Cardinia’s victory over Clyde had just about everything on day two of round six of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) Premier Division.
The Bulls went in defending a very strong score of 291 and started hot with Charli Nooy bagging the wicket of Kane Avard (11) on debut.
It wasn’t all according to plan, with Justin Berry in the deep miraculously recovering a second-effort catch off his leg.
Most Cougar bats didn’t provide too much damage to support superstar skipper Trevor Bauer with Ramneet Dhindsa (16), Shamil Samarasinghe (15) and Ryan Adams (18) the next three to go.
Bauer continued to lose partners but his batting confidence never wavered as he brought up a hard-earned 50 before carrying on to 93.
Another moment of magic from Cardinia came when Josh Grogan bowled a hat-trick in the 65th over with Yashan Gunasinghage (10), Brett Reid (0) and Max Adams (0) all being dismissed without laying bat on ball.
Due to this, only two more Clyde bats made double-figures for the remainder of the innings and the Cougars finished at 199.
Bauer’s patient knock came off 210 balls and included 13 fours and one major.
Grogan’s hat-trick were his three poles for the match while Travis Wheller took two.
“It took a little longer than we would’ve liked but it was good to get the win and keep on a roll,” Bulls coach Jacobus Hynes said.
“We knew that Trevor (Bauer) is that kind of player, he’ll bat a long time, he’ll play his shots but he’ll also be really cautious.
“We knew that we could set up fields that were more attacking on the other bats to force a shot that probably wasn’t really there.
“Towards the end, Trev was hitting them pretty well so we kind of gave him the single to try and get a wicket up the other end.
“He ended up getting out to Travvy Wheller, and that was a seed.
“Trev didn’t really look like getting out all day other than that ball which was an absolute pearler.
“It was good to get wickets from the other end.”
Cardinia takes a lot of confidence out of the result, with an excellent batting performance inspiring a solid effort with the ball.
Missing a couple of key bowlers meant the Bulls went searching for other options, but Hynes was satisfied overall with how his side went about business.
“Batting was a massive improvement from previous weeks,” he noted.
“Bowling-wise we were probably a bit light on our bowlers and it probably showed a little bit, our consistency was a little off but other than that, we still played really well.
“It was good to keep going with the winning form.
“We want to stay consistent with batting and bowling and show a real all-around performance.
“It’s good to have that depth where we can chop and change and if something’s not working we can try something else.
“It always works out well, so we don’t have to rely on Lachie Volpe and Matt Welsh, which is awesome.
“I think that puts us in good stead to be a really dominant bowling side with a lot of options.”
With the result, Cardinia extended its streak to five consecutive wins after dropping the first game of the season.
The Bulls are second, still just four points behind Tooradin, with the highest net run rate in the competition.
They have taken the most wickets and conceded the second-fewest runs, highlighting the impact they’ve had with the ball and in the field.
Cardinia will continue to look to extend its run to six games with a two-day matchup against Devon Meadows before concluding the 2025 calendar year in a one dayer versus Upper Beaconsfield.
