Spinner springs surprises

By Stuart Teather
IT IS grand final time in the Dandenong District Cricket Association but on the weekend it seemed someone forgot to tell the weatherman. The result: torrential rain battered the grounds.
There was no action on Saturday but teams managed to sneak in some overs on Sunday in between rain delays, and the games will be played out this weekend with the reserve day, Sunday, coming into play.
Springvale South v Parkfield
The Turf 1 Grand Final will be fought out this weekend after the two sides only managed to squeeze in 45 overs on Sunday, but it was enough for Springvale South to grab a hold on the game.
Springvale South sent Parkfield into bat but the batsmen took control early, and a good opening partnership between Ryan Pitts (20) and Brad Houghton (38 not out) got the ball rolling.
But Springvale South’s Sri Lankan sensation Suranjith Silva came in and stemmed the flow of runs with his spinners, eventually claiming Pitts’ wicket.
That breakthrough triggered a mini collapse for Parkfield and the side lost 2/2 with Tim Ford and Silva both striking in quick succession.
Parkfield settled again but scoring was tough and within 13 runs Springvale South had struck again.
Captain Dale Harris fell for two at the hands of strike bowler Nick Bole-Brown, leaving Houghton and club president Tony Payne (eight not out) at the crease at the close of play, with the side on 4/76.
Harris said he had hoped to have one or two more wickets in hand heading into the second weekend.
“We had a good start, we were none for 40 and things were going well, and then the spinner (Silva) tied us down,” he said. “In the situation we’re in we would’ve liked 250 runs but we’ll have to scratch our way to about 220, which should be competitive.”
Harris said his side was still in a position to post a decent tally, despite losing some of its best batsmen.
“Shane Bell has played the last three games and averaged 127 so we’re hoping he’ll get some runs.
“When we’ve been in trouble this year the tail has made some runs and whenever we’ve started well they haven’t, so hopefully they’ll add a bit this week.”
Springvale South captain/coach Craig Slocombe said he was happy with his side’s position.
“We think we’re in a good position at the moment… we hope we can make early inroads this week,” he said.
“We bowled really tight, which was good, we didn’t bowl many bad balls and the outfield was slow.”