By Marcus Uhe
The best of the Dandenong District Cricket Association has gone down in an exhibition game against their counterparts from the Victorian Turf Cricket Association at Hallam on Sunday.
Chasing 139 for victory, the home side fell 20 runs short of the target on a difficult batting surface.
In a lopsided scorecard for the visitors, Patrick Willack made 85 and just two of his teammates made it to double figures, but it was slim pickings for the boys from the North West of the city.
DDCA skipper Jordan Hammond was the pick of the bowlers for the home side, with 3/16 off his seven overs, as the VTCA posted 138 from their 40 overs.
The home side could never get going, slumping to 3/9 after Ryan Quirk, Tyler Clark and Jordan Cleeland were all dismissed within the first 10 overs.
Hammond and Triyan De Silva added 43 for the seventh wicket, to stage a fightback for the DDCA, and a miracle chase looked in the offing with Callan Tout and Riley Sewis at the crease as the final pair.
The two put on 26 for the final wicket before Tout was run out on 25 attempting a quick single that wasn’t quite there.
Turf 2 players De Silva (27) and Tout (25) led the way with the bat for the visitors.
Willack was declared man-of-the-match for his stellar performance with the bat, with administrators aiming to make the contest a regular fixture of both competition’s summers going forward.
DDCA playing XII
Tyler Clark – Beaconsfield
Ryan Quirk – Springvale South
Jordan Cleeland – Berwick
Jordan Wyatt – Springvale South
Cameron Forsyth – Springvale South
Jonty Jenner – Narre South
Jordan Hammond (c) – Hallam Kalora Park
Triyan De Silva – Heinz Southern Districts
Blade Baxter – Springvale South
Callan Tout – Beaconsfield
Riley Siwes – Berwick
Deeshan Vimukthi – St Mary’s
