By Jonty Ralphsmith
Mount Everest has been summited.
Dandenong West has finally been beaten in DDCA Turf 3.
Yet to lose from its first 11 fixtures as Nuwan Kulasekara, Nathan Power and Malinga Bandara have led the way, Dandenong West’s 9/152 was easily chased down by a Springvale team on the charge.
Springvale went into the Christmas break sitting outside the top four, but has since won four of its five games to now sit equal on points with second-placed Coomoora.
Power held the middle of the innings together for Dandy West, his 44 coming at a strike rate of just better than 50, but the Springvale bowlers didn’t allow any other batter off the leash.
Opening bowler Randeep Sahota put the visitors on the back foot from the start with his tight bowling building up the pressure.
Underlining the strength of the visitors’ batting, Shaun Weir, who last week opened against Silverton, batted at number eight.
Sahota claimed two while Nuwan Mendis got three as Dandy West scrapped its way to a shaky 9/152.
“There was hardly a loose ball, so the batters had to force the shots,” said opening batter Radomir Badzoka.
Sachintha Rajpakse and left-arm quick Sahota bowled a tight line and kept it back of a length which Dandy West struggled to score off, before Mendis carried over his strong bowling form from recent games.
More impressive was what Springvale did in its batting innings, as just three wickets were lost as the win was claimed with 42 balls to spare.
Kulasekara claimed just one wicket from his six overs as Springvale saw him off on a batter-friendly deck then attacked the rest of the bowling line-up.
Led by a brisk 78 by Mendis and then an unbeaten 43 from Pasindu Madushan, Springvale did it easily and sent a message to the competition: don’t inscribe Dandy West on the premiership cup yet.
“We know as a club that our best can beat anyone – we believe that,” Badzoka said.
“By beating one and two on the ladder, it was good to show it in the last couple of weeks.
“Our bowling has always been good this season, it was just our batting which was shaky, but we’ve managed to sort that out and put in a complete performance and we’re peaking at the right time.”
Fountain Gate also got an important win on the weekend which keeps its destiny in its own hands, smashing Lynbrook which now sits outside the four and exceedingly unlikely to jump back in.
Fountain Gate’s Jasdeep Singh had 4/6 off his first four overs with Lynbrook sitting at 5/9, their innings unable to be properly resurrected as it was trounced for 89.
That was chased down inside 20 overs which means Fountain Gate probably only need to beat one of Springvale and Coomoora on the run home to reach the final four, given Lynbrook plays Dandenong West next week.
Meanwhile, Coomoora all but ended Silverton’s finals hopes with a clinical nine-wicket win after bowling the hosts out for 95.
Nicholas Lloyd claimed four wickets before Lance Baptist smashed an unbeaten 60 off 47 in pursuit of the total.
Berwick Springs was equally dominant in essentially consigning Hampton Park to relegation.
No-one reached 20 for the Redbacks as Harry Bell claimed four early wickets and it got worse from there as James Kellett’s men were bundled for 70, which was chased down inside 13 overs.
It means Hampton Park sits two games and percentage clear on the foot of the table with two games left in its season.
