Former Officer now Berwick paceman Simon Cornell in action for the Bears. Cornell has had a great start to the 200506 season.BERWICK’S turfone bowlers tore through Keysborough’s batting lineup, helping their side to a good win on Saturday.
Defending 241, the bowlers were on top from the first ball with hardly a stray delivery coming from Will Carr and Simon Cornell claiming the first two wickets with 2/15.
Will Carr sent down some thunderbolts and helped himself to three in the latter stages as Berwick closed out the game shortly after the tea break. Jarrod Goodes didn’t allow the standard to drop, grabbing his first wicket lbw with a superb inswinging yorker and Ryan Crawford took a stunning catch at cover for his second four overs later.
Dave Hampton claimed two vital wickets to have Keysborough reeling at 6/51. Crawford helped to wrap things up for the Bears as they skittled Keysborough for 93.
Berwick sent the opposition back in with 36 overs remaining and pushed hard for maximum points, but after having Keysborough in trouble at 2/13, the intensity dropped away.
Will Carr got one scalp and Hampton another to round out a sensational individual match for the Bears first win.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:TURF TWO
Having already lost on first innings to Coomoora, the Bears were keen to restore some pride.
Coomoora declared its innings closed at 233, a lead of 133, the wickets being shared between Darren Shepherd, Sean Gramc and Brandan Lloyd all two a piece and Matt Crosby and Paul Gramc one.
Berwick was better with the bat the second time around after making a shaky start at 2/11.
Brendan Lloyd (50) helped the score along to 84 before Berwick lost its fourth and fifth wickets.
Matt Crosby helped out with 17 and Marty McGauran threatened to take control before he was out for 20y and Steve Borlase was looking good until he played a loose shot on 12.
Darren Shepherd hit 11 boundaries on his way to 62 not out and Berwick knocked up a handy score of 200.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:TURF FOUR
Resuming on 2/13 in pursuit of St Brigid/St Louis’ 140, Berwick made some progress before Wayne Margitich went for 17.
Matt Olver joined Luke Reddie and the pair added 91 for the third wicket to all but win the game.
Reddie hit everything out of the middle and Olver took the aerial root several times as the score moved past 100. He brought up his half century with a sweetly timed four and was eventually removed for 59 and Olver got 43, shortly before Berwick passed the target and declared with a lead of 20. With 36 overs remaining, the Bears made some inroads with Brett Davis continuing to baffle the batsmen, and getting an early wicket.
Michael Wallace capped off a great first game on turf, proving too good for some experienced cricketers, getting two wickets.
The game ended with the score on 3/45, Berwick taking the points.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:B GRADE
Berwick can consider itself a little unlucky, after fielding last week two players short and having a bowler go down midway through the day, it was forced to bat one man short and still made a good attempt at chasing down Buckley Ridges’ total of 378.
The Bears didn’t make the ideal start, loosing two early wickets with the score on 26, but things soon improved and Michael Dalzotto (1) and Adam Kruger helped the score along to 48 before the third wicket fell.
Kruger played well before going lbw for 33. Shaun Grant and Rowan Purkiss then teamed up for a massive 121run partnership for the fifth wicket that gave Berwick hope of victory.
Grant dominated the bowling and Purkiss played an anchor role as they got Berwick to 4/161 at tea with plenty of overs to spare.
Grant went for an excellent and Purkiss built in confidence and reached the half century milestone to prove that has made the full step from junior to senior cricketer and had he not of been caught on 57, Berwick may have had a slim hope of winning the game. The Bears were all out for 271
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:C GRADE
Defending 220 against Sandown Park, the Bears put in a great all round effort to dismiss the opposition for 162.
Kyle Wills got the ball rolling with a wicket in his first over, but the Bears had to fight hard for the second, Wills striking again with the score on 44. Ryan Smart provided great support to make it 3/74. Matt O’Donoghue, with a great spell of bowling, got two important wickets in his marathon effort of 22 overs that netted him 2/40.
Daz Yadav was the star with 5/29, a matchwinning performance that secured the points for Berwick.
D GRADE
It was a nailbiting win for Berwick that was defending 146 against St Mary’s.
Steve Carle again bowled superbly for the first three wickets, St Mary’s 320.
Rob Borlase, another promising junior, took 2/22 and the ever reliable Will Chapman led from the front with 3/11 to secure the win for Berwick as the game seemed to be slipping away.
St Mary’s had worked its way up to 6/127, needing just 20 for victory, before Chapman, together with Dave Dalzotto, tore their game out of their grasp to take the last four wickets for just three runs.
Dalzotto was brilliant and finished with 2/29 off 11 overs.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:E GRADE
Dandenong West declared its innings closed on 9/204 a lead of 114, but the Berwick bowlers can be proud of their efforts, Rodney Pettitt the most noteable with a bag of five wickets.
Jim Koulos helped out with four of his own, the pair sharing the majority of the workload as they attempted to keep the oppositions lead to a minimum.
Berwick was unable to withstand the onslaught when sent back in to bat and could only manage 61 with the loss of seven wickets, Marty Allan batting brilliantly for 20 one not out.
After an umpiring dispute, Berwick senior players chose to declare their innings closed, forfeiting the game.
