B GRADE
The top four looks locked and loaded with two rounds to go in CCCA B Grade after games went pretty much according to script on the weekend.
The individual highlight took place at Lochaven Reserve where Merinda Park (3/179d) opener Hayden Cleland (101 not out) converted a solid day-one platform into triple figures against Lang Lang (76 and 4/118).
Cleland resumed unbeaten on 44, the Cobras already 19 runs ahead of the Swampies on first innings.
Cleland crunched 11 boundaries in his century, which came to a close after a declaration from skipper Brendan Fairlam.
Merinda Park searched hard for outright points, but fighting knocks from Lang Lang’s Brad Savige (44 not out) and Nilesh Hewage (39) put that dream on hold.
Pakenham Upper/Toomuc (187) is the new ladder leader after the Yabbies defended stoutly against Devon Meadows (152) at Pakky Upper.
The Panthers were well placed after day one but lost regular wickets as Bailey Smith (2/17) and Jonathon Rewell (2/21) went to work.
Noah Williams (3/26) and Ryan Mibus (2/27) then took up the challenge, rolling the Panthers with 35 runs to spare.
Dave Fisher (54 not out) looked good, but simply ran out of partners for the visitors.
Tooradin (8/127) has caused huge damage to the finals hopes of fifth-placed Officer (124) despite making heavy weather of its run chase at Rob Porter Reserve.
Resuming at 1/28 the Seagulls were in good hands early, with opener Peter Stone (50) looking solid at the top of the order.
But wickets constantly fell around him, the Gulls getting home with only three wickets left in the tank.
Dihela Thilakarathna (2/15) and Bailey Pullen (2/17) shared bowling honours for Officer.
And Emerald (6/160) can start planning for finals after James Campbell (74) and Nicholas Karman (32 not out) guided the Bombers out of trouble against Nar Nar Goon (150).
The Bombers were 2/23 overnight, but were soon 5/39 after Ash Bailey (2/43) and Jarratt Eastburn (2/26) made early inroads.
Bailey was superb for the Goon, bowling 15 maidens in a marathon spell of 32 overs to keep his side in the hunt.
Campbell and Karman put on 121 for the sixth wicket to guide their team to victory.
C GRADE
An inspired spell of bowling from Sean Hinkley (6/13) has guaranteed Carlisle Park (102 and 7/68) the minor premiership after a stunning outright victory over Pakenham (44 and 125) at Toomuc Reserve.
The Lions fronted up for their second innings with full enthusiasm, with Anthony Ponweera (36) and Mick McLaren (38) helping the score to a healthy 3/102.
But Hinkley and Brendan McCarthy (2/28) then struck multiple blows, the Lions losing their final seven wickets for 23 runs.
The Vikings then coughed and spluttered their way to the 68 runs required for the outright, with Tristan Sharp (4/25) once again proving a stubborn obstacle to overcome.
The Vikings banked maximum points with just three wickets left in the sheds, with Sharp taking his match figures to an impressive 8/57.
Kooweerup (4/126d) also snared an outright; the Demons launching into finals calculations after proving too good for Pakenham Upper/Toomuc (38 and 69).
The Demons declared overnight and rolled through the Yabbies with ease, with Paul West (3/13), Scott Gray (3/16) and Gerrad Gilmour (2/20) completing the second-innings rout inside 27 overs.
The fifth-placed Demons are now level with Clyde in fourth.
Clyde (296) maintained fourth placing after rolling Upper Beaconsfield (146 and 3/141) at Clyde.
The Maroons were never a chance of hauling in the Cougars impressive score, although Luke Willis (39) and Chad McDonald (28) did delay the inevitable.
Jac Noble (3/19) was damaging for the Cougars, who asked the Maroons to bat a second time.
McDonald (54) was once again a stumbling block in the second dig, while Marcus Gehling (40 not out) enjoyed some quality time in the middle.
The game between Melbourne Sixers (114) and Kerala Strikers (3/135) was done and dusted on day-one, the Strikers jumping ahead of Pakenham into second place with an easy seven-wicket victory.
D GRADE
Pakenham (222) is in real danger of dropping out of the top four after the Lions fell short in a decent chasing attempt against Cardinia (250) at Rythdale.
Resuming at 0/20 the Lions lost Dene North (21) early before Brett Oldfield (87) and Steven Kidd (18) put on 54 for the second wicket.
But the Bulls continued to take wickets at key times, with the combined efforts of Chris Remy (4/53), Evan Webster (2/15) and Ben Monckton (2/53) proving too much for the Lions to overcome.
David Auld (28) made some valuable runs for the Lions, backing up his 5/45 with the ball.
Nar Nar Goon (5/247) number three Russell Perry (97) has fallen agonisingly short of a century in an important win for the Goon against Kerala Strikers (183).
Abhi Sharma (6/48) set things up for the Goon on day one, before Perry, Scott Campbell (48) and Geoff Ball (32) made batting look easy in reply.
Perry faced 170 balls and hit 10 fours and three sixes…before the 171st proved his demise.
This was a crucial win for the third-placed Goon, who would have fallen to fifth if the chase had gone astray.
A terrific team batting performance has guided Merinda Park (7/245) to the points against Devon Meadows (244) at Lochaven Reserve.
The Cobras had five valuable contributions, with Martin Jones (49 not out) getting fine support from Kirti Maan Sharma (40), Chris Smith (39), Antony Scott (29) and Nathan Francis (20) throughout the course of the day.
The Cobras had one serious threat to overcome, with Caelan Coupar (5/47) bowling his heart out for the Panthers on an otherwise tough day at the office.
And Officer’s (3/193d) push for outright points went all the way down to the final overs against Pakenham Upper/Toomuc (132 and 5/42).
The Bullants were 0/41 overnight and pushed past the required total, with Gary Plunkett (65 not out), Emmanuel Megee (48) and Cody Lucas (33) all adding nicely to the total.
Plunkett then strode from the middle after asking the Yabbies to bat again.
James Quinn (2/9) and Lucas (2/12) made early strikes for the Bullants, but steadfast innings from Shariful Rony (17 off 92 balls) and Issam Kamal (11 not out off 77 balls) saw the Yabbies battle to safe ground.
E GRADE WEST
Officer (8/231) has joined Carlisle Park and Tooradin in the fight for fourth spot after a terrific spell of bowling from Seth Ratten (5/14) guided the Bullants to a comfortable victory over Merinda Park (154).
Joel Reid (2/27) did the early damage for the Ants, before Sukhwinder Singh (3/21) added nicely to his magnificent knock of 142 to put his team in the box seat.
Josh Scott (45) tried his best to build a Cobras recovery, but Ratten claimed the final five wickets to fall to take the fifth-placed Bullants to within one win of the Vikings and Seagulls.
The Bullants have a stronger percentage and will take possession of a top-four spot if they can roll the Vikings in round 13.
Devon Meadows (8/272) has provided Officer with the blueprint for success after a suffocating bowling performance against Carlisle Park (110) at Booring Reserve.
The familiar figures of Peter Zauner and Mick Floyd took three wickets each for the Panthers; their experienced looming as a massive threat in finals.
Billy Loudon also took a couple for the winners, while Paul Orford (24 not out) and Lokesh Baskaran (20) showed what could be achieved with some application.
And Clyde (261) has moved to second place after a first-innings win over Tooradin (144 and 2/104).
The Cougars already had the win tucked away after day one, resuming at 6/145, with Sam Beckham (65) adding 13 runs to his overnight score.
Wes Smith (81) then controlled the innings, whacking 11 fours to set up a 117-run lead.
Jack Payne (5/56) never gave up for the Gulls, before his teammates David Freeman (55 not out) and Shaun Tongue (31) dug in their toes and enjoyed a 65-run partnership late in the day.
E GRADE EAST
Emerald (4/228d) is now the proud owner of top spot on the ladder after the Bombers landed maximum points against Kerala Strikers (89 and 119) at Ramlegh Reserve.
The Bombers declared overnight and looked set for an early afternoon at the office after Alex Barbour (3/14) and Andrew Ferrier (4/38) tore through the Strikers’ top order.
Senuth Eramudugolla (24) was the lone survivor from the top-five bats, before Danial Tahar (45) and Jonathan Sunil (22) offered some mid-order support.
But the Bombers cruised to maximum points with almost 30 overs to spare.
Speaking of early afternoons, Pakenham (1/149) enjoyed just that after Jonty Savage (50 not out) and Jasjit Sohal (27 not out) guided the Lions to first-innings points against Clyde (135).
The Lions strode to the middle on day two at 0/78, but the early wicket of Gitansh Taneja (57) had the potential to make things interesting.
But Savage thumped the ball to all parts, facing just 44 balls and smashing 11 of those to the boundary; stumps pulled before tea.
And Avengers (3/216) have camouflagued the disappointment of losing top spot with some day-two success after a composed run-chase against Officer (214).
The result was never in doubt with Krishna Gannamraju (64), Harkanwaljit Singh (52) and Ranjith Vadakkumthanni (26) taking care of business in the top three, before Muthu Kamal (34 not out) and Bharath Nandakumar (27 not out) finished off the job in style.
Sean Chamberlain (2/49) took two of the three poles for the Bullants.
ONE DAY
He’s done it again…Merinda Park (4/211) legend Johnee Cuthbertson made it back-to-back centuries and brought up the 29th triple-figure score of his career in the Cobras breakthrough win over Clyde 199.
Youngster Lachlan Dalton (3/41) also impressed in his first-ever game of cricket.
Other highlights in the One-Day competition included a massive partnership of 176 between dual century makers Jegatheeswaran Loganathan (103) and Sisith Mudiyanselage (100) in the Melbourne Sixers (3/321) against Lang Lang.
The Sixers scored at more than nine runs per over from their 35 overs at the crease.
Round 10 Scores: Upper Beaconsfield 7/145 def by Avengers 8/146, Emerald 6/237 def by Kooweerup 4/238, Melbourne Sixers 3/321 def Lang Lang 89, Merinda Park 4/211 def Clyde 9/199, Pak. Upper/Toomuc 4/139 def Carlisle Park 7/134.
Highlights – Batting: Jegatheeswaran Loganathan (Melbourne Sixers) 103, Johnee Cuthbertson (Merinda Park) 100, Sisith Mudiyanselage (Melbourne Sixers) 100, Likhesh Mahajan (Emerald) 93, Dan Crowley (Kooweerup) 75, Lakhvir Sekhon (Emerald) 67, Kasun Shenol (Melbourne Sixers) 50.
Bowling: Kasun Shenol (Melbourne Sixers) 4/23, Vishal Patel (Pak. Upper/Toomuc) 4/24, Sam Kneen (Upper Beaconsfield) 3/26, Jayden Connell (Merinda Park) 3/36, Karunakaran Niroshan (Melbourne Sixers) 3/38, Lachlan Dalton (Merinda Park) 3/41.
