By Tyler Lewis
Lucas Ligt has begun his District league medal defence in officious style.
The dashing left-hander continued his season 2021/22 form into Saturday’s round 1 clash with District newcomer Gembrook, blasting an enchanting 148 from just 119 deliveries.
He crunched 17 boundaries and two sixes on his way to his second consecutive century for Devon Meadows after an unbeaten 100 in last summer’s preliminary final defeat.
While cricket appears to be somewhat easy for Ligt, he admittedly didn’t feel settled until he was knocking on the door of 50.
“It took longer than I thought this week,” he explained.
“I battled to 30 odd and then I don’t know, I clicked into gear and went from 40 to 80 reasonably quickly, in that area I felt like it was all falling into place again.
“We have the 5G tower or whatever that is at mid-wicket and they gave me a gap there, I knew I wanted to put one of the bowlers to that area.
“I got the ball and managed to get it all the way and I was like alright… this is it… we’re back.”
Ligt was dismissed on the penultimate ball of the innings, falling just inches short of carrying his bat.
Despite the well-documented delight in which opening bats receive after going unblemished, Ligt wasn’t fussed by his dismissal.
“People keep saying that to me, they keep saying ‘it would’ve been good if you went not out’,” he said.
“But I was just trying to get the highest score possible for the team, that’s what I was thinking of.”
Ligt compiled a 117-run stand with fellow opener Will Halton (40 off 70), before he and number three Trent Delaney (78 off 65) piled on 164 in good time.
Ligt revealed why he and Delaney seem to bat so strongly together.
“I think we’re on a similar wave length, we love cricket and love being out there,” he said.
“We’re both relaxed when we’re batting; we don’t stress about anything and just enjoy each other’s company when we’re out there.
“He’s one of my good mates in the team, so I enjoy every minute out there with him and it just makes it easy and fun.”
After setting the Brookers a monster score of 3/305, the Panthers sustained their dominance by having the visitors 4/26.
New coach Chris Cleef had the ball on a string with 4/16 from eight, before they tossed the ball to Ligt with the magic hand.
“I used to wicket keep and I have been trying to say for a while that ‘I am an okay little seam bowler give me a go’,” Ligt joked.
“I come on right at the end and stuff, the Gembrook captain (Timmy Gray, 71 from 82 balls) was giving us a bit, he got 70 odd reasonably well and he was taking to all the bowlers in the team.
“Then I came on and managed to get him first ball, I don’t know how many times I can keep telling my team that I should be bowling more.”
The Panthers – who come into this summer heavy favourites – are doing it the right way, earning the respect of their opponents.
“The group is really capable, we go about it the right way,” Ligt said.
“There’s no arrogance, we got compliments from the Gembrook captain, he was aware that they’re battling and he was saying thanks for the way we went about it and how everyone was having a good time.
“I think that’s just the group we’ve got, we’ve got 11 mates, there are no cliques in our team or anything and everyone knows their role and we all enjoy watching each other do well too.
“I hope we go all the way because we want to do that all with each other.”
The Panthers bowled the Brookers out in the 31st over to secure a 184-run victory.
Upper Beaconsfield, meanwhile, also restamped itself as a premiership contender, torpedoing the recently-relegated Cranbourne Meadows outfit.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, wheels looked in motion for the Rebels, as regular partnerships took place at the top.
But after being 2/73, Cranbourne Meadows lost a staggering 8/56 to stumble to 10/129.
Daniel Brennan was the pick of the bowlers with 2/28 from his seven overs.
Despite losing skipper Will Haines early in reply, the Maroons cantered across the line, with 11 overs and eight wickets to play with.
Taylor Joyce carved 36, but was outdone by Imesh Jayasekara who crunched an unbeaten 73.
The absence of last summer’s leading run scorer – Rajitha Ranaweera – appears to have had an effect on Pakenham Upper Toomuc, which failed to post a defendable score in its clash with Emerald.
The Yabbies were sent in by the Bombers and proceeded to post a slender 10/126.
James Stevenage notched 24 at the top, but his start was hindered by the three ducks that followed him inside the top five.
Ben McLeod top scored with 38 at number 10, boosting his side to 126.
Although 126 seemed enough when Emerald tipped to 3/36, the score was ultimately too lean to defend.
Skipper Owen Thorne steered his side to the winners list with an important 75 not out.
The Bombers eventually passed the Yabbies in the 32nd over with six wickets in hand.
In the final match of the round, NNG/Maryknoll recorded a resounding win over Lang Lang.
The Swamp Tigers – courtesy of 55 from Theekshana Hettiarachchi – posted 7/146 from their allocated overs, before the Marygoons made the total look elementary.
Only three batters were required for the Marygoons, as James Markland (75 not out) and Mansoor Ahmad (44) posted 121 before the loss of the first wicket.
The home side snared victory in the 37th over just one wicket down.
Next weekend’s fixtures include: Cranbourne Meadows v NNG/Maryknoll, Lang Lang v Devon Meadows, Upper Beaconsfield v Emerald and Gembrook v Pakenham Upper Toomuc.
LUCAS LIGT’S DISTRICT PURPLE PATCH
GAMES: 15
INNINGS: 15
RUNS: 708
AVERAGE: 50.57
50: 5
100: 2
HS: 148
