By JARROD POTTER
Dandenong District Cricket Association – round 6
IT WAS double the delight for North Dandenong on Saturday, with Dean Gunawardana and Clayton McCartney rescuing the innings to post a pair of centuries.
NORTH DANDENONG v NARRE WARREN
From bad to beautiful, the revival of North Dandenong’s (292) innings was spearheaded by twin centuries from the middle order against Narre Warren.
Norths’ old batting woes had surfaced with the top order completely crumbling against Kaushalya Weerarante (4/90) and Pramod Liyanagamage (3/81). From 4/27 to 5/66, it was panic stations as Gunawardana and McCartney were brought together. Earning his first Turf 1 call up for the season, McCartney made it count, buckling down with Gunawardana to see off the Magpies and counterattack in style.
The Gunawardana/McCartney partnership reaped 154 runs – the new sixth-wicket top partnership for Turf 1 this season. Narre Warren was slipping by then, pushing everyone to the rope and allowing the easy singles as Gunawardana raised his bat, soon to be followed by McCartney for a half-century of his own. Gunawardana fell soon after, leaving McCartney and the tail to see what they could achieve with 11 overs and free reign to hit.
Jurgen Andersen (28) was first up – belting one of the bigger sixes hit at Lois Twohig Reserve – striking from the clubhouse end and smashing it into the trees on the hill at the primary school end. Andersen and McCartney accrued a rapid-fire 64 as McCartney drew in on a century of his own. McCartney went for it with boundaries – smashing 12 fours and two sixes – most of which came after his 50 as the former TAC Cup footballer made his talents known in his other sport of passion.
A few hairy moments and a couple of thick edges played in McCartney’s favour as he scurried through for his maiden DDCA Turf 1 century. It leaves Narre Warren with a ton of work to do on Saturday – chasing 293 for first innings points.
PARKFIELD v LYNDALE
Dale Tormey’s smashing start to life in Turf 1 continued with a blistering 109 for Lyndale (7/276) against Parkfield. Tormey has 260 runs and 13 wickets before the summer break and will be a name to put up for Wookey Medal consideration. With Rory Ingram (52), Ciaron Connolly (31) and Tharanga Lakshita (47) in tow, Tormey was able to demoralise Parkfield with his second century of the season. Steve Spoljaric (2/37) was economical from his 18 overs while Samiddha Gallage (2/106) had to toil for his pair.
HALLAM KALORA PARK v BUCKLEY RIDGES
The Buckley Ridges (8/200) middle order got the job done against Hallam Kalora Park, with Antonio Greenidge (62), Dan Haasbroek (28) and Suren Ekanayake (43) doing the heavy lifting. It started poorly for the Ridges as Paul Rudd (1) and Jayson Hobbs (1) came and went without much resistance, leaving the job to Greenidge and company. The final efforts came from the tail as Richard Hope (26no) and Wes Nicholas (15no) added a bit more to the final chase.
MORDIALLOC v SPRINGVALE SOUTH
The difference between the Mordialloc (124) commoners and the King, Nathan King (6/36) was startling as the spearhead ran through the Bloodhounds’ batting order. Yoshan Kumara (3/46) opened strongly, claiming Tim Richardson (0) for a quacker before also chipping in to snare Chathura Athukorala (10) later in the innings. The King emerged from there to continue a red-hot finish to the first-half of the season. King removed the big two – Stuart Squires (37) and Leon Kennedy (20) to leave Mordialloc on the ropes before a late order run-through left the home-side defending a scant amount. In reply Steve Masterson (19) was the best of the Bloods as Aaron Morrison and Dylan Quirk fell to Athukorala (2/30).
HEINZ SOUTHERN DISTRICTS v COOMOORA
Coomoora (163) has put a respectable tally on the board against Heinz Southern Districts (1/10), but the Kangaroos will rue its wasted opportunities. Starts were not cashed in as Jason Bacic (38), Lance Baptist (10), Paul Hill (13) and Rob Johnston (16) failed to carry on for a big score. Joel Robertson (33no) held together the attack at the death as Michael Davies (4/30) and Matt Cox (3/39) were the main wicket-takers for the Cobras. Coomoora got one back before stumps with Oliver Ashford (1/4) snaring the top order scalp of Keith Perumal (3).
BERWICK v DANDENONG WEST
Walid Ghauri (70) finished his batting year in style as Dandenong West (213) set a task for Berwick and its star-recruit Thilan Samaraweera to chase. Ghauri weathered the initial storm as Turf 1 debutant Alexander Cross (1/26) rattled Justin Stanton from the crease with his second ball of the day. Ghauri and Matt Fielding (42) added an 84-run partnership before Ghauri fell to Nirmal Wickramaratne (2/43). Gehan Perera (28) was the other Bull to impress with the bat as Ryan Crawford (3/30) and Jarrod Goodes (2/46) helped run through the lower order. Samaraweera (1/5) claimed his first wicket as he dismissed Perera with the help of Goodes in the slips. Tanner Stanton (18no) and Andrew Taylor (9no) batted out to stumps, leaving Berwick with 186 runs to attain.
