BERWICK’S undefeated Agrade side has taken top spot on the ladder for the first time after a good win against Doveton on Saturday.
The win was highlighted by a brilliant maiden century by young gun Aidan Mills.
The Bears resumed in a commanding position at 1/170, with Mills at the crease on 96 not out and his captain Brad James on 51 beside him.
It didn’t take long for Mills to finalise a brilliant maiden century, a superb effort in his first game in Agrade for the club.
Mills continued to pound the hapless Doveton to all parts, finishing his majestic innings on 141 not out when James, just 14 runs short of a century of his own, declared the Berwick innings closed on 1/252, a lead of 162.
The bowlers were unable to reproduce the heat that they delivered in the first innings and Doveton cruised to 1/33 after 20 overs.
Berwick was going through the motions until Michael Dalzotto gave it a sniff of an outright win with the first of his five wickets.
Doveton played a number of loose shots to gift Berwick some easy wickets and at 6/86 with 12 overs left in the day, the points were there for the taking.
Leigh Otten chimed in with one wicket and James tried a couple of part timers with two frontline bowlers out of action with injury.
Dalzotto was the only one to have a major impact on the Doveton batting line second time around, finishing with 5/49, the Bears falling four wicket short of maximum points, but claiming top spot for the first time in their undefeated season.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:B GRADE
Having compiled a strong total of 255, the muchneeded rain proved an unfortunate hurdle for the inform Bears.
The fearsome newball pair of Damien Quinlan and Steve Carle made life difficult for the Coomara batsmen who crumbled to 5/32 inside the first ten actionpacked overs.
Quinlan was simply too good for his top order opponents, three time he crashed through the off stump in his first four overs before loosing his way and copping some stick in his next four (3/49 off eight). Steve Carle steamed in from ball one and managed two wickets before the rain came and stopped the Berwick steam train in its tracks.
Coomoora finished on 5/119 with Berwick seemingly on its way to another firstinnings win.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:C GRADE
Having bundled Keysborough out for 132 in its first innings and finding its way to 2/61, Berwick was confident of pressing for firstinnings points before the storm hit.
Rob Witt did a great job for the Bears, knocking up a solid 52, falling with the score on 3/108.
However Berwick was to loose three more wickets, as it made hard work of a straightforward run chase.
Simon Craig was 27 not out when Berwick crossed the line, Marty Allan not out beside him as Berwick closed out a comfortable threewicket win.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:D GRADE
It was a nailbiting contest at Charles Green reserve with Berwick taking on Narre Warren North.
In pursuit of North’s 190 Berwick took up where it left off last week at 1/12.
The Bears lost an early one before Jack Pickering and Neville Stone added an entertaining 65 for the third wicket before Pickering was dramatically run out for 19, making it 3/83.
When his partner Stone dropped soon after it was starting to look gloomy for the Bears, but Dave Caldwell and Lachlan Stone launched an emphatic fightback, with a 60run fifthwicket partnership that put Berwick back in the box seat.
Caldwell made 24 and Stone continued to throw himself at the Narre Warren North attack, reaching 49 before he crumbled and was out just as he looked set to bat Berwick to victory.
That set Berwick into tailend spin, going from 5/147, to 7/169 before loosing its final four wickets for just 17, falling just six runs short of its second win of the season.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:UNDER 17 ONES AND TWOS
Berwick top junior side secured fourth spot with a win in its oneday game over Hallam.
The inform Aidan Mills backed up his mountain of runs in the senior grades with a top score of 37 and Michael Wallace made 26 to set up a huge 20over total of 4/132.
Josh Holden chimed in with 18 and Lachlan Stone made 16.
Nick Shannon warranted his promotion to the senior third XI with 4/18, Jeremy Lim put his own slant on things with 2/25 and Marty Allan grabbed one as Berwick took the honours.
The second XI worked hard for its second win of the season thanks mainly to Damien Hawkins with 31 as the Bears knocked up 8/96 off its 20 overs.
The bowlers backed it up with Rod Martinez taking 2/24 and Nathan Dumergue also 2/18.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:TWENTY20
Berwick will play this week in the final of the Cricket Victoria Twenty20 competition.
The venue for the final will be at the East Sandringham Boys Club CC (R. G. Chisholm Reserve) in Duncan Street, Sandringham. (Melway reference 77, K8).
The match will be played this Thursday, 25 January and start at 6pm sharp with plenty of Berwick fans expected to show their support for their allconquering side.
The club congratulated Michael Wallace and James Wilcock who have represented the Southern Rangers in the elite Commonwealth Bank pathway competitions at under16 and under 14level respectively.
