By Ian Ferguson
A DRAMATIC finish to the WGCA Agrade homeandaway fixtures appears likely after both Kooweerup and Catani enjoyed excellent roundnine victories on Saturday.
In other senior games Emerald broke through for its first win of the season when it won convincingly at Pakenham Upper, Cardinia retained top position after overwhelming Tooradin, while Officer and Devon Meadows also joined the winners’ list.
Shane Jack provided a blazing start to Clyde’s huge run chase at Kooweerup when he blasted a quickfire 48 in the early overs of the day.
However once the Demons removed the Cougars’ top four batsmen, wickets began to tumble and the visitors were removed for 199 in its first innings.
Demon captain Matt Davies must have felt frustrated by the sequence of dropped catches that plagued the host team’s pace attack in the first session before he turned to Matthew Bright to destroy Clyde’s spirited resistance.
The young leg spinner snared the exceptional figures of 6/25 from nine overs and Clyde, which at one stage reached a promising 1/96, only added another 103 runs before being dismissed.
The Cougars then scored 6/112 after they returned to the batting crease for the final 27 overs of play.
In the visitor’s second dig Demon allrounder Chris O’Hara completed an outstanding match by taking 3/16 from six overs and the Demons will be well satisfied with their crushing victory which netted them crucial extra match points.
It was an actionpacked game at Beaconsfield where both the host team and Catani strived to obtain an outright result.
When Owen Fitzpatrick snapped up two vital wickets in three balls, and the Tigers slipped to 5/101, it appeared that the visitors would gain the maximum points. However a fine undefeated innings of 82 from Brad Miles rescued Beaconsfield.
Miles’ steadying hand enabled his skipper Luke Sibley to make a challenging declaration at 5pm when the host team reached 9/261.
Ryan O’Connor scored a valuable 56 for the Tigers earlier in the day, while the Blues’ leading wicket taker was swing bowler Luke McFarlane who captured 4/67 from 17 overs.
In the final 50 minutes of play Beaconsfield nearly obtained a reverse outright result, but Catani denied it that bonus result by reaching 8/96 before stumps were drawn.
Rob Coupe top scored for the Blues with 25, while Ray Cook (4/13 from four overs) and Ryan O’Connor (3/34 from six overs) performed well for the host team.
Both captains deserve praise for making bold attempts at victory, but Catani was the most deserving winner and the Blues now have the opportunity to be key playmakers in the makeup of the final four.
Emerald enjoyed the sweet taste of victory for the first time this season after it comprehensively defeated Pakenham UpperToomuc by 156 runs.
The Bombers displayed their best batting form for 200607 by scoring an imposing 7/384 and it was their talented skipper Quenten Lucas who was the squadron leader.
Lucas scored an excellent 110 notout, and other visitors also enjoyed the run feast at Pakenham Upper.
Opener Mark Alenson contributed a valuable 80, his younger brother David produced a promising 42, while Andrew Ferrier put the icing on Emerald’s victory cake with his fine hand of 65.
Yabbie veteran Matt Price was the pick of the bowlers for the disappointing host team, claiming 2/76 from 21 overs.
The match between Tooradin and Cardinia was tipped to be a close encounter, but the host team proved to be no match for the rampaging topofthetable Bulls.
A 61run opening stand between John Nooy and Mark Cooper was followed by another productive partnership of 67 runs between Nooy and Steve Paterson and the Bulls’ batsmen continued to trample the Seagull’s bowling attack.
Nooy scored a neat 51, Paterson showed welcome form in his knock of 47, but it was the former Tooradin player Luke Turner who best displayed his capabilities to his former club.
The hardhitting wicketkeeperbatsman thrashed 108 from only 60 balls as Cardinia raced to an imposing 173run victory after scoring 7/343.
Offspinner Brenton Adams snared 3/115 from 21 overs to be the pick of Tooradin’s sevenman attack, but the Seagulls need to significantly lift their form in the two remaining homeandaway games in order to claim a finals’ spot.
Officer was a shaky 2/24 when play resumed at Donnelly Reserve, but the secondplaced side experienced few problems on day two of the game and cantered to a 108run victory after scoring 262.
Coach Colin Tucker top scored with 71, allrounder Shane White added 60 and captain Ben Tivendale contributed 43.
Young Merinda Park swing bowler Jess Mathers continued his fine form from the previous week and finished with the pleasing figures of 5/60 from 23 overs, while Shannon Mathers and Anthony Burr both collected two wickets.
A minor middleorder collapse caused Devon Meadows some concern in its Steve Vivian Memorial Shield game against Pakenham, before the Panthers’ captain Travis Canavan received the batting support he needed from his lowerorder players.
Canavan was the lynchpin of his team’s 92 run victory scoring an excellent 108, while respective scores of 40 and 22 from Peter O’Brien and Peter Zauner also helped the home team’s cause.
Dale Haggar returned the best figures for the Lions claiming 4/105 from 25 overs and newcomer Alan Ruddell scored a pleasing 54 notout when Pakenham reached 1/87 in its second innings.
Neither team appears likely to take part in this season’s finals’ series, but both are still capable of shaping the composition of the final four in the last two homeandaway rounds.
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