Bloods stumped by form slump

By Gavin Staindl
LAST year’s runners-up, Springvale South has found itself with three wins and three losses and at the crossroads midway through the Dandenong and District Cricket Association Turf One season.
The team that last season went undefeated until the very last game, the grand final, finds itself this season battling in the middle of the Turf One ladder.
Springvale South president Kevin Murphy has described being a “little disappointed” at the first six matches but believes there is much to improve on. “Our batters have been getting 20s and 30s but no one is going on with them. Only one of our batters has hit a ton this season whereas last year, going on with starts was never a problem,” Murphy said.
When asked about individual performances, Murphy admitted that there were “not too many” stand-out performers. He pointed to captain Craig Slocombe and Alex Roberts as stalwarts in a season tainted by injury.
Slocombe has averaged 32 runs over six innings and has also chipped in with seven wickets while Roberts has averaged a clean 50 but failed to post anything higher than 79.
Last year’s premiers Parkfield and semi-finalist North Dandenong are both in contention for another finals appearance this year.
The two teams sit in third and fourth respectively and are only half a game behind ladder leaders Berwick.
Parkfield’s Shane Bell and Shane Doig have been the game-savers for the defending champs. Bell has averaged 23 with the bat and taken nine wickets from four games.
Doig has taken 14 wickets that included four important wickets against Hallam-Kalora Park that eventually resulted in a win that kept Parkfield in the top four.
Meanwhile, North Dandenong owes much to their tailenders for their mid-season success. Eleventh batter Javid Khan and ninth batter Glen Pepper have helped lift their team out of many sticky situations with the bat this season. Pepper’s batting average of 44 combined with Khan’s average of 17 with the bat and 19 with the ball has proven to be the game-breaker in more than one instance this season.
St Mary’s and Buckley Ridges are equal on points in the middle of the table and both consider themselves as potential finals contenders.
Next week’s one-dayer between the two sides at Park Oval will go a long way to deciding who will have the upper hand heading down the stretch.
In the meantime, Keysborough and Coomoora have struggled to gain any momentum and both are now fighting to avoid relegation into Turf Two.