By Marcus Uhe
Narre South is ensconced in the top four of the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 1 competition, having narrowly prevailed in a cliff-hanger against Berwick at home on Saturday.
Despite a brilliant century from Jake Hancock, the Bears fell six runs short of the victory target, reaching 8/339 at the end of the 80th over.
It was going to take Berwick’s absolute best to chase the total down, needing to score at more than four runs per over, but having made 364 earlier in the season against North Dandenong, the Bears knew they had a score like this within them.
In Matthew Hague and Jarryd Wills, Berwick had two players not afraid of chasing a boundary, and begun the chase with their typical aggressive flair.
The two struck boundaries regularly without forcing the issue, playing conventional cricket shots to deliveries that waned in line or length from the Narre South attack.
The 50-run partnership was reached in the 10th over but the introduction of Jeevan Mendis and Jawed Hussaini as first-change bowlers reigned the batters in, with just 34 runs coming off the next nine overs.
Mendis claimed a sharp diving catch in his follow-through to remove Hague for 38, having struck at just shy of a run per ball.
The wicket brought Hancock to the crease, who immediately engaged in a gripping head-to-head with Mendis.
Two experienced cricketers with plenty of time in the middle under their belts, Mendis varied his pace and his flight as Hancock looked to work him through gaps in the outfield for singles and twos.
Mendis had the chance to remove Hancock on 22, but couldn’t repeat his efforts to remove Hague, dropping a tough chance on the return from the right-hander.
Now set at the crease, Hancock and Wills looked to accelerate after the drinks break, but Wills perished after skying a pull shot to deep midwicket.
Charging in from the boundary was Adam Snelling, covering close to 30 metres to complete a diving catch, and finishing worse for wear as a result.
The catch sparked a flurry of Berwick wickets, as Mitch Shirt, Jordan Cleland and Ash Henry combined for just five runs in a collapse of 4/16.
When Henry departed at 5/162 shortly before the tea break, the required run rate was nearly two runs more than the speed the Bears were moving at.
But in Hancock, there was hope, and in Toby Wills, he had a capable ally.
The two added 120 in a sixth wicket partnership to ensure the visitors hung around, with Hancock bringing up his second hundred of the season in the 72nd over.
Wills reached 62 before he was caught in the infield of Callan Tout, before Lachlan Brown was run out by Tout in a mix-up with Hancock just three deliveries later.
At Brown’s wicket, the Bears still needed 56 off the final 47 balls, with three wickets in hand.
Hancock finished that over with a four and a six off Mendis, signalling his intent to steal the points from the Lions’ grasp.
Mendis, captaining the side in the absence of Kyle Hardy, turned back to his strike bowling pair of Tout and Alex Cruickshank, who conceded just one boundary in the following four overs.
On Mendis’ return, he claimed the wicket of Goodes with the second ball of his 33rd over with 21 required from the final 16.
Mendis closed the over with four dot balls to Elliot Mathews, before the penultimate over from Cruickshank yielded eight runs, leaving Tout 13 to defend from the final six balls.
Mathews managed a single to get off strike on the opening ball so that Hancock could face the music, who took four off the next two balls, before a critical dot from Tout halted momentum.
Two off the second-last delivery opened the door for a tie, but they could only manage a single off the final ball, as Tout stood tall.
Hancock finished unbeaten on 135 as Berwick’s top scorer, while Mendis took 3/123 from his 33 overs.
With Hardy’s absence and Callum Nicholls suffering a shoulder injury while fielding that will rule him out for the remainder of the Lions’ campaign, Mendis was forced to bowl nearly half of the Lions’ overs, down two of his part-time options.
The loss of Nicholls is a huge blow for Lions, having just broken through for his first hundred of the campaign on day one and leading his side for runs scored.
Elsewhere in Turf 1, St Mary’s is finally on the board, chasing Beaconsfield’s total of 274 with two overs to spare.
Susantha Pradeep played a captain’s knock for the Saints, unbeaten on 82 in the chase to steer his side home.
The enigmatic Saveen Nanayyakara hit 38, Wendyl Pires 36, Raveen Nanayyakara 48 and Keppler Fernandez 35, the batters sharing the load for St Mary’s in a rare spread of contributors across the board.
274 is comfortably the highest team score of the season, having not breached the 200-run barrier at all thus far, rebounding from a dismal showing with the bat against Narre South in round 11.
Trishane De Silva, Mark Cooper and Ashan Madhushanka each took two wickets for Beaconsfield.
Hallam Kalora Park did what it needed to do in securing six points against North Dandenong, having completed the short run chase early in the day.
The Hawks reached the total four down but missed on vital centre wicket practice after the middle order failed to take opportunities.
Left-arm quick Randeep Sahota took four wickets in four overs to decimate the middle order, but withstanding the chaos at the other end was wicketkeeper-batter Ciaron Connolly.
In a new role at the top of the order, Connolly batted for nearly the duration of the innings to make 96, before hitting a Ramneet Dhindsa full toss down the throat of Sudes Khan on the legside boundary.
