By Jonty Ralphsmith
Cranbourne has breathed life back into its season with a 16-run win over Keysborough at Rowley Allan Reserve.
When games have been on the line in the first half of the season, the 50-50 moments have gone against Mick Sweeney’s men.
With Keysborough needing 34 off 30, and captain Christo Otto at the crease as they chased 208 for victory, a similar script appeared to be unfolding.
Otto skipping up the pitch to smash a front foot pull shot off quick Jakeb Thomas was a signal of intent and helped dip the run-rate below six an over.
But after Otto took to Thomas in the 41st, the Eagle responded by knocking over the right-hander’s castle and keeping Cranbourne alive.
The line-ball moments went the Eagles’ way and they got to sing the team song.
A ball just carried low to Thomas’ right for a sharp catch at cover; Mick Sweeney got a finger-tipper over his head that stuck; Harsaroup Singh took a catch diving forward in the outfield; and Martin Kelly finished it off with a direct-hit run out in the 44th over.
That all happened in a 30-minute period as the hosts lost 5/5 to bottle a game that was slanted their way for much of the contest.
The match was set-up off the back of a 111-run opening partnership for the Eagles as Singh and Dean McDonell finally clicked at the top-of-the-order.
Singh took the lead role in the partnership, targeting the straight boundaries in his 106-ball 61 which freed Peter Sweeney up at the back end to make an unbeaten 35 at better than a-run-a-ball.
Keysborough’s openers got through a tidy start by Eagles new-ball bowlers Pete Sweeney and Kelly to combine for 87, before Sweeney broke through in his second spell.
The left-arm tweaker and Singh controlled the middle, getting through their overs quickly and bringing Cranbourne back into the contest with five wickets between them.
Meanwhile, Beaconsfield has suffered its second straight loss, this time to Parkfield, which lifted itself off the bottom of the ladder with a 20-run win.
An impressive 118-run partnership between Nick Cramer (60) and Travis D’Souza (63) formed the backbone of Parkfield’s innings.
Both players have stylish power games but against a strong attack, they swapped the long handle for strike rotation, before Riley Payne came in and hit a quickfire 17 not out late.
Payne also took an outstanding catch at gully early in Beacy’s innings to dismiss Beacy skipper Mark Cooper as the Tigers pursued 179.
The wicket gave the Bears a look at the middle-order – something few teams have been able to do.
Spinners D’Souza and Nick Jeffrey bowled 24 overs in tandem and kept it tight, going at a combined rate of barely two an over and picking up three wickets between them.
“We still have a belief that we can beat anyone in the competition and we showed that on Sunday,” said skipper Stephen Cannon.
“(Sunday) was really important because we were really disappointed with how we played last week and we had a chat about it – especially with our past players coming down, we wanted to put in our best effort and that’s what it came down to.
“Putting in the application, not losing the little moments and fighting hard when it got tough.
“We’ve got all the skill and we dug in.
“The weekend proved to me that it is all about our mindset; if we come in with the right mindset and don’t give up, the result takes care of itself instead of talking about totals and what we want to do.
“We spoke a little bit about game-plans but attitude leading into the game is more important.”
For Beaconsfield, Clark continued his run-scoring ways with 56 after Callan Tout collected four wickets, getting late swing and movement off the pitch, with the dismissal of Matthew Goodier the highlight of the lot.
The result tightens things at the top of the ladder, with Lyndale, Beacy and HSD all equal on points as the pace-setters, but there remains a two-game gulf between Narre Warren and fifth-placed Cranbourne.
Luke Clarke (45 off 68) and Zach Allen (39 off 31) both played important hands for Narre Warren before Allen’s wicket sparked a collapse.
Lyndale took 6/30 before some late-order hitting for the home side got them to 147, which proved too good for Lyndale.
Narre Warren sustained the pressure throughout the bowling innings, bowling Lyndale out for 90 after 26 overs, led by 3/14 to tweaker Bevan Radhakrishnan.
A 40-run win to Heinz Southern Districts in its first home game of the season has affirmed its young squad as being premiership contenders, while consigning Doveton to its third straight loss.
Usual suspects Brent and Ryan Patterson were at it again, Brent scoring a-run-a-ball 67 to help set a target of 168, before Ryan took 5/24 off 11.3 with the ball.
The top-four looks a long way away now for the Doves as they sit two-and-a-half games outside the four after three consecutive losses, despite Mitch Daley and Darren Pattinson still to come in.
