By Justin Schwarze
It seems the format might not be the only thing that shifts in round 12 of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association District competition, as the ladder could be in for a massive shake-up with results pending on day two.
After a good win last week, Pakenham Upper Toomuc now sit in second, with their eyes set for the top of the table.
To achieve that goal, their matchup with current ladder leaders Officer was going to be monumental in deciding final seeding.
Visiting Officer won the toss and decided to take to the crease.
In the hot conditions, the Yabbies drew first blood as league-leading wicket taker Sohail Sadiq bowled the dangerous Chathura Imbulagoda for just five runs.
Jack James then came to the middle for the Bullants, but didn’t last long as Sadiq struck again.
Officer sat at 2/35, with James also providing just five for the visitors.
Opener Jaswinder Gill dug deep to fight his way to 41, before Sadiq claimed his third victim, trapping Gill in front.
From there, the Officer batting order struggled to get comfortable at the crease, with cameos of 30 from Kuldeep Sidhu and 19 from William Carlyle among their highest scorers.
After Devon Gabriel-Brown was caught out for a 21-ball duck, the Bullants stared down the barrel of 9/113 with both tail-enders Noah Parraga and Dan Irvine in to bat.
It seemed it was going to be a dominant bowling display from Pakenham Upper Toomuc, but Parraga and Irvine soon provided a surprise resistance.
Both played extremely conservatively but didn’t give away their wickets.
Slowly but surely, the pair formed a 68-run partnership, including 41 not out from Noah Parraga.
When the wicket of Irvine finally fell, Officer had reached a total of 181 after 66 and a half overs.
John Langley, who going into the matchup had only bowled 20 overs total in district all season, came up massive for the hosts, bagging 6/22 off 10 and a half overs bowled.
“I think we really dominated with the ball,” Pakenham Upper Toomuc captain Brian Kulasena said.
“I really back our bowling, it paid off and we were able to restrict them.”
However, the final partnership did cause some frustration for the Yabbies.
“It was a great partnership… credit to them, they didn’t really give up a chance and they batted really well,” Kulasena admitted.
“We just couldn’t get them out, it was later in the day, it was very warm and our seamers were pretty knackered at that point, so that’s probably the only part where we let it get away from us.
“If someone had told me at the start of the day we would keep Officer to 181, I would have definitely taken that.”
With the final nine overs in the day, the hosts shaved off 22 runs from their target, but lost opener Prabath Kobbekaduwa in the process.
“We’re feeling pretty confident, but they are a very good side, so it will be hard work to get that remaining 160,” Kulasena said.
“Going into day two, we’ll go back to what’s been working for us, which is playing positive, aggressive cricket and backing everyone in the batting order.”
A win for Pakenham Upper Toomuc would solidify their spot in the top two, with a good chance at hosting a semi-final.
“It’s going to be a lot of fine tuning our skills,” Kulasena said of the focus at training this week.
“We’ve started our finals prep, so it’s a lot about backing our instincts and not being in two minds when we’re batting.”
The final two postseason spots are still up for grabs, with Cranbourne Meadows, Emerald and Carlisle Park battling in the final stretch.
In one of the most crucial matchups remaining in the season, Emerald are hosts to Cranbourne Meadows.
The Rebels won the toss and elected to bat.
Mohit Mandora was quickly dismissed for just four, but then a string of contributors for Cranbourne Meadows followed.
Manu Goraya scored 28, Tanvir Singh added 36 and Amreek Mann posted 35.
In between that, wickets continued to fall, which led to Mandhiraj Singh taking to the crease in the lower order.
Singh dominated, bringing up 131 with 14 fours and six majors.
Then, tail-ender Onkar Uppal, playing just his second district match of the season, supported Singh with 57 of his own.
The visitors posted a massive 341 runs after 71 overs, setting a massive task for top four hopeful Emerald.
Trent Rolfs took 5/90 in his 24 overs bowled for the Bombers.
The hosts were sent out to bat the final six overs of the day, and openers Declan Cocks and Ethan Crosher were not taking any chances, scoring one run each and seeing the day out without losing a wicket.
At Hunt Club Oval, Carlisle Park ran rampant through Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll’s batting lineup.
The Vikings bowled out their opponents for just 86, as Adam Hollingworth and Jarrod Armitage took three wickets each.
Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll batting stand lasted just 44 overs, leaving 23 in the day for Carlisle Park to take to the crease.
Openers David Nutting and Ethan Davies couldn’t provide much scoring, as the Vikings fell to 2/4 before Ben Perry battled his way to 51 not out at number three.
Kasun Balasuriya contributed 21 before he was caught out.
The Vikings breezed past the target of 86, and now sit at 3/99 at stumps, with a potential outright result in sights when play resumes on day two.
Lang Lang has the bye in round 12.
