By Marcus Uhe
Nick Suppree believes that his Coomoora side can win “from anywhere”.
Whether defending an unspectacular total, facing a competition heavyweight in immaculate early-season touch, or needing eight wickets before said-heavyweight make a further 93 runs with last year’s Gartside Medal winner at the wicket, their triumphs in previous seasons gives Suppree and his teammates a soothing demeanour on the field in times of strife.
Roll all three of those variables into one and you have the exact scenario the Roos faced on Saturday against HSD.
Fielders were making regular trips into the gardens at the Dandenong Bypass end of Coomoora Reserve as Triyan De Silva put the Cobras in the driver’s seat chasing 195, but at no stage did panic set in for the close-knit Roos.
“They were going at 10 an over at one stage and we were all out there smiling and laughing,” Suppree said.
“It’s one of those things where, we’re had such a successful last couple of years that we believe we can win from anywhere.
“It definitely didn’t look like it at one stage there but we got a whiff of it and rolled with it.
“After we got Triyan, we thought ‘we’re on here.’”
In claiming the final eight HSD wickets for just 73 runs, the belief only strengthened for Coomoora, a side eager to repeat the heroics of Dandenong West the season before by claiming back-to-back Dandenong District Cricket Association championships in two different grades.
And the man they have to thank for the revival is their genius spinner, a vital cog to their winning culture fostered in recent summers, in Malan Madhushanka.
Following a wayward opening over that yielded 14 runs, beginning with a waist-high full toss posited into the playground at Coomoora Reserve by Triyan De Silva, the left-arm spinner bowled his allotment of overs unchanged to drag his team back from a worrying position to a stellar six points.
After HSD lost openers Scott Brown and Zahoor Sarwari early in the innings, the division’s in-form batter, Mackenzie Gardner and De Silva looked comfortable at the crease chasing the Roos’ total before Madhushanka’s introduction.
In Brent Patterson’s absence, Gardner played the anchoring role, manipulating the field and picking gaps with the occasional boundary to keep the strike ticking while De Silva was the aggressor, finding the boundary consistently and looking set to single-handedly secure the points for his side in dominant fashion.
The pair had added 70 runs for the third wicket before Gardner was deceived by the flight of leg-spinner Amarjot Singh, stumped while advancing down the wicket by the slick glovework of Jarrod Munday.
De Silva and Anuda Akmeemana then combined for a 45-run stand until Madhushanka made his first breakthrough, hanging on to a sharp return catch off his own bowling to send Akmeemana on his way for just six.
At 4/148 halfway through the overs, HSD still had the upper hand in the contest, but where they had been comfortable and looked set for a simple chase earlier in the innings, there was an air of tension as the Roos gathered momentum.
Two deliveries after Akmeemana was dismissed, they secured the huge wicket of De Silva for a 46-ball 79, top-edging a slower-ball bouncer from the returning Dean Krelle straight to Sam Wetering at square leg.
With two new batters at the crease, the Roos were now full of energy and sniffing blood in the field.
Madhushanka was well into his spell by now and had discovered his rhythm, pinning Craig Hookey in front of his stumps for just three in the next over.
In the 26th over, Englishman Harry Funnell was the tweaker’s next victim, bowled for three with the rot well and truly setting in.
When a sharp piece of fielding from Liam Hard and indecision between Ryan Patterson and Hans Bell saw Patterson run out for a duck, the Cobras had lost 5/10, and were now staring at a disappointing loss at 8/158.
Madhushanka’s safe hands swallowed a catch from Bell for HSD’s ninth wicket, before fittingly he finished the innings with his fourth wicket of the afternoon to seal a brilliant result.
The pick of the bowling group, Madhushanka finished with 4/43 from his 11.3 overs after conceding 14 in his first, with Krelle the only other multiple wicket taker with 2/25.
“Every over it was a chance for a wicket,” Suppree said of his leading spinner’s spell.
“Since I’ve come back he’s probably taken 120 wickets at eight or something.
“He continues to get better and better as he learns the grade he plays and the players he plays against, he continues to get better and better.
“It’s amazing to watch.”
While not the aggressive ‘head of the snake’ type reserved for each side’s frontline quick, Madhushanka is as vital a member of the Roos’ bowling attack as any.
Krelle, Sam Wetering, Jackson Noske and Michael Klonaridis have transferred their off-field friendships into early on-field success, bowling in partnerships and as a unit in the opening three matches of the season.
When Krelle bowled nine wides in the opening over and was forced out of the attack early, Noske filled his role brilliantly by offering a tidy five overs with the new ball and removing Sarwari for just nine.
The value of those friendships cannot be quantified in runs, wickets and economy rates, but Suppree can see the camaraderie oozing from the squad, and resulting in important wins thus far.
“When you have blokes out there that actually want to be playing for each other, it makes a massive difference,” he said.
“We’ve got nine/10 blokes that have genuinely been best mates for years and it shows on days like that where everyone wants to do it for each other.
“You’re not going to have one person dominate all the team and everyone’s got to want to chip in and do it as well, which is really special.
“It’s something that’s pretty rare to find at club level and we’re blessed to have it.”
In the match’s first innings, Munday’s unbeaten 76 was the standout score as the Roos scrapped their way to 195.
HSD’s quality bowling attack showed why they are expected to contend for a premiership once more this summer as three of their five bowlers conceded less than four runs per over.
Liyanage was the chief destroyer, with the spinner taking 4/39 from his 12 overs to single-handedly gut the Coomoora middle order, as it lost 3/2 late in the innings.
Beyond Munday, opener Rahoul Pankhania made 34 and coach, Nick Suppree made 20.
Elsewhere in Turf 2, both Parkfield and Narre Warren broke their ducks, leaving Lyndale and St Mary’s as the two winless sides to open the summer.
Nathaniel Cramer (64) and Dishan Malalasekara (34) shouldered the bulk of the responsibility in chasing Lyndale’s 9/147, while the Magpies kept St Mary’s to 9/189 in pursuit of their first-innings total of 7/199.
Late contributions from Amila Ratnaike (86) John Mentiplay (26) and Ben Swift (25) pushed Narre Warren to a defendable score, and defend it they did, as St Mary’s faltered with the bat once more.
Wicketkeeper Duveen Arachchige made 76 and captain Raveen Nanayakkara hit 44 as the only significant scores on the batting card, with no teammates passing 10 for the Saints.
Ruwan Jayaweera took 4/56 for the Magpies.
Lyndale and St Mary’s remain winless from their opening three contests.
