By David Nagel
The monumental individual performances of round six were replaced with some huge team statements as Dandenong and District Cricket Association (DDCA) Turf 1 now heads into a three-week hiatus for the holiday period.
Reigning premier Springvale South assumed top position on the ladder with a crushing victory over Parkmore, while Buckley Ridges kept its coveted top-two chances alive with a brilliant bowling display against previously undefeated Hallam Kalora Park.
St Mary’s is celebrating its first win of the season after a grinding run-chase against Narre South, while North Dandenong (2/172) heads into the break in the top half of the ladder after rolling Berwick (6/171) on its home-deck at Arch Brown Reserve.
The Maroons – seventh after round four – have now won two of their last three games to leapfrog the Bears into fourth position.
Things started well for Berwick, with skipper Jordy Cleland winning the toss and electing to bat first, but early indicators suggested the Bears were in for a tough fight.
Sushant Gupta (12-3-3-29) had Jake Hancock (4) back in the sheds early, as Lachy Brown (24 off 25) kept the run rate ticking over nicely.
Gupta continued to be a nuisance, rattling the stumps of both Brown and Cleland (9) to have the Bears on the backfoot at 3/49.
Matt Chasemore (20 off 53) and Damith Mapa Ralalage (33 off 75) shared a steadying 34-run stand, before Mitch Shirt (45 not out off 59) gave the Bears some much-needed impetus heading into the break.
While Nimesh Kariyawasam (12-0-3-61) did share wicket-taking honours, it was the fantastic bowling of Gupta that set things up for the Maroons.
He went at less than 2.5 runs per over, keeping the Bears’ bats under lock and key alongside some economical spells from Zarak Azeel (7-0-0-21) and Alamdar Raza (7-1-0-15).
The Maroons never looked in trouble in reply, cruising to victory with almost nine overs left in the locker.
Openers Rajitha Ranaweera (53) and Ramneet Dhindsa (24) kicked things off with a half-century opening stand, before Javed Khan (67 not out off 76) joined the party to steer the Maroons to victory.
Berwick’s bowling has lacked fire-power and potency of late; conceding 441 runs at an economy rate of 5.45 over the last fortnight.
To make things worse, the Bears have only picked up six wickets along the way.
Buckley Ridges (8/185) has made it back-to-back wins and consolidated a top-three position after Daniel Watson (3/25 off 7) brought the Hallam Kalora Park (147) run-chase to its knees at Hallam Reserve.
Picking a winner was nigh on impossible in this one as Jagveer Hayer (28) and Kevin Kean (20) edged the Hawks to 3/79, building a late-launching pad for the middle-to-lower order.
But Watson went bang, bang, bang…removing Hayer, Sean Paynter (0) and Sachith Jayasingha (0) to reduce the Hawks to 6/80.
The Hawks produced a miracle lower-order batting performance to get across the line last week but – despite the best intentions of Ciaron Connolly (29 not out) and Lauchy Gregson (19) – could not repeat the dose this time around.
Watson was well-supported by Sanka Dinesh (12-1-3-36), while Hadi Jayaratne (9.3-1-2-37) finished off a great game in fine style.
Three Wookey Medal votes should be heading Jayaratne’s way after his 68 from just 57 balls had earlier helped resurrect a shaky 4/68 Bucks’ scoreline.
Jayaratne shared a match-defining 90-run stand with skipper Ben Wright (51), who remained steadfast in more than two hours at the crease.
The Hawks had two main weapons with the ball, with skipper Jordy Hammond (12-3-4-37) and Leigh Booth (7-1-3-37) doing everything possible to keep the Hawks perfect record intact.
Susantha Pradeep produced the best individual performance of round seven to lead St Mary’s (6/186) to its first win of the season against Narre South (9/185) at Carroll Reserve.
Pradeep (12-0-4-46) claimed four wickets to be the star performer with the ball, then produced a magnificent 65 not out to lead the Saints to victory.
But it was certainly no one-man show, with Deeshan Vimukthi (2/38) and Keppler Fernandez (2/23) helping to keep the Narre South score gettable, while Kasun Niranjana (31) shared a 69-run stand with Pradeep to get the Lions across the line.
Duveen Kalansooriya (32) was influential at the top-of-the-order, while skipper Wendyl Pires (19) took his team to the brink of victory.
Narre South couldn’t back up its heroics from last week, although Vineth Jayasuriya (65), Ethan de Vries (32), Harsha de Silva (27) and Harry Finch (2/38) can hold their heads high in defeat.
And Springvale South (6/202) remains undefeated and looming ominously over the Turf 1 competition after an emphatic run-chase against a plucky Parkmore (9/201) at Wachter Reserve.
The Pirates appeared to be right in the contest after Mohomad Safras (49), Amal Athulathmudali (29), Madhawa Fonseka (25), Dulan Waduge (24) and Johann Brohier (23) had worked together beautifully to post a 200-plus score.
It was no mean feat against a Bloods attack that had Blade Baxter (3/56), Jarryd Straker (2/26) and Jackson Sketcher (2/26) doing most of the damage.
The Pirates’ hopes received an early boost after the dinner break when Arune Suganthirakumar (1/43) removed last week’s century-maker – Bloods skipper – Ryan Quirk (3) with just 10 runs on the board.
But Jordy Wyatt (68) soon put things in perspective!
The damaging number-three toyed with the Pirates’ attack, whacking 10 fours and a six in a 40-ball innings that changed the context of the match.
Wyatt dominated a 97-run partnership for the second wicket with opener Mitch Forsyth (30) that took less than an hour to complete!
Wyatt’s utter domination was then transposed into six premiership points as Cam Forsyth (59 not out) smashed five boundaries and one six to lead the Bloods to a hard-held victory.
Baxter (28) completed a good day at the office, sharing a 66-run union with Forsyth.
Athulathmudali (3/28 off 7) remained calm for the Pirates as the carnage took place around him.
The Bloods had more than 10 overs in hand when stumps were pulled for the final time in 2022.
The Bloods will need to remain focussed over the break, with a trip to Hallam Kalora Park their first assignment of the new year.
Parkmore will head to Park Oval to take on Buckley Ridges when play resumes on Saturday 14 January.
DDCA TURF 1 LADDER – ROUND 7
Springvale South 36, Hallam Kalora Park 33, Buckley Ridges 30, North Dandenong 18, Berwick 15, Parkmore 12, Narre South 12, St Mary’s 12.
