Right: Beaconsfield batsman Luke Sibley was in seasonbest form on Saturday, smashing 200 not out in a matchturning innings. By Ian Ferguson
A SUPERB undefeated 200 from Beaconsfield captaincoach Luke Sibley and a sparkling century from his main batting partner Brad Miles, has placed the WGCA dual premiers in an unassailable position against its keen rival Officer.
In other roundsix Agrade games on Saturday, Cardinia opening bowler Chris Remy captured eight wickets when the Bulls dismissed Emerald for 249, while both Kooweerup and Catani amassed totals in excess of 300 against their respective opponents Pakenham UpperToomuc (PUT) and Clyde.
Tooradin and Devon Meadows are also well placed in their games after achieving 200plus scores in what was a day dominated by batsmen.
Luke Sibley and Brad Miles came together when Beaconsfield was uncertainly placed on 3/46, but the talented duo then shared a massive 262run stand to bring the Tigers roaring back into premiership calculations.
Sibley scored a magnificent 200 notout, while Miles compiled a classy 127.
The Tigers’ formidable final total of 5/387 has virtually placed this game beyond the Bullants’ reach and the Tigers’ will start the new year firmly placed in a topfour ladder position.
Catani’s talented captain Nic Close was certainly on song for the Blues with his outstanding innings of 146 against Clyde.
The Cougars paid dearly for dropping Close when he had scored 30 as the host skipper finally pounded 24 fours and a massive six against the visiting attack.
Handy respective scores of 43 and 39 from Brad McDonald and Lionel Sexton also helped Catani to advance to 8/313 by stumps and Clyde has little chance of challenging this imposing total next Saturday.
Kooweerup opener Matt Damon became Agrade’s fourth centurion for the day when he scored an impressive 117 against the PUT bowlers.
Thirteen fours and four sixes were smashed by Damon from the Yabbie visitors who experienced a nightmare day in the field.
Damon was dropped three times in his twohour stay at the crease and the butterfingered visitors finally put down 13 catches for the day.
Demon recruits Carl McGregor and Greg Eddy also performed well for the host team, scoring 69 and 64 respectively when Kooweerup reached the commanding total of 371.
Emerald compiled a very competitive 249 against Cardinia, but in this batsmandominated day it was the Bulls’ opening bowler Chris Remy who became the cricket hero of the hills.
Remy captured the remarkable figures of 8/52 from 15 overs with four of his victims being bowled, two being dismissed lbw and the remaining two caught.
An excellent and chanceless secondwicket partnership of 180 between Mark Alenson and Brodie Lucas kept the host team well in the match, but after Alenson fell for 80 and Lucas departed after reaching 88, the remaining Bomber batsmen crashed against the persistent Remy attack.
A close finish should result next week when the Bulls’ herd of batsmen charge towards another imposing opposition total.
Tooradin teenager Sean Baker scored an impressive 51 when he opened the batting at Pakenham’s Toomuc Reserve, veteran Grant Kernot top scored with 56 and last week’s batting hero Andrew Sparks contributed 37 when the visiting Seagulls compiled a satisfying 9/242 against the host bowlers.
The durable Dale McCraw was the pride of the Lions’ attack, taking 4/59 from 25 penetrative overs, while fellow paceman Mark Shelton collected 3/67 from 16.3 overs.
Merinda Park invited the host team Devon Meadows to bat first on the turf wicket at the Cranbourne Racecourse and early in the day this decision appeared to be correct.
The Panthers stumbled to 6/131 by the tea break, but excellent contributions from their lateorder batsmen finally achieved a healthy total of 258.
Dave Simpson, Darren Morrow and Peter O’Brien all scored valuable 40s from the numberseven, eight and nine batting positions and these crucial contributions enabled Devon Meadows to hold a slight advantage when play ended.
Jess Mathers captured 3/84 from 25 overs for the Cobras, while Peter Jessop collected 3/34 from 13 overs.
