By Jonty Ralphsmith and Marcus Uhe
A swashbuckling 128 off 67 balls from Officer D-Grade opener Shannon Marum helped power his Bullants to a 70-run defeat of Merinda Park at Officer Recreation Reserve.
The knock included 12 sixes and nine fours as his strike rate nudged the 200 mark, as his fellow batters struggled to make an impact, only two reaching double figures.
In reply, eight single-figure scores from Merinda Park proved detrimental for the Cobras who reached 9/159 from their 40 overs.
Brenton Huyskens and Leigh Smith added 92 for the second wicket but Huyskens’ departure precipitated a fall of 8/57 to close the innings, with Jamie Harvey’s 4/14 off seven the standout bowling performance.
A five-wicket haul from Krishmin Roshen helped his Melbourne Sixers defend 231 against Tooradin.
Steady contributions throughout the Sixers’ innings helped set the total before Roshen ran through the Seagulls’ middle order in the 80-run victory, leaving the newcomers as the only undefeated side in the competition, and the Seagulls the only yet to secure any premiership points.
Elsewhere, Emerald thrashed Pakenham by nine wickets at Toomuc Reserve while the Yabbies of Pakenham Upper Toomuc chased Clyde’s 127 in the 37th over.
Carlisle Park has got up in a one-wicket thriller against Upper Beaconsfield, headlining a full complement of B-Grade cricket on Saturday.
The Vikings did well to avoid losing wickets in clumps, with every batter except opener Greg Benoit facing at least 10 balls which stymied the hosts getting complete momentum.
But an inability to convert starts was a plague for Carlisle Park, with five batters reaching double figures, with Stuart Prior’s 32 the highest score in pursuit of 130.
Aaron Naismith and Usman Ali were picks of the bowlers, combining for five wickets and applying the clamps.
It ultimately came down to important late order runs to Farus Khalid and Kye Prior to get the Vikings over the line, with the latter’s 15-run partnership with Prior steering the Vikings home.
That came after lower-order runs got Upper Beaconsfield to a low but competitive total following Dylan Anderson’s four-wicket opening spell.
At Rutter Park Reserve, a Peter Quinn half-century in his 200th official game and Dan Irvine’s 3/2 helped Officer defeat Tooradin.
Isanka Waranakulasuriya used the platform provided by the top order, his 80 off 65 propelling Melbourne Sixers to 8/237 despite a five-wicket haul to Harkeerat Oberoi.
The scoreboard pressure proved too much for Clyde despite Stuart Williams looking to anchor the innings with a half century.
Four wickets early in its innings meant Emerald never looked like chasing down Pakenham’s 7/169.
Lang Lang was dominant in C-Grade, each of its six bowlers picking up a wicket, led by a spell of 2/7 to Glen Easton as Devon Meadows was bowled out for 66 in a seven-wicket defeat.
Half-centuries to Lachie Wasley and Indiana Boswell helped Kooweerup reach 4/166, which was out of reach by 25 runs for Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll.
Vivek Joshi’s positive 60 helped Merinda Park to a 54-run win over Pakenham Upper Toomuc and Brent Pullen following up 44 with four wickets in a 39-run win.
Clyde’s A-Grade team won by two wickets against Kooweerup with president Ben Knowles scoring a crucial 50 to get the chase started on the right foot before important lower-order runs from Zac Sheppard and Nick Shannon helped them home.
A big opening partnership between Sanjeev Dhankhar and the attacking Narinder Kumar, whose 51 contained seven sixes, helped Cranbourne Meadows chase down 192 against Devon Meadows.
Meanwhile, Bradley Reiner’s 80 set up a 101-run Cardinia win against Merinda Park and Tooradin smashed Pakenham by nine wickets.
Kooweerup’s E Grade side may need to practice running between the wickets this week as three batters were caught short of their ground in their eight-wicket loss to Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll.
Harpreet Singh Gandhi hit a brazen 49 off 19 balls but the Demons were short for contributors on their way to 8/147 batting first.
An unbeaten 89 from Mansoor Ahmad ensured that the Marygoons were never in trouble, eclipsing the total in the 27th over.
The Marygoons join Officer Green and the Kerala Strikers as the two other undefeated sides after two weeks.
161 from the Strikers proved too much for Officer Gold, as was 144 from Officer Green against Pakenham Upper Toomuc.
Peter Zauner’s 86 for Devon Meadows almost outscored Merinda Park’s team score of 103 in the Panthers’ 84-run win over Merinda Park, while Pakenham and Cardinia’s showdown at Toomuc Reserve was abandoned.
