By Nick Creely
Depleted, but not to be defeated.
Springvale South’s highly impressive depth and class was on show against a quality Hallam Kalora Park side on Saturday at Frawley Road on the second day of Round 4 in DDCA Turf 1 , with the Bloods taking the points despite two key injuries.
Defending 312 after a century to association legend Steven Spoljaric last week, the Bloods were unable to call upon the five time Wookey winner with the ball, with the all-rounder nursing sore ribs, while gun quick Jarrod Armitage jarred his thumb and could only muster up 6.3 overs.
It forced a re-shuffle for Craig Slocombe’s side, who had to immediately turn to the spin brigade to get the job done, and all day, the Hawks threatened to steal a victory.
Prolific opening duo Ben Hillard (77) and Leigh Booth (44) notched up 89 for the first wicket – albeit slowly – to set a brilliant platform for the middle order – and soon after tea, the Hawks were setting themselves up for a crack at the target after Hillard compiled a 68 run stand with Jagveer Hayer (30) to bring the score out to 1/157.
But, a double strike to spin twins Malinga Bandara and Jarryd Straker saw both wickets of Hillard and Hayer fall in virtual succession, and from there, the two spinners went about their work in brilliant fashion, taking regular wickets despite the home side’s eagerness to take the game on at all costs after the tea interval.
The pair wore the Hawks down, with Bandara (6/104) and Straker (4/75) combining for 51 overs between them ton single handedly bowl the Bloods to a crucial win. In 80 overs, the Hawks were dismissed for 272, still 40 runs away from victory.
Down at Carroll Reserve, St Mary’s stunned Mordialloc in what was an absolutely dominant victory at home against the reigning premiers.
Now with four straight losses to start the season, the Bloodhounds need to find some form, and fast, or it will be season over in what has been a surprising dip from the lofty standards set from the previous two Turf 1 flags.
Defending a modest 167 against the Saints, the home side came into day two 1/26, and in a comfortable position despite the danger of stars Ian Daniel, Nuwan Kulasekera and skipper Dylan Campbell with the ball.
But, from the outset, the Saints didn’t allow the visitors to get the game on their terms, with skipper Kaushyla Gajasinghe (38) and Rhys Serpanchy swiftly knocking about 83 runs, before Gajasinghe was trapped LBW.
Serpanchy continued on his merry way with the DDCA’s most in-form player, Ruwantha Kellepotha, guiding the Saints to a barnstorming victory. Serpanchy cracked a sublime 106, a knock featuring 11 fours and three sixes, while Kellepotha remained unbeaten on 57, backing up his 5/49 on day one.
In what has been a stunning start to the season for Kellepotha, he has 256 runs at 128 and 16 wickets at 13 next to his name.
Buckley Ridges also snared a mammoth victory against North Dandenong, picking up an outright at Park Oval.
126 runs behind, with two wickets already down in their second dig, it was a case of how long the Maroons could hold on when play resumed on day two.
Despite some grit by Zafar Sheikh (32) and Romesh Jayasundara (20) to start the day, the Bucks broke the game apart in the middle order, snaring three wickets for the price of just one run, and eventually the visitors were rolled for 143.
Daniel Watson (3/27), Susa Pradeep (3/7), Wes Nicholas (2/39) and Matthew Goodwright (2/13) were the chief architects of the win, as the Bucks continue on with their highly impressive start to the Turf 1 season.
And Berwick fought out the final day against HSD at Reedy Reserve, but the Cobras picked up a comfortable win.
After already secruing first-innings points on day one, the home side resumed on 4/190, and a blistering 84 to Michael ‘Slick’ Davies, off the back of Kaushyla Weeraratne’s 113 on day one, saw them reach 268 and with plenty of overs left to have a red-hot crack at the Bears.
The Bears never looked in any danger of conceding outright, with Josh Holden’s unbeaten 53 guiding them to 4/160 by stumps. Spinners Suraj Randiv (2/44) and Lee Brown (2/39) bowled well in the second dig.
