By Marcus Uhe
Berwick and Narre South played out a cliff-hanger in DDCA Turf 1 on Saturday with the Bears falling agonisingly shy of the Lion’s monster day-one total of 344 at Strathaird Reserve.
Jake Hancock’s unbeaten 135 carried the visitors to 8/339, with a stoic final over from Callan Tout holding them at bay.
From five wickets down at the tea break, needing just shy of 200 more runs from the final session, the Bears, led by Hancock and Toby Wills’ 62, gave the undermanned Lions a fright, having lost Callum Nicholls to a shoulder injury in the field and with skipper Kyle Hardy leaving the match to attend a personal commitment midway through the fielding innings.
Jeevan Mendis orchestrated the defence in Hardy’s absence, while bowling 33 of the 80 overs, taking the crucial wickets of Matthew Hague, Jordan Cleland and Jarrod Goodes along the way.
A collapse of 4/16 shortly before tea will haunt the Bears as Cleland, Mitch Shirt and Ash Henry combined for just five runs.
Narre South slot into third place on the table with 40 points but face Buckley Ridges and Springvale South in the run home, without their star batter in Nicholls.
A considered and deliberate game plan from Buckley Ridges was the key in chasing Springvale South’s monster first innings total of 361, according to coach Manjula Munasinghe.
The Bucks did what no team has managed in the last two seasons, in inflicting a defeat on the back-to-back champions for the first time in the home-and-away season for nearly two years to the day, a streak dating back to 12 February 2022.
In the process, the boys from Park Oval not only secured a major psychological boost in taking down the reigning champions, but roared back into finals contention, leapfrogging Hallam Kalora Park into fourth position and now just three points behind their next opponent, Berwick, in second place.
It was a comfortable victory in the finish, reaching the total four wickets down in the 75th over of the innings, as each batter managed to contribute.
“360 is a number only that we’re chasing down,” Munasinghe said.
“We had to breakdown the 360 nicely to the innings.
“We segregated (the target) to a different level so that the players, when things were going wrong, they can refer to our game plan; they can attack or play defensive because we had achieved the little targets as we go.
“Otherwise, when you see the 360-something in the head, people are not playing their normal game.
“The openers put 150 on the board and everything was history after that.”
A new opening combination of Josh Holden and Jake Cronin worked wonders for the home side, the two adding 157 for the opening wicket to get the chase off to an ideal start.
Holden hit 100 in his first innings at Turf 1 level this season while Cronin’s 66 was comfortably his highest score of the year.
The opening combination was the fourth that Buckley had tried at the top of the order, with Cronin the mainstay in each, as they searched for the right pairing.
In Holden, a hard-hitting left hander, the Bucks have found an all-important left-right hand combination that frustrates bowling attacks.
It adds to a batting line up that’s arguably the envy of the competition, combining experience and patience with aggression and stroke play.
Former skipper Ben Wright hit 57, Roshane Silva 77 and Ishan Jayarathna 32, with Jayson Hobbs adding an aggressive 23 of his own.
The threat of Springvale South spinner Jarryd Straker, the competition’s leading wicket taker, was neutralised, as they resolved to not “give wickets” to him.
Straker finished with 2/103 but was uncharacteristically expensive, his economy just shy of six runs per over.
Holden and Wright went where no one had gone in Turf 1 in successfully attacking the tweaker, targeting the short square boundary on the creek side of the ground with a number of sixes, and square cuts.
There’s a fearlessness to Buckley Ridges too, a side with plenty of experience and unafraid of bucking the trend across the competition in batting second.
“Not many people like to chase down, we might take the initiative and in modern day cricket, people love to chase targets now,” Munasinghe said.
“I don’t think in DDCA and local cricket, people like to chase runs.
“We have two great hitters at seven and eight, Roshane rotating the strike and when he gets going, he can get going too.
“Ben (Wright) is a bit of a stroke maker and a smart cricketer too, Hobbs will lead the side in the middle.
“I think we have a really packed batting side.”
“We lost the 12 points that we needed to gain somewhere to be in the game, so I think that was a very important game for us for team morale and all those things.”
“As a group, we’ll gel more, believe in ourselves more after beating that team, and not only that team but 361 is always a bit of a psychological downer, when you see a big total like that.
“But the way we chased and the way we planned and everyone played according to the plan, was very impressive.”
Tough fixtures remain against Berwick and Narre South, two sides the Bucks find themselves jockeying for finals places with in a dense lower half of the top four, but in a win for Munasinghe’s side, both contests are at home.
For Springvale South, a lack of bowling depth through the absence of Jackson Sketcher and Blade Baxter meant more overs for the frontline attack, with even Jordan Mackenzie asked to bowl eight overs.
Yoshan Kumara and Josh Dowling took one wicket each for the Bloods, who will be keen to respond against Narre South at home next week.
Sketcher and Baxter should return to the line-up, having missed the Buckley Ridges contest due to personal commitments clashing with the fixture.
Hallam Kalora Park did what it needed to do in securing six points against North Dandenong, having completed the short run chase early in the day.
The Hawks reached the total four down but missed on vital centre wicket practice after the middle order failed to take opportunities.
Left-arm quick Randeep Sahota took four wickets in four overs to decimate the middle order, but withstanding the chaos at the other end was wicketkeeper-batter Ciaron Connolly.
In a new role at the top of the order, Connolly batted for nearly the duration of the innings to make 96, before hitting a Ramneet Dhindsa full toss down the throat of Sudes Khan on the legside boundary.
The Hawks are fifth on the table, tied with Buckley Ridges on points with 39.
Elsewhere, St Mary’s claimed a breakthrough win of the season against Beaconsfield, chasing 274 in the 78th over seven wickets down.
The win franks a return to competitiveness since the Christmas break, despite a disaster the week before against Narre South.
Trishane De Silva, Mark Cooper and Ashan Madhushanka each took two wickets for Beaconsfield.
R12 Results: Buckley Ridges 4/365 def Springvale South 9/361. Beaconsfield 3/273 def by St Mary’s 7/274. North Dandenong 134 def by Hallam Kalora Park 9/206. Narre South 5/344 def Berwick 8/339.
Ladder: Springvale South 54, Berwick 42, Buckley Ridges 39, Hallam Kalora Park 39, Narre South 34, North Dandenong 28, Beaconsfield 24, St Mary’s 12.
Fixture R13: Narre South (5) v Springvale South (1), Buckley Ridges (3) v Berwick (2), Hallam Kalora Park (4) v Beaconsfield (7), St Mary’s (8) v North Dandenong (6).
