Upper Beaconsfield continues to be full of surprises after holding off Pakenham in round five of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) Premier Division.
The Maroons are back in the four after being demolished last round, the biggest story of success so far in the Premier season after narrowly avoiding relegation last summer.
At home, Upper Beaconsfield took to the crease after winning the toss but suffered an early setback with Corey Joyce (4) departing early.
Superstar Dominic Evans was kept to just nine but skipper Will Haines and vice skipper Aidan Whitfield showed their class by forming a strong partnership.
Haines raised the bat and continued onto 79 before being caught, but again the Maroons looked unfazed and stood tall.
Whitfield and Taylor Joyce created another impressive stand of over 50 runs, mainly thanks to Joyce’s massive hitting before Whitfield (27) was finally dismissed by some quick glovework from Zach Flaxman.
Joyce took the opportunity to swing the bat, blasting four huge majors over the fence and smashed his way to an unbeaten half century off just 23 balls, leading his side to 4/175.
Jackson Luka (44) did majority of the scoring for the Lions in pursuit, but a slow run rate and excellent fielding restricted the visitors to 8/151 after 40 overs.
Pakenham now sits in seventh on a four game losing streak.
Upper Beaconsfield’s 24-run victory and defence was boosted by three wickets each from AJ Claxton and Tyler Astle.
“It was all about bowling for the team and playing our roles,” Maroons captain Haines said.
“We had a big focus on the way we wanted to bowl and the plans we wanted to execute and everyone did that really well and we backed that up with some great fielding.
“Everyone played their role well.
“We maintained the plan to keep the scoring low and put pressure on them knowing how slow the outfield is.
“We probably started a bit slow (with the bat) because I thought Pakenham bowled well at the start.
“It was about keeping wickets in hand and giving ourselves a platform to launch off later in the innings.
“A big focus of ours this season has been to bat the full overs.”
Upper Beaconsfield has already surpassed its win total from last season.
The Maroons are currently fourth with a record of 3-2.
“It’s great (to get the win), I think throughout the preseason and the season to date we’ve had such positive attitudes and great vibes through training,” Haines said.
“Off the back of a tough loss to Cardinia, we put that down to a bad game against a good side and stayed positive and moved forward.
“We kept gaining experience and understanding the areas that we may have let ourselves down one week to improve on them the next week.
“That’s been a big focus and it’s made a big difference.”
Devon Meadows put a stopper in Clyde’s momentum as the Panthers bagged a four-wicket triumph at Booring Reserve.
The Cougars set up well with a very competitive score of 5/203 in the first innings, highlighted by 60 from Shamil Samarasinghe, 45 from Ramneet Dhindsa and 29 from Trevor Bauer.
But the hosts batted beautifully with rising star Ethan Wood adding to his breakout campaign.
After scoring a massive ton a fortnight ago, Wood backed it up with 53 on Saturday.
But Nathan Worsteling stole the show as he notched 91 not out from 116 balls to propel Devon Meadows to victory at 6/207.
Tooradin improved to 5-0 and sent Officer to 0-5 with an emphatic 137-run win at Rob Porter Reserve.
The Seagulls batted first and Cal O’Hare dominated from the opening ball, navigating his way to 95 off 91 deliveries.
He was well supported, with Praveen Perera (56) also becoming a half-centurion and Lahiru Jayakody providing 41 from 23 balls.
Tooradin finished the 40 overs with a significant total of 8/281.
The Bullants valiantly batted out their full time but were never on the pace despite a half century from Bill Carlyle and 34 not out from Jack James, concluding the innings at 6/144.
