By Ian Ferguson
CRANBOURNE Meadows’ attempts to avoid outright defeat slumped early on day two of its Bgrade match against Beaconsfield when it was removed for a lowly 118 in its second innings.
The Tigers then only lost four wickets when they pounced on their outright run target of 86 runs, with Matt Brown and Travis Turnbull being the stars of their stirring victory.
Brown scored 76 and 61 in his two innings, while Turnbull returned the superb match figures of 9/66 from 29 overs.
Rebels’ captain Shane White was the shining light for the host team with his match figures of 7/58 from 21 overs.
Nyora unexpectedly collapsed at Upper Beaconsfield being dismissed for a paltry 98.
Maroons’ captain Scott Pitcher, with figures of 4/31 from 9.1 overs, was his team’s match winner, while Daniel Brennan and Marcus Gehling each snared two victims.
Pitcher also performed well with the bat, contributing 48 notout when his team struggled to an unconvincing 8/122 in its second dig.
A fine innings of 94 from Cardinia stalwart Justin Van Der Zalm and useful 30s from Daniel Strahan and Brodie Glen, enabled Cardinia to crush the more fancied KilcundaBass team by 102 runs.
Paul Matthews captured 3/54 for the visiting Sharks, while Paul Cornelius and promising junior Cameron Davidson each collected two wickets.
Nar Nar GoonMaryknoll convincingly retained top ladder position when it easily eclipsed Tooradin by 173 runs.
The Seagulls were grounded for only 130 in their innings and the Goon then coasted to 3/142 in its second dig.
Sean Somers, with 3/30 from nine overs, was the pick of the host bowlers, while the Goon’s leading batsmen were junior players Sam Pullen and Daniel Glen, both of whom scored halfcenturies.
Pakenham continued its improved recent form by accounting for Merinda Park by 70 runs. Mark Shelton smashed 64 runs in quick time, while his Lions’ teammate Kalutha Ratanayake contributed 45.
Dean Blake scored 71 and N. Sleep 50 when PUT easily defeated Emerald by 157 runs.
The Yabbies continued their dominance when the Bombers lurched to 7/132 in their second innings.
J. Mather with 44 runs and A. Cameron (4/88 from 22 overs) were the Bombers’ best, while PUT’s G. Tannamill (4/28 from 11 overs) bowled well for the victors.
C GRADE
Top team Lang Lang and the emerging Gembrook both recorded outright victories in round nine.
B. Hadkiss top scored with 57 and Alan Jenkins scored 33 when the Swamp Tigers reached 217 and the visitors then scattered the Panthers for 78 in their second knock.
Luke Marrow top scored for the hosts with 32, while Jenkins captured 2/27 from nine overs.
Gembrook snatched an exciting outright win over Pakenham. The Lions reached 114 after resuming their first innings on 3/43.
Gembrook then raced to 3/74 before declaring and the Lions crumbled for a lowly 49 in its second dig.
Rick Atkinson was the Brookers’ hero with his fine match bowling figures of 8/32 from 22 overs, while James Perkins scored 32 when the home team batted.
Officer scored a surprise 28run victory over Kooweerup.
The Demons appeared to have the match well in hand when they cruised to 0/87, but a change came over the game after James Glen snared two wickets in two balls.
Bullants’ stalwart Paul Simon then produced an inspired spell of bowling and his final figures of 5/33 from 10.2 overs saw the Bullants swarm home. Brett Hobson scored 64 when the Demons totalled 171 and Chris McConnell reached 39.
The Lyndhurst Vikings enjoyed a moraleboosting win by 100 runs against Beaconsfield.
Fine bowling from Paul Gray and H. Straugher, who both captured four wickets, saw the Vikings massacre their opponents for 119 and the victors then advanced to 4/81 by stumps.
Catani easily defeated Upper Beaconsfield by 113 runs after the Maroons were scuttled for 165.
C. Reid top scored for the visitors with 40 and Ross Kortholt (4/45 off 14 overs) and Mark Evans (3/21 from 7.1 overs) shared the Blues’ bowling honours.
D GRADE
There was also an outright result in this grade.
PUT dismissed Cardinia for the respective totals of 199 and 166 and the Yabbies then scored 12 without loss to gain the maximum match points.
Dave Merrigan returned the excellent match figures of 7/98 to be PUT’s most successful bowler.
KilcundaBass nearly secured outright points against Clyde.
The Cougars were savaged by the Sharks for only 99 in their first innings and grimly survived when reaching 6/68 in their second dig.
Rohan Duff returned the outstanding figures of 7/45 from 21 overs in the visitor’s first innings, while S. Tapscott obtained the enviable match figures of 5/15 from 8.1 overs.
A fine innings of 110 from Peter Jensen enabled Nyora to easily defeat Cranbourne Meadows by 139 runs, despite fine bowling from the Rebels’ Jay Viney who captured 5/69 from 17 overs.
Tooradin won by the narrow margin of 11 runs in a lowscoring encounter against Emerald.
Rob Eakins top scored with an undefeated 35 for the Seagulls while Andrew Rolfs captured 5/46 from 23 overs for the Bombers.
There were some outstanding individual performances by Merinda Park players when the Cobras crushed Beaconsfield by a mammoth 266 runs.
Darren Smith, Mark Beacham and Mark Dipilla all scored 60s, while 12yearold Jason Pongracic reached 56 before retiring hurt.
The Tigers’ P. Dorbolo performed well to take 3/31 from seven overs.
E GRADE
Gembrook and Cardinia both obtained outright results in round nine.
The Bullants surrendered for totals of 79 and 101 with Brookers’ bowler T. Berryman snapping up three caughtandbowled chances and collecting the superb figures of 7/27 from eight overs.
Clint Osseweyer top scored for the victors with 48, while Officer allrounder Tom Bulenok did well, collecting 4/103 from 15 overs and later scoring 24.
Gary Quinlan enjoyed two scores in the 30s when Cardinia defeated Lang Lang outright, while the Swamp Tigers’ Sean Lambie reached 39. Lang Lang bowler Chris McCurdy bowled well to take 5/53 from 19 overs.
Under15 Emerald player Tom Baldock bowled impressively, taking 4/33 from 16 overs when the Bombers eclipsed Merinda Park by 36 runs and PUT veteran David Ryan top scored with 47 when the Yabbies accounted for Beaconsfield by 77 runs.
James Brown and Brad Richmond scored 40 and 37 respectively when Tooradin soared to a 115run win over the Lyndhurst Vikings.
The Seagulls’ Shane Somers then captured 5/30, but a fighting innings of 41 from Craig Lee enabled the Vikings to stave off outright defeat.
A trio of scores in the 40s from Brett Vance, Ian Hopper and Craig Morrell enabled Devon Meadows to narrowly defeat Kooweerup by 23 runs, despite the bowling efforts of Brian Wilby who took 5/96 from 25 overs.
Chase Saunders, following his century the previous week, completed a superb allround double when he captured match figures of 7/35 off 19 overs. His memorable performance enabled Nar Nar GoonMaryknoll to crush Pakenham by 156 runs.
F GRADE
Daniel Middleton recorded his highest score when he reached 48 for Cranbourne Meadows against Nyora, a match the improving Rebels lost by only six runs.
KilcundaBass bowlers Scott Guilmartin and Tom Ricardo captured the respective figures of 4/10 and 4/14 to make this duo the Fgrade bowlers of the day.
Luke Failla (Catani), Tim Robinson (Emerald) and Ben Eden (KilcundaBass) all reached the retirement score of 50.
