By Justin Schwarze
Officer made a big statement in round 3 of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) District Competition, comfortably taking down Carlisle Park by eight wickets.
On paper, the matchup was going to be one full of intrigue, as the Bullants entered as a cemented premiership contender, and the Vikings were recently relegated from the tier above.
Both teams came in as victors from round 2, with Officer defeating Pakenham Upper Toomuc and Carlisle Park handling business against Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll.
The visiting side went on the front foot early with star fast bowler Cooper Pursell quickly removing opening batsman David Nutting for just 18, leaving the hosts at 1/28.
His opening partner Ethan de Vries soon joined him, courtesy of an LBW from Kuldeep Sidhu.
Sidhu wasn’t done there, taking the next two wickets and ripping through the opponent’s batting line-up.
The Officer bowling followed suit, taking another 5/19, including three wickets in a row from Ash Smith and one from Dan Irvine.
Carlisle Park sat at 81 runs with just two wickets in hand, before a handy 20 from tail-ender Ryan Hughes provided much needed scoring to help them limp to their total of 104.
Only five batters reach double-figures in runs, with the highest for the Vikings’ innings being a tally of just 21 from de Vries.
For the Bullants, both Sidhu and Smith tallied three wickets each, and Pursell and Irvine both managed a pair.
They bowled out the hosts in just over 36 overs, putting themselves into the driver’s seat for the chase.
Officer rode the momentum from its dominant bowling to a comfortable batting display.
Jaswinder Gill set the tone for what was to come, making a good knock of 44 off 26 balls before being trapped in front by Sean Hinkley.
Despite losing Gill, the runs continued to pile on for the visitors.
Chathura Imbulagoda scored a steady 26 not out off 34 deliveries, and the target was well in sight for Officer.
A second wicket for Carlisle Park came as Jack James fell after adding a quick 21, including five fours, but the visiting side needed just a further 21 runs to come away as victors.
Ash Smith came to the crease and comfortably guided Officer home to the eight-wicket victory, hitting three boundaries in nine balls.
The Bullants reached the total after just over 13 overs, with an impressive run-rate of 8.1.
Sean Hinkley took the only two wickets for the home side, but was costly, hit for 42 runs off 4.2 overs.
Over at Lang Lang, the hosts defeated Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll by 28 runs.
Lang Lang batted first, and an early mistake led to opener Tim Miller being run out without scoring.
However, that proved to be just a bump in a smooth road, as the Tigers cruised to a score of 8/201.
The innings was highlighted by Oshadha Ariyadasa tallying 88 off 66 deliveries, and William Wykes adding 44 not out.
Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll started hot, but then lost 3/4, derailing their hopes of a successful chase.
Nathan Mclean took four wickets for Lang Lang, and the hosts held their opponents to 9/173.
The final match that saw play on the weekend was Cranbourne Meadows’ defeat of Pakenham Upper Toomuc.
A half-century for Jass Dhaliwal steered the Rebels to 9/160.
The visitors looked primed to reach the target of 161, before a late bowling takeover made Cranbourne Meadows successful in their defence.
With the visiting side at 5/132, needing just 29 runs, the middle and bottom order for the Yabbies fell in very quick succession, losing 5/9 to finish the innings.
In the final matchup of the week’s play, Emerald won by forfeit against Melbourne Sixers.
Up next is round four, where the competition moves to two-day matches.
Melbourne Sixers take on Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll, Officer face Lang Lang, Cranbourne Meadows hosts Carlisle Park and Pakenham Upper Toomuc visits Emerald.
