By Jonty Ralphsmith
Springvale pulled off a massive upset in one of the two matches played in the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 3 competition.
The visitors batted first and put 8/208 on the board against Coomoora and the Roos’ highly-regarded batting lineup fell 27 runs short.
Radomir Badzoka got Springvale away to a flyer, smashing 22 off the second over which set an ominous platform.
“To be fair, the bowler (Matthew Suppree) did give me some nice short balls to pull with just two out (outside the ring), I don’t think he got one where he wanted so I decided to just go for it,” said Badzoka.
“It did look a bowler friendly wicket with covers on since Thursday, so we wanted to come out with intent and put the pressure back on them.
“That was the game plan knowing if we got off to a good start in bowler-friendly conditions, it would hold us in good stead.”
Pasindu Madushan played a much steadier 65, upping the ante at times, while forming partnerships with Nuwan Mendis (39), Nasrat Malikzada (17), Lalanka Dhanasekara Mudiyanselage (19) and Zubair Osmani (14) who all chipped in.
Those partnerships proved important for Springvale, which has suffered a mini collapse in each of the last two weeks.
“Pasindu just stuck around working it into the gaps and finding ones and twos for a lot of his innings, then when it got to the latter stages he hit some sixes and fours,” Badzoka said.
Early wickets put the hosts on the back foot from the get-go but skipper Liam Hard and lower-order player Tim Wighton helped the Roos get 116 off the last 20, underlining the depth of the batting, even if the result went against them.
Right-arm opening bowler Sachintha Rajapakse got Springvale away to a strong start defending the big score, before Nuwan Mendis was economical through the middle and picked up a couple of wickets.
Meanwhile, Nuwan Kulasekara did a number on Silverton at Greaves Reserve.
After Shaun Weir (45 off 54) and Nathan Power (61 off 78) guided Dandenong West to 5/157 in a rain-shortened 30-over match, it was time for Kulasekara to have some fun.
The former Sri Lankan international was twice on a hat-trick in his five-over spell which included four maidens and yielded 5/3.
“The wicket was a little bit tacky and he just bowled a really nice length, he showed his class,” skipper Anthony Brannan said.
“It felt like every ball was going to hit the stumps or challenging the batters so they were trying to play at most things and not being able to leave the ball.
“One of his wickets, the batters left it and it cannoned into the top of off-stump.
“It wasn’t batters swinging across the line, it was genuine good fast bowling where he beat them all ends up and showed his class.”
Silverton was 6/15 by the time Kulasekara bowled his final over, with fellow bowlers Shiraz Qudrat, Adam Reid and Noman Khan claiming the other five between them.
After being 9/25, a 13-run tenth-wicket partnership got Silverton to 38 before Qudrat bowled number 10 and top-scorer Darshana Edirisinghe for 12 to finish the innings.
Brannan was complimentary of Power’s intent and busy innings to set up the match.
“Nathan was probably a little bit unlucky, the innings was worth 80 or 90, he hit the ball to the boundary a lot but the outfield was really slow and there was a massive wind making it near on impossible to hit boundaries to one end,” he said.
The results see Springvale draw level on points with second-placed Coomoora, loosening the Roos’ grip on a top-four position, while Silverton has fallen half a game outside the four.
Hampton Park’s clash with Fountain Gate and Lynbrook’s with Berwick Springs were both washed out.
