By Marcus Uhe
A second week of action that threatened to disrupt the run home in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 2 competition did not eventuate to anything outside of the ordinary on Saturday, with three of the top four sides taking care of business.
Cranbourne’s loss was the only result that raised eyebrows, going down to an in-form Lyndale and dropping to third place in the table.
Lyndale won its third match in its last four contests, with the only loss in that period coming by 10 runs against Coomoora in round nine.
The Two Blues reached Cranbourne’s target of 211 in the 66th over, with two wickets in hand thanks to some key contributions from its primary run scorers.
Opener, Usman Ali made 57, Brendan Ash made 44 at number four and Faraz Rahman finished unbeaten on 49, one run shy of his second 50 of the summer.
The trio contributed to 150 of the 212 runs, with only one other score in double figures.
Cranbourne conceded a startling 27 extras, including 16 byes and six no-balls.
Eagles skipper Harrison Carlyon threatened to turn the defence on its head with three quick wickets in the middle order, including the dangerous Himesh Don for a second-ball duck, but Rahman and Manroop Singh settled proceedings with a 53-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
Carlyon and fellow Jerseyman Julius Sumerauer each finished with three wickets.
Cranbourne’s loss was Parkmore’s gain, which returned to second place with a win over Parkfield.
Resuming at 4/36 in pursuit of 81, the Pirates reached the target in the 28th over without the loss of any further wickets.
Ammar Bajwa and Hewanfonsekage Fonseka guided their side to safety in a 90-run stand that ended with Bajwa’s wicket for 27.
The Pirates continued to bat beyond reaching the target, with Fonseka reaching 90, his second half-century from his last three innings.
The innings came to an end in the 60th over after Parkmore reached 199.
Travis D’Souza finished with 5/57.
Parkfield’s minor chances of sneaking into fourth place remain, but they have fallen behind Lyndale into sixth place, and are 14 points behind Coomoora in fourth.
The Pirates, meanwhile, joined HSD on 48 points.
Coomoora returned to the winner’s list with a 34-run win over St Mary’s.
Quicks, Sam Wetering and Joel Robertson enjoyed excellent first sessions with the still-new ball, taking two wickets apiece to have the Saints in trouble at 5/45.
St Mary’s lost their leading run scorer Sasindu Arachchige for six and were without middle order mainstay Junaid Kari, with the reinforcements not filling the void.
Keppler Fernandez and captain, Raveen Nanayakkara added 41 for the sixth wicket but the tail failed to wag, dismissed in 54 overs for 125.
Wetering finished with 4/25 from 15 overs for Coomoora in his first bowl at Turf 2 level since the Christmas break, with Robertson and Malan Madusanka each taking two wickets.
It’s just the Roos’ second two-day victory for the summer, having lost to Cranbourne and Narre Warren and snuck home against Lyndale in previous encounters.
Their ability to handle the rhythms of long-form cricket at Turf 2 level will be vital in the next two weeks, set to come under extreme scrutiny against the current top two teams in HSD and Parkmore.
Cranbourne hosts Parkmore this week and HSD heads to Coomoora as the top four sides square off.
Lyndale, meanwhile, heads to Parkfield, and Narre Warren hosts St Mary’s in a contest that may determine which side plays in Turf 3 next summer.
St Mary’s trails the Magpies by six points and significant percentage.
