By DAVID NAGEL
PAKENHAM (2/83) has closed the gap between itself and the top-four teams in the WGCA Premier Division with a crunching victory over Emerald (82) at Toomuc Reserve on Saturday.
The fifth-placed Lions pushed their stuttering start to the season aside, toying with the Bombers to close within three games of third and fourth placed Merinda Park and Tooradin respectively. The Lions could hardly have been more impressive, with Russ Lehman (3/5), Shannon Mitchell (3/25) and Jack Ryan (2/22) bowling beautifully, before Chris Smith (41 not out) and Bradey Welsh (29) completed the most clinical of victories.
The win sets up one of the games of the season this Saturday, where the Lions take on Merinda Park, under lights at Toomuc Reserve, in a replay of last year’s thriller that ended in a tie.
Stand-in skipper Jack Anning said there was still much to look forward to for the Lions after their most impressive win for the season.
“It makes for an exciting finish doesn’t it,” Anning said after Saturday’s win.
“We’ve got Merinda Park, then Cardinia, which will be a really tough game, then Beaconsfield and Upper Beaconsfield and then we finish off with Kooweerup. There’s no doubt we’ve put ourselves in a tough position, but we’d back ourselves to win all of those games if we can produce our best cricket, and that’s what we need to do if we want to play finals.”
Upper Beaconsfield (0/106) has produced the upset of the West Gippsland Premier Division season, crushing premiership fancy Tooradin (105) by 10 wickets at Upper Beaconsfield on Saturday.
The Maroons’ eyebrow raising performance has kept the top-flight season alive, with Pakenham joining them as teams outside the top four still searching for a finals berth.
Maroons’ skipper Chris Savage threw the new-ball to off-spinner Rob North and the momentum immediately swung the Maroons’ way.
Sure, they didn’t get wickets immediately, but North (0/9 off 3), Jayden Joyce (2/24 off 6) and 15-year-old gun Chad McDonald (1/9 off 4) gave their skipper exactly what he had asked for.
“It was all about not letting blokes like Huss (Tom Hussey) get away from us early,” Savage said.
“We didn’t get a wicket until they were 24 but, to tell you the truth, they never looked comfortable, and I was really impressed with the way our boys bowled.”
And the wickets soon came, Joyce, McDonald, Tommy Tyrrell (2/22 off 8) and Will Haines (2/14 off 7) combining to devastate the visitors, who lost 7/36 in a rare display of vulnerability. Ross Douglas (21) and Jarred Thompson (13) did some repair work on the innings, but that was unstitched by Kyle Gibbs (3/13 off 5) who claimed the last three wickets to fall.
Regular opener North (26 not out) was then joined by Tyrrell (64 not out) and they produced the most surprising century partnership of the season, pulverising the Seagulls’ attack to reverse the result of a round six drubbing.
“We had a massive point to prove after what they did to us last time, just like we will have against Cardinia next week, so it was great to see the boys respond the way they did,” Savage said.
“I definitely think we’re good enough to win four of our next five games.” Cardinia (154) continued its dominant season, remaining unbeaten and putting Merinda Park (128) back in its place with a 26-run win at Gunton Oval.
The experienced trio of Neil Barfuss (53), Simon Parrott (29) and Ben Darose (21) led the charge with the bat for the Bulls against a Dylan Cuthbertson (4/28) inspired Cobras’ attack. Cuthbertson (59 not out) then played a lone hand as Dean Henwood (3/10 off 8) and Barfuss (3/18 off 6) produced another near perfect display with the cherry.
Reigning champs Kooweerup (127) survived a scare against the winless Beaconsfield (105) at Perc Allison Oval.
Matt Davey (43) and Dananja Madushanka (18 not out) rescued the Demons from a precarious 6/40, after Shameera Weerasinghe (3/25 off 8) and Ricahrd Gault (3/21 off 5) had done the early damage.
The Demons bowling is spot on at the moment, and Ron Bright Jr (3/19 off 6.3), John Bright (2/16 off 8) and Davey (2/20 off 8) shook their team free of danger to chalk up their fifth win on the trot.
Weerasinghe (27) and Brett Monagle (22) almost had the Tigers across the line … but just lacked support.
