Noble Park gloveman Andrew Brown, second from right, celebrates a wicket with his team-mates during their final round win over Croydon. NOBLE Park finished its inconsistent Victorian Sub District Cricket Association season on a high note on Saturday, defeating Croydon by six runs at home.
Batting first, the Parkers amassed 8/214 on the back of an 89-run third-wicket stand between Rod Douthie and Dean Edmunds.
Douthie top scored with 68, while Edmunds’ 39 took him past 600 runs for the season.
After Croydon got off to a reasonable start, Matt Crozier got the breakthrough Noble needed, taking wickets in consecutive overs to have the visitors 2/50 after 13.
A run-out had Croydon 3/95 off 24 overs and a second took the total to 4/135.
Lance Baptist then snared his first, and when he grabbed his second it was 6/174 in the 39th over.
A run-out and a wicket to Edmunds in the 40th over swung the game back in Noble Park’s favour, with the Parkers requiring two wickets and Croydon 27 runs off the last five overs.
The score pushed along to 8/203 at the start of the last over, with 2002-03 premiership player Anooka Samarkkoddy – back in Melbourne on holiday – taking the final two wickets to show he has not lost anything in his two-year absence.
Crozier finished with 2/25, while Samarkkoddy had 2/41 and Baptist 2/49.
Noble Park’s second XI nearly snatched an unlikely victory, falling one wicket short against Croydon while defending its meagre total of 136.
Johann Wise top scored with 34, while Andrew Boravac (31) provided valuable support.
Wise capped off a good game by leading the bowling with 3/34 off his nine overs, while Deepjot Singh (2/26) was the other multiple wicket-taker.
The thirds were soundly beaten by Croydon, managing to reach only 6/107 in reply to Croydon’s 8/230.
Kush Athukorala top scored with 44 and Matthew Dodman made 20.
With the ball, Andrew Dennis capped off a good year by taking 3/18 and Stuart Patterson took 3/43 with his leg spinners.
Noble Park’s fourth XI also suffered at the hands of Croydon, being dismissed for 107 before Croydon lost only two wickets on the way to 109.
Matt Ferguson (43) and Thomas Bishop (24) were the best of the batsmen, while Sunny Dharmet took both wickets to finish with 2/35.
