St Mary’s batsmen Troy Cashman fends one away on his way to score 66.THE battle between the teams that have claimed the past three Turf One premierships in the Dandenong and District Cricket Association match of the round promised to be an enthralling encounter, and day one produced a good, old-fashioned battle.
Without the experience of the injured duo Gavin Fewkes and Jason Quirk, the St Mary’s Saints gave themselves every chance going into the match against Springvale South.
After winning the toss on a typical Carroll Reserve wicket that didn’t look like it offered much to the bowlers, Saints captain Paul Sharp surprised no-one in deciding to bat first.
The deceptively quick Bobby Gray took the ball for Springvale South along with the underrated Tim Kelson, while Saints stalwart Troy Cashman and Gary Cake opened with the bat.
The Saints got off to a slow but solid start before the powerful arm of Gray caught Cake short of his ground with a strong throw in from the boundary.
New St Mary’s player Nick McKay started well and looked comfortable at the crease before copping a dubious caught behind decision, with Saints left reeling at 2/16.
Cashman led the fightback, putting on |76 for the fourth wicket with promising |youngster Rhys Serpanchy.
When Cashman eventually fell for 66 St Mary’s was 3/90 and Serpanchy fell five runs later.
Gray put the pressure back on the Saints, at that stage contributing to all four dismissals with three wickets and a runout.
St Mary’s battler Aaron Dragwidge came together with Michael Turner with the game on a knife’s edge.
While they were scratchy and scored a lot of runs through edges, the batsmen patiently put on 92 runs for the fifth wicket.
The pair frustrated the South Springvale attack before Dragwidge was caught and bowled by Craig Slocombe for 50, the Saints at 5/187 with seven overs remaining.
The final overs produced 34 runs thanks to some hard hitting from Ash Henry and clever strokeplay from Turner, who remained unbeaten on 56 at stumps.
The Saints finished on 7/221, ensuring Springvale South would have to work hard and apply itself this week.
Without its star and most successful batsman against St Mary’s Jason Quirk, it will be an uphill battle for South Springvale.
But with the likes of Sharpe, Law, Slocombe and former Damien Fleming medallist Rory Ingram, South Springvale is more than capable of reaching the target in what is sure to be an action-packed second day.
