By JARROD POTTER
HONOURS were split on the first day of Noble Park (0/23) facing Altona (182) in a VSDCA East/West First XI battle to stay in the top six.
Altona started strongly with Tim Collins (65) and Peter Herrick (26) notching 92 for the first wicket, before Marasinghe Perera (2/30) shattered the partnership. Collins followed soon after, dollying the simplest of caught-and-bowled chances back to Anthony Salomon (1/34) to start the Altona wobbles.
A 43-run stand from Aaron Maynard (29) and Lee Elmore (19) was the last sizeable addition in tandem to the Altona total as Mevan Fernando (5/25) got fired up. Fernando found the middle and lower order asleep at the crease as he worked his way through the batting card – snaring his first five-wicket haul in the VSDCA to go along with a half-century forged earlier this season to start his year with a bang. Perera iced the cake, getting Trent Smith (0) – surprisingly stumped for a duck with some nimble glovework by Dirk Vandergert – helping dismiss Altona for the moderate total of 182.
A cautious response from Noble Park left the game well poised for next week – captain Dean Edmunds (16no) and Jake Bradshaw (6no) saw off the new ball and survived 13 overs to leave 159 to chase on Saturday.
