach 5/108 and avoid the outright loss.
The Sixers sit 12 points clear atop the D Grade standings as the only undefeated side remaining, with Merinda Park and Pakenham in second and third, respectively.
E Grade
A 121-run partnership between Matthew Keoylian and Alan Downes ensured Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll’s chase of 196 went smoothly against the Kerala Strikers.
Keoylian finished not out on 69, while Downes was removed for 52 as the Marygoons reached the target with five wickets in hand.
Davis Joseph offered an excellent 4/20 from 19 overs for the Strikers but only one other teammate could manage a breakthrough.
Kooweerup’s top order took care of business against Merinda Park with numbers two through to five all making contributions for the home side.
Mahbub Sarkar did the bulk of the scoring with 54 as the Demons reached 3/182 from 75 overs.
Merinda Park resumed its batting innings at 6/56 but was dismissed for 115, Ahan Dey claiming 5/24 from his 13 overs.
Pakenham claimed the points at Heatherbrae Recreation Reserve with a three-wicket win over Officer.
Starts from nearly all of the Lions’ batters ensured the scoring load was shared, with four batters passing 20.
The Lions sit six points clear of the Strikers and Nar Nar Goon Maryknoll in second and third, respectively.
