Centuries from Narre South pair Oshadha Ariyadasa (125) and Vineth Jayasuriya (130) have helped the Lions post a big total of 331 against the in-form Hallam Kalora Park in the DDCA Turf 1 competition.
It was a good toss to win for Narre South, who chose to bat as extreme temperatures threatened all round 11 matches, which had to start earlier as a result.
It was a fine outing for the Narre South side, who despite only winning one match this season, batted as well as they have to post a 331 against Hallam Kalora Park.
It was a much stronger performance for the Lions than many expected, just after it appeared that the Hawks had hit their straps with five consecutive wins.
Don’t get me wrong … Hallam Kalora Park can definitely chase the runs, but it hasn’t scored more than 205 in an innings this season, so will need things to go to plan in the run chase.
Narre South captain Cal Tout was pleased with the total and hoped the desired result could help uncover some late season positives.
“Yeah, (we were) pretty happy with the total, it was tough conditions for their bowlers but I feel like any score over 300 is decent,” he said.
“It was a great toss to win as most would agree, but we tried to prepare as if we were going to bowl rather than hoping we would bat.”
The end score looked good, but it didn’t look so nice at 1/6 after the Lions lost Kyle Hardy (1) inside the first five overs, snicking a Jawid Khan delivery to third slip.
But Jawed Hussaini (23 off 77 balls) dug in and put on 55 runs with Jayasuriya, before he was undone by William Whyte in the 28th over, the score at 2/61.
Narre South needed a big partnership if it was any chance of clipping the Hawks’ wings and it did just that, taking the sting out of the game and making things tough for the bowlers.
Over the next 38 overs, Ariyadasa and Jayasuriya did as they pleased, scoring freely and putting together a mammoth 219-run partnership.
Both of them reached triple figures, Ariyadasa for the second time this season with an aggressive 125 off 116 deliveries, while Jayasuriya was a fine anchor with 130 off 198 balls.
“It was an unbelievable partnership from Vinny and Osh, it really set the game up for us,” Tout said.
It was the tempo of the two batters which stood out, moving from 2/107 off 40 overs to score 224 runs off the next 40 overs – they added 0/167 in the 24 overs after tea at almost seven runs per over, before the pair was dismissed.
“Being 2/100 at the tea break allowed us to capitalise on the back half of the innings,” Tout said.
“Vinny has always been showing signs of a big score this year so it’s rewarding for him and Osh now hitting his second ton for the year, has been a great recruit for us.”
Narre South had moved to 2/281 with almost 15 overs remaining, but credit to Hawks captain Jordan Hammond who took a 5fa and never gave in.
Narre South passed 300 and thanks to a nice cameo at the end from skipper Tout (31 not out), the Lions reached 9/331 after the 80 overs – their highest score of the season.
Hammond was the pick of the bowlers with 5/59 off 21 overs, toiling away in the heat for his side, while Whyte took 3/87 off 18 overs.
It puts the side in a great position to win its first game since round five, hoping to defend the total on Saturday.
“We just need to be disciplined with our bowling and be consistent,” Tout said.
“Make the batters play the false shot, but taking early wickets with the new ball is key also – they bat deep so it’s going to be a tough day either way.
“It’s been a tough year for us so hopefully finishing off the season with a couple more wins would be great.”
There were also plenty of runs scored at Greaves Reserve as Dandenong West posted 326 against Beaconsfield thanks to a second Shaun Weir century in the space of two weeks.
There were plenty of contributions, but none better than Weir at the top of the order as he belted 101, batting beautifully with fellow opener Mohit Mandora (67).
There were some other starts for the Bulls, but a highlight later in the day was a classy half century from Joel Zietsman (57) at number seven as the side put on a strong batting display in front of its premiership players.
Ashan Walgamage and Abaseen Taniwal took three wickets each as the score ended up on 326 after day one.
After a couple of 49s and a 43 in recent weeks, Springvale South all-rounder Dasun Opanayaka raised the bat for a half century for the first time this season, leading the Bloods to 267 against Berwick.
Opanayaka, who averages 89 in Turf 1 this season, top-scored with 71, as Mitch Forsyth (47) and Jordan Wyatt (44) also contributed well.
Opanayaka shouldn’t be too far from some of the early Wookey Medal discussions, having scored 267 runs and taken 17 wickets so far.
Berwick’s Vinuda Liyanage did a power of work with the ball, taking 4/40 off 22 overs (including six maidens).
Buckley Ridges has its sights set on an outright victory against Parkmore after bowling the Pirates out for 125 on day one and scoring 3/91 in reply.
Young star Ashen Hettinayaka had a day to remember, taking a remarkable 6/20 off 12 overs to rip through the Pirates’ batting order, with only Lochana Premarathna (48) offering any resistance.
The Bucks batted 30 overs on day one and lost Ayush Patel (21), Dale Tormey (14) and Josh Holden (21) for starts, but remain in a great position to win outright.
