By Julian Bayard
EMERALD captain and bowling spearhead Clinton Marsh took the unbelievable figures of 9/23 from 19.2 overs in Tooradin’s second innings in B-grade on Saturday.
This delivered Emerald an outright victory after it dismissed the Seagulls for 74 after earlier declaring its innings closed at 9/228.
Andrew Walker (66 runs) and Jay Kleinsmit (53) did the damage with the bat for the Bombers, before Marsh went on a bowling rampage, taking the first seven wickets of the innings before an Ian Litterbach run-out took away the opportunity of producing the rare feat of ten wickets.
Only Dean Williams was able to post any sort of score for Tooradin, hitting 39 of his side’s 74 before also becoming one of Marsh’s victims.
Chasing Nyora’s total of 4/367, Merinda Park put up a valiant effort to be dismissed for 253 in the 84th over.
Cobras’ number-three batsman Andrew Martin came agonisingly close to his first century of the season when Nick Fairbank ran him out for 98.
Martin had earlier combined with wicketkeeper Chad McKie for a 93-run third-wicket partnership, with McKie scoring 43 before becoming one of Adam Tagliaferro’s two wickets for the afternoon.
Opening bowler Nick Fairbank combined his good work in the field with three wickets with the ball, picking up the figures of 3/70 from 29 overs.
David Mitchell scored his first ever century for the Upper Beaconsfield Cricket Club in the match against Lang Lang, with the middle-order batsman blasting a chanceless 113 not-out after tea as the Maroons made 7/307 in reply to Lang Lang’s 175.
Earlier, David Ardley continued his patient form at the top of the order with another half-century, while Chris Pentland hit a quick-fire 58 at number-four to put the game beyond the Swamp Tigers’ reach.
Chasing Cardinia’s formidable total of 241 and being 3/71 overnight, Lyndhurst’s middle-order fired at the right time, with the Vikings scoring at a frantic pace to hit 390 from 84 overs.
Aaron Straughair (52 runs), Paul Gray (73 runs), Martin Davies (63 runs) and Heath Straughair (64 runs) all scored half-centuries for the Vikings, while Andrew Myers narrowly missed out on joining them, being dismissed for 49.
Clyde moved into the top four after it easily surpassed Beaconsfield’s total of 195, with under-17 batsman Joel Avard scoring a brilliant century, dismissed for 100 shortly after securing the Cougars’ victory.
Avard was well supported by Noel O’Brien, who scored 52 at number-six, while Rick Colling continued his excellent form with the ball in B-grade by taking 6/43 from 21.4 overs.
Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll’s total of 216 was far too strong for Cranbourne Meadows who could only manage 185 in reply.
There were no statistics available from the Rebels’ innings, however, both Nick Bransgrove and Daniel Glen bowled well for the Marygoons, each taking three wickets.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:C GRADE
An undefeated century from Devon Meadows’ batsman Michael Aughtie was not enough to secure the Panthers’ victory, with the visitors falling 32 runs short of Gembrook’s total of 9/315.
It was Aughtie’s second not-out century of the season, with the Panthers running out of overs to chase down Gembrook’s total, which secured victory thanks to some excellent bowling from Matthew O’Neil who took the figures of 3/71 from 20 overs.
A sensational spell of bowling from Upper Beaconsfield’s under-15 Kyle Gibbs moved the Maroons into possible finals’ contention with the young left-arm bowler taking 4/32 from ten overs as Officer was dismissed for 146 chasing 221.
Gibbs was well supported by veteran Chris Smith, who bowled a short but successful spell to take 3/24 from five overs, while no scores were available from Officer.
Clyde’s total of 6/295 was far too strong for Pakenham that could only manage 192 in reply, despite 42 runs from Dom Paynter, with Bradley Goodman taking three wickets in a terrific bowling display for the Cougars.
Emerald looked in early trouble against Beaconsfield when it slumped to 7/54 chasing 122, before 49 from number-nine batsman Danny Gilles and an undefeated 28 from Brock Barlow saw the Bombers to victory.
Under-17 trio Ben Martin, Aaron McDermott and Damien Johnston all took three wickets in a promising performance from the Tigers.
Kooweerup’s total of 211 was too good for Catani that was dismissed for 144 with John Bright and Geoffrey Milles each taking three wickets, while Merinda Park was dismissed for 191 chasing Pakenham Upper-Toomuc (PUT’s) impressive total of 9/308.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:D GRADE
Emerald achieved a comfortable victory against Cardinia after the Bulls reached 9/209 at the close of day two in their second innings.
Earlier, the Bombers declared their innings closed at 7/232 with Derek Scott scoring a magnificent 124 that included 14 boundaries and a six.
Scott then claimed four wickets in Cardinia’s second innings to take his match tally to eight, claiming the figures of 4/33 from 14 overs.
Craig Bell was the saviour for the Bulls with 79 runs in the second innings, while Chris Lemmon also contributed an undefeated 43.
Beaconsfield won a comfortable outright victory against a disappointing Cranbourne Meadows outfit that was bowled out for 45 and 17 in its two innings, with Beaconsfield scoring 4/199 declared.
William Cousins was the chief destroyer for the Tigers in the second innings, taking the superb figures of 4/5 from 3.3 overs.
Daniel Wallis took the sensational figures of 6/63 from 15 overs to lead Tooradin to a relatively comfortable victory against PUT, with the visitors reaching 9/205 from its 70 overs chasing the Seagulls’ total of 5/260.
A much tighter encounter was seen at Nyora Recreation Reserve with Merinda Park falling just 17 runs short of Nyora’s total of 245.
Stan Pongracic was the best of the Cobras’ batsmen, scoring an excellent 65, while Maroons’ bowler Craig Leigh took the fine figures of 3/30 from ten overs for his side.
Seventy-two runs from Kooweerup captain Peter Thompson led his side to victory against Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll, with the Demons scoring 202 in reply to the Marygoon’s total of 123.
Thompson was well supported by Brendan Wilby, who scored 28, while Spencer Hodson took four wickets from his 11 overs for the Marygoons.
A low-scoring match was seen at Pakenham with the home side eventually being dismissed for 117 chasing Kilunda-Bass’ total of 84.
Jarryd Davies’ 28 not-out led his side to victory, while there were no bowling figures available at the time of preparing this report.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:E GRADE
A great batting display was seen at Gembrook as the home side piled on the runs against Lang Lang, scoring 326 in reply to the Swamp Tigers’ 43.
Jacob Bardwell scored 72, Mark Edwards 67 and Martin Williams 63 in Gembrook’s total, while Nick Virtue took four wickets for Lang Lang.
Eighty-four runs from Pakenham skipper Michael Millar led his side to a narrow victory against Tooradin as the Lions scored 9/336 from 73.2 overs in reply to Tooradin’s 330.
Millar was well supported by Trevor Williamson, who hit an undefeated 67, with Seagulls’ bowler Robert Eakins taking three wickets for the visitors.
Paul Dorbolo claimed 4/32 from six overs, as Pakenham Upper-Toomuc (PUT) easily accounted for Nar Nar Goon-Maryknoll that was dismissed for 152 chasing 232.
Richard Mitchell hit 50 runs for the Marygoons before he was out retired hurt, with skipper Scott Campbell also contributing 35.
Emerald’s bowlers contributed the second highest score of the innings – 39 extras – as the Bombers easily defeated Clyde, with only three Cougar batsmen reaching double figures.
Brendan Derozario can hold his head high for Clyde with a fighting 50 runs of his side’s 161, while Chris Alenson took the remarkable figures of 5/14 from 17 overs for the Bombers.
Upper Beaconsfield’s total of 166 wasn’t nearly enough as Devon Meadows easily reached the target, scoring 9/257, despite six wickets from Maroons’ debutant Chris Cutler (6/57 from 20 overs).
Lyndhurst pulled off a tight victory against Beaconsfield with the Vikings eventually dismissed for 195, chasing 9/176.
Opening batsman Ash Peters was the saviour for Lyndhurst with 52 runs, while Shaun Sinclair toiled hard all day to take 4/18 from ten overs for the Tigers.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:F GRADE
Joel Huckett reached 50 retired not-out as Kooweerup’s total of 4/203 was too strong for Merinda Park that was dismissed for 62 with Jonathon Daikon taking four wickets for the Demons.
James Litterbach and Matt Williams each scored half centuries as Emerald easily accounted for Clyde by 100 runs, while Nyora won an extremely close encounter with Devon Meadows by just six runs.
Luke Sorati picked up three wickets in his return match for Upper Beaconsfield, with the Maroons passing PUT’s total of 97 for the loss of just two wickets.
Kooweerup batted extremely well to chase down Beaconsfield’s competitive total of 8/153, with the Demons reaching 9/177 from their 35 overs.