By Ian Ferguson
A COMPREHENSIVE outright victory by Catani and a stirring 21run win by Kooweerup has kept both teams in calculation for finals’ places with just one homeandaway game remaining in the 200607 WGCA season.
In other Agrade games Beaconsfield slipped out of the top four when convincingly defeated by Cardinia, while Merinda Park avoided the wooden spoon and relegation with a meritorious win at Pakenham.
Tooradin maintained its place in the top four with an easy victory over Clyde, while Emerald may have sealed last position on the ladder after losing to Devon Meadows by an agonising one run.
A superb display of fast bowling from Lionel Sexton enabled Catani to romp away with an outright result against Pakenham UpperToomuc (PUT).
The visiting team again produced a disappointing batting display at Catani, being bundled out for 152 in its second innings and it was Sexton’s excellent figures of 8/64 from 16 overs that caused the Yabbies’ to capitulate.
Opener Justin Harris scored a gritty 57, while Darren Warne and Nick Sleep added 31 and 27 respectively, but this batting trio was the only PUT players to offer worthwhile resistance.
Catani only lost one wicket before it overtook the deficit of 29 runs it needed for outright points and with one round left the Blues are less that half a game outside the top four.
A resounding victory at Devon Meadows is crucial in the final round for Catani to fulfil its finals’ dreams.
Kooweerup successfully defended its moderate score of 214 at Officer, defeating the highly regarded Bullants by 21 runs.
English recruit Carl McGregor was the visitor’s demon bowler and his figures of 6/79 were just reward for a sustained and accurate spell of fast bowling.
Captain Matt Davey provided accurate support with his return of 1/29 from 15 overs, while John Bright snared 2/9 from ten overs.
Officer finally tallied 193, thanks largely to a fighting innings of 93 from numbernine batsman Ben Baxter.
Seven fours and two sixes were included in Baxter’s defiant knock and he was the last man dismissed in what became a tight finish to the game.
Kooweerup will be keen to maximise its points when it hosts Pakenham in the last round, as a finals’ place beckons if other results fall the Demons’ way.
Cagey Cardinia stifled Beaconsfield’s run chase so effectively in the opening session of Sunday’s Brian Van den Berghe memorial game, that the visitors only managed to total 4/60 by the tea interval.
Chris Remy and fellow newball bowler Adam Hobson restricted the Tigers’ early run chase and from that point on WGCA’s leading spinner Dwayne Doig and skipper Mark Cooper continued to strangle Beaconsfield’s quest to score nearly 200 runs in the final session of play.
Doig finished with the matchwinning figures of 6/39 from 24.2 overs, while his spintwin Cooper snared 1/32 from 14 overs.
Luke Sibley, the Tigers’ captaincoach, scored a determined 39 and young Country Week representative Jack Benbow a handy 27, but overall the Bulls dictated proceedings all day before cantering to an impressive 106run win.
Beaconsfield now has to conclusively win its final game against thirdplaced Tooradin to be a candidate for finals’ action, so the Tigers’ finals’ campaign starts next week.
A determined performance in the field enabled Merinda Park to defend its average total of 181 against Pakenham that was dismissed for a lowly 140.
Craig Boswell produced good form to capture 3/29 from 13 overs, while Clayton Riddle played an effective role by snaring 4/14 from four productive overs.
Key Cobras Brett Whittingham and Brett Armitage were both valuable fieldsmen, with the former collecting a catch and a runout, while the older Brett snapped up three vital catches.
Richard Harrop top scored for the Lions with a gritty 48, while Dale Haggar and David Nagel both scored 20s.
This was a setback for the Lions’ pride and they will be hoping for a muchimproved performance in the final round.
The Seagulls still hover over a finals’ spot after easily accounting for Clyde by 109 runs.
The host turf team only managed to reach the total of 148 against the capable Tooradin attack and it was the legendary Greg Bethune who emerged as the wrecker with a vintage display of fast bowling.
The big leftarmer collected 4/38 from 14.1 probing overs and was well supported by Sam Clarke, James Haupt and Sean Wilson who all captured two wickets.
Shane Webster struck three boundaries in his top score of 33, while Dave Denton reached 32.
Tooradin captain Trevor Johnstone showed his versatility by gloving four catches behind the stumps in a day dominated by the visitors.
Clyde travels to Officer in the final round and the Cougars will be seeking to end the season with a more powerful performance.
It appeared to be a winnable mission for the Emerald Bombers against Devon Meadows, as they only required 184 runs for victory that would provide hope of avoiding the dreaded wooden spoon.
Cruelly they may now be destined for relegation to Bgrade in 200708 after failing to meet their target by just one run.
Valuable innings of 52 and 30 from Andrew Walker and Brodie Lucas respectively kept the host squadron’s hopes alive and with only three runs required with three wickets remaining Emerald seemed to be gliding to success.
However veteran Panther Peter Zauner then snapped up two quick wickets and Devon Meadows had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Zauner was the leading wickettaker with 5/42 from 24 overs, while Doug Loudon produced a tireless performance and captured 2/82 from 33 overs.
Spinner Matt Davidson also played a useful role snaring 2/14 from nine overs, while Peter and Darren O’Brien both snapped up two catches in the field.
