Pakenham’s Cale Popovits top scored with 45 runs against Devon Meadows. Pictures: Luke PlummerBy Julian Bayard
A CENTURY from Brad Miles has put Beaconsfield in a strong position in its clash against Officer in the WGCA’s A-grade on Saturday.
In what could prove to be a season-defining innings for Beaconsfield, the number-four left-hand batsman put on a show after the Tigers had earlier slumped to 2/10 as Brett Davis removed both opening batsmen.
With his side sitting seventh on the ladder and with tough games against Cardinia and Pakenham Upper-Toomuc (PUT) to finish the season, Miles once again proved he is one of the premier batsmen in the competition, compiling 110 runs on an extremely hot day for batsmen and fielders alike.
Once Miles became one of Davis’ three wickets for the afternoon, Jason Dodd continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over, hitting 48 to see his side to 9/265 at the close of play.
Jarrod Goodes also picked up three wickets for Officer that must look to bat out its overs this week if it has any chance of surpassing the Tigers’ total and remaining in touch with the top four.
In what shaped as one of the matches of the season, a scintillating spell of bowling from Cardinia’s Dwayne Doig put Tooradin in a spin, with the off-spinner bowling all day to claim 7/69 from 33.4 overs, restricting the Seagulls to just 154 from 68.4 overs.
Doig, who has now taken 38 wickets for the season to lead the league, tore through the Seagulls’ middle-order, combining with the wicketkeeper on four separate occasions, with Luke Turner collecting three stumpings and a catch.
With regular Seagulls’ captain Brenton Adams ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury, stand-in skipper Aaron Avery was the best of the Tooradin batsmen, scoring 31 before also becoming one of Doig’s seven victims.
Cardinia then reached 0/6 at stumps with Mark Cooper and John Nooy the not-out batsmen.
With anything but a victory seemingly ruling Catani out of finals contention for the 2008/2009 season, the Blues gave themselves every opportunity of collecting 12 points against Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll, amassing 8/327 from its 80 overs.
Opening batsmen Craig Stone (38) and Damien Bounden (59) got Catani off to the perfect start, combining for an opening stand of 69 before Stone was dismissed.
Relishing his promotion to the top of the order in the absence of Russell Lehman, Bounden played a patient and concentrated innings before being dismissed for 59.
When Ross Kortholt strode to the crease in the 58th over, the score was 5/189, however, with wickets in hand, the Catani club legend let loose on the Marygoons’ attack, blasting 83 not-out to delight several former players attending the game.
Kortholt was instrumental in Catani scoring 91 runs from the final ten overs, combining with George Zekic (22) and Paul Govaars (18) for key partnerships at the end of the innings, as well as blasting two huge sixes in his delightful knock.
Craig Lewis was the best of the Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll bowlers, sending down 23 overs in the heat to claim the extremely respectable figures of 3/80 for his side.
If the Marygoons have any chance of remaining in A-grade, division one next season they must score the necessary runs this week.
Devon Meadows again looks to be in a dominant position after the first week of a match, this time against Pakenham that it dismissed for just 137 in the 58th over, before reaching 1/55 from 19 overs at stumps.
Peter Zauner was the chief destroyer for the Panthers, taking the exceptional figures of 5/43 from 17 overs, while Matthew Davidson also bowled well to take 4/44 from 21.3 overs.
Pakenham number-three batsman Cale Popovits was the only Lions player to post any significant total with the willow, scoring 45 before being the second-last batsman dismissed.
In reply, the Panthers lost the early wicket of Darren Cooper for six before Daniel Steet (16 not-out) and Darren O’Brien (eight not-out) saw the home side to 1/55 at stumps, with 27 extras already bowled.
A 124-run third-wicket partnership between Merinda Park captain Travis Canavan and veteran Brett Armitage saw the Cobras post the extremely competitive total of 9/223 from 80 overs against Kilcunda-Bass.
After slumping to 2/16 when both young openers Jason Pongracic (0) and Jarrod Armitage (12) were dismissed, the experienced pair of Canavan and Armitage saw the score move to 140 before Canavan was dismissed for an excellent 87, including eight boundaries and two sixes.
From there, Armitage continued to score runs at a steady rate despite wickets continuing to fall around him, with four of the final six Merinda Park batsmen failing to reach double figures before they were dismissed.
Armitage was eventually caught for a fine 73 that included four boundaries and a six in what was one of the more promising days with the bat this season for the Cobras.
There were no bowling figures available from Kilcunda-Bass at the time of writing this report.
In what looks to have been an impressive batting display from PUT, the Yabbies compiled 245 before being dismissed in the final over of the day.
However, there were no batting statistics available at the time of preparing this report.
Kooweerup captain Shane Dole was the best of the Demons’ bowlers, with the off-spinner taking 5/92 from 29.4 overs, taking his season wicket tally to 24, along with 362 runs with the bat.
Opening bowlers Matthew Davey and Benjamin Miller both picked up two wickets for Kooweerup that on this season’s batting form should be able to surpass the Yabbies’ total and cement its position as minor premiers of the 2008-2009 season.
