Left: Kooweerup’s Shane Dole plants his foot behind the crease just in time as Cardinia keeper Luke Turner whips the bails off at E. Gunton Oval on Saturday.
By Kane Latham
A 139-RUN partnership between Beaconsfield’s Brad Miles and Wayne Staniforth set up a win for Beaconsfield against Tooradin, while Cardinia defeated Kooweerup comfortably thanks to 91 not out from Neil Barfuss.
In the other matches, Officer will be pleased to post their first wins for the season, beating Pakenham Upper/Toomuc, while Upper Beaconsfield comprehensively accounted for Catani.
In what was tipped to be match of the round, Tooradin took on Beaconsfield at Perc Allison Reserve. Batting first, Tooradin lost the early wicket of Brenton Adams, before Cal O’Hare and Kurt Batt came together at the crease, forming a small partnership to reach 53 before O’Hare was dismissed.
Batt and Aaron Avery came together, forming another small partnership before Batt was dismissed for 32 runs.
Tooradin then lost two quick wickets, and its solid start had now slumped to 5/97. Avery continued on, forming a small partnership with Sean Baker (13 runs), before Avery was dismissed for a well made 46 runs.
Some late order big hitting from Jay Wilson saw him reach 24 runs, and the score reach 175 before Tooradin was dismissed with two balls remaining in their innings.
Jason Dodd again bowled well, taking 2/28 from eight overs, and Ryan O’Connor chipped in with 2/27, but it was the under-rated bowling of Justin Stanton that did most of the damage for Beaconsfield. Stanton finished with 4/27 from eight overs, including the key wickets of Avery and Wilson.
Having its target set, Beaconsfield lost Justin Stanton with the score on zero, and Tooradin had the game swinging their way. But it was not to be, as Brad Miles and Wayne Staniforth worked hard at the crease, forming a 139-run partnership before Miles was dismissed for 84 runs.
Staniforth was the next batsman to go, dismissed for 61, but it was all too late for Tooradin, with the score 3/160. Kris Fletcher and Jordy Andrews steered the ship home, passing the score with 28 balls to spare, four wickets down.
Cal O’Hare worked hard with the ball as usual, taking 2/28 from eight overs, and Brenton Adams bowled well taking 2/27 from seven overs.
At E. Gunton Oval, Cardinia played host to Kooweerup in what was also going to be a cracker, and restricted the visitors to 7/128 from 40 overs. Chris Bright was the only real shining light for Kooweerup, scoring 34 runs, as tight work from Cardinia’s bowlers strangled the flow of runs for Kooweerup. Matt Davey chipped in with 21 runs, helping to push the score to 7/128.
All of Cardinia’s bowlers bowled very tight, but the best on the day were Matt Celima and Jason Fisher, who took 2/37 and 2/20 respectively. Dwayne Doig was also a welcome return to the Cardinia side after his trip to the Country Cricket Championships, taking 1/19 from eight overs.
In reply, Cardinia’s Neil Barfuss took control of the game, and no bowling seemed a problem to the highly talented batsman. Cardinia passed the score for the loss of just four wickets, in 35.4 overs, and Barfuss had hit 91 not out. His innings made all that much more impressive when noted that no other batsman scored over 16 runs.
Matt Bright, Paul Bright and John Bright all picked up a single wicket each.
The winless Officer played host to Pakenham Upper/Toomuc, in what was to be an important match for both teams. Brett Reid and Andrew Tucker got Officer off to a flying start after electing to bat, and put the ball to all parts of the ground.
Reid finished with 85 runs, while Tucker finished with 43 runs. Oliver Brown chipped in with 40 runs, and allowed the home side to reach the imposing total of 5/230 from the 40 overs.
Andrew Cooper was the only shining light for PUT, taking two wickets.
Chasing the large total was always going to be a difficult task, but it proved too difficult for the PUT batsmen. Captain Chris Smith fought hard, continuing his good form, scoring 59 runs, and Darren Warne worked hard at the top of the order scoring 37 runs. In the end, PUT was bowled out for 200 in 38 overs.
Andrew Tucker, Shane White and Oliver Brown worked hard with the ball, taking two wickets each.
Catani took on Upper Beaconsfield in a very important match to both sides, and Catani won the toss, electing to bat first. Upper Beaconsfield’s bowling was as restrictive as usual, and strangled the Catani side, only allowed them to reach 9/99 from their 40 overs. Nic Close (21 runs), Ross Kortholt (20 runs) and Ben Ahern (23 not out) were the only batsmen who managed to score against the incredibly tight bowling.
Dan Brennan recorded the fantastic figures of five overs, two maidens, two wickets for just three runs, while Paul Matthews and Ben Henderson also chipped in with a couple of wickets each.
In reply, Upper Beaconsfield wasted no time, passing the total for the loss of one wicket, in just 17 overs. Upper Beaconsfield finished 1/102, John Simpson finished with 50 not out, and Julian Bayard with 24 not out.
