It was a weekend for the big guns to shine with commanding individual performances in the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) Turf 2 competition.
Beaconsfield and Heinz Southern Districts emerged as the major beneficiaries, while wins to Cranbourne and Doveton kept their finals chances alive.
At Perc Allison, opening pair Tyler Clark and Mark Cooper were at their stylish best, putting on a 104-run opening stand to set up the match.
After a steady start, the right-hand, left-hand pairing upped the intent heading into the main drinks break, and rotated the strike with ease to frustrate spinners Rajika Fernando and Surien Silva.
The tweakers bowled an extended spell, with Silva finally claiming Cooper for 43 which led to a minor wobble for the hosts.
Underlining the importance of the partnership, the skipper’s departure started a run of 5/31 for Lyndale as the spinners, changing the pace and extracting natural variation, got on top.
Ashan Madushanka’s late flurry of 29, using his favoured cover and off drives – including one over deep cover for six – got Beaconsfield to 6/184, before his three wickets helped keep Lyndale at bay.
At Casey Fields, the Sweeney brothers combined for a match-winning 198-run stand, with Mick passing triple figures and Peter left stranded on 97 as Cranbourne’s innings finished on 2/247.
They manipulated the field well against the heavy spin they faced, seeing off all-rounder Dishan Malalasekara and targeting others in the attack.
They picked gaps and ran hard in sweltering conditions, in between some classical textbook cricket shots in what is arguably the best batting performance so far this season.
They went at seven an over for the last seven and were proactive at the crease, never letting the bowlers settle.
“I was really happy with the intent I went out with,” said skipper Mick Sweeney.
“When you’re not winning games and not performing, last year I averaged (51) and this year I’m down, and when the team’s losing, it’s hard not to take responsibility on yourself and feel it, so to hit a few more balls during the week and think about what I wanted to do and go out and do it, I was really pleased.
“I think I’ve been stuck trying to overpower the field and up the run rate whereas on the weekend I wanted to bat better rather than hit; put the ball in the gaps rather than trying to blast it over.
“So if I saw a gap or opportunity, I backed myself to put a ball there and in the first couple of balls the ball went where I wanted it to, which gave me some confidence.”
Parkfield’s gun all-rounder Travis D’Souza shone with a 61 that stuck the middle of the batting innings together, but he entered with the run-rate already approaching six.
D’Souza ultimately played a lone hand as the Bears fell 69 runs short, ending their finals hopes.
At Robinson Reserve, spinner Ryan Hendy got 5/31, including the wicket of the dangerous Zach Allen, off his 12 to help Doveton defend 160 and keep its season alive.
“Zach hit him for six second ball, and there was a bit of chatter, and when you engage Spanner like that, that brings out the best in him, so he had him out by the end of the third over which set us on our way,” skipper Nanga Wilson said.
It continues a remarkable run for Hendy, who opens the bowling weekly for the Doves and has four or more wickets in five of his last six games.
Wilson also claimed four wickets as Narre Warren found it impossible to get rhythm into the innings, bowled out for 100 inside 32 overs.
The unorthodoxy of opening with a spinner and having so much pace-off has become synonymous with Doveton this season and Wilson revealed why he backs in Hendy with two outside the circle.
“He’s 41 years old and I’ve never seen him bowl as well as he has this year,” Wilson said.
“He doesn’t bowl bad balls and sometimes with the field up when the ball is coming on, that’s what opening bats want to hit backward of square or drive hard but taking the pace off the ball using someone with the control of ‘Span’, it works in our favour.
“He doesn’t bowl a bad ball and he knows where it will go if he gets hit, so he just doesn’t go for boundaries (and) he spins the ball
“He makes a dent in the top order every week.
“Once we’re into the middle order, there often isn’t a lot of depth, we can get into the teeth of the innings straight away.
“He puts so much pressure on the innings so he’s more than handy to have.”
After four early wickets, Ben Swift and Bevan Radhakrishnan rebuilt with a 43-run partnership which looked like it could get Narre back into it, before the skipper’s dismissal started a collapse of 6/21.
Earlier, the Doves, too, played a rugged batting innings, sitting perilously at 7/111 before Stuart Johnson and Kenny Smart combined for 42 late runs to give the bowlers more to work with.
Smart is part of a much-loved family at Doveton, and the win on the weekend was an emotional one with Kenny’s Dad, Tommy, passing away last week.
“Kenny’s a heart and soul player every week and we wanted to walk off the field and know we had given our all for him and his family,” Wilson said.
“It’s a little thing but for him to have a win emotionally, we felt we did the right thing by him so it was special in that way as well.”
The loss has weakened Narre’s grip on a top-four spot, with Cranbourne and the Doves just a game and a game-and-a-half respectively behind them in fourth position.
A four-wicket haul to veteran Glenn Hamilton helped Heinz Southern Districts (HSD) ease to a seven-wicket victory over bottom-placed Keysborough.
The fast-bowler-turned-off-spinning all-rounder, who celebrated game 300 last week, bowled 8.3 overs in an outstanding spell of 4/10 which included the scalp of the dangerous Yohan Arumadura, dismissed for 63.
Kevin Seth top-scored for HSD with 38 as his team cruised home.
Playing a top-two team without skipper and all-rounder Christo Otto made it tough for Keysborough, but the loss ends the club’s finals hopes.
