By Marcus Uhe
It shaped as an epic contest between the two pace-setters of Turf 1 on Saturday, as rivals Buckley Ridges welcomed Springvale South to Park Oval.
And for much of the afternoon, an epic contest is what unfolded.
A sensational spell from Michael Davies had Buckley in the box-seat early, dismissing Ryan Quirk in his 100th game for 12 and the Forsyth brothers for five runs each to have the ladder-leaders in-trouble at 3/30.
But as the old-saying goes, catches win matches, and Buckley dropped five to let their rivals off the hook.
Jordan Wyatt capitalised on his second chance, top-scoring with 81 off 65 before he became Davies’ fourth victim of the day.
A valuable 46 from Blade Baxter and 54 from Yoshan Kumara pushed the total to 265, as Buckley left the field optimistic of their ability to chase, but feeling they had missed a real opportunity with their sloppy fielding.
In the absence of Jayson Hobbs, still recovering from a hand injury, Daniel Watson was accompanied to the crease by Jake Cronin in what was his first Turf 1 match for the season.
But things quickly took a dramatic turn for the hosts, with Daniel Watson requiring a runner after straining a hamstring while running a single.
Early indications are that the injury is not overly serious, and Buckley are hoping he will be avaible to play before finals.
The pain didn’t affect Watson’s eye, hitting three sixes in his rapid innings of 24, but he was in obvious discomfort throughout his innings, straining and hobbling around the crease between balls before he was caught by Quirk in a superb diving effort on the square-leg boundary under the trees.
When Cronin fell for a well-made 37 in a decision that left he and his teammates fuming, and Mahela Udewatte two overs later during a superb spell from Matt Wetering, Springvale South began to seize the momentum.
The right-armer charged-in consistently and brought an infectious enthusiasm to the crease, flexing his muscles and roaring in delight after Udawatte was given out LBW for 34, generating lively enthusiasm among his teammates who became more and more vocal with every dot ball.
At 3-130 and with experienced heads both at the crease and still in the sheds for Buckley, the game was on a knives-edge.
Needing another wicket, Quirk turned to his opening bowler in Kumara halfway through the innings, and the right-armer delivered.
He had Troy Aust strangled down the leg side for seven, thanks to a superb catch by Paul Hill, and in the next over Jarryd Straker grabbed the big scalps of skipper Ben Wright and Davies, as the arm-wrestle took another dramatic turn.
3/130 became 6/130 in the blink of an eye, before they were soon dismissed for 179 in the 37th over.
Despite dropping from second to third on the table due to the loss, Buckley Ridges coach Manjula Manusinghe was looking at the positives of the result.
“We were ontop and dominating in the last few years, so this year the team is getting some more experience by (having) a bit of a hard time in normal matches,” Manusinghe said.
“This is a really good sign for me, failing earlier, and looking at the areas that we need to improve, and then we can go hard at the finals.”
Among the areas for growth include taking a more cautious approach when things weren’t going their way with the bat, such as milking the singles on offer rather than chasing boundaries.
“My message to the players that when wickets fall, we still need to rotate the strike and take the pressure off us, rather than go for the big ones.
“We have experienced that for a few matches, rather than getting singles, we try to go for the big ones.
“That’s all about mentally how you approach the middle, how to calm down and build an innings. That’s what we need to focus on.”
The Bloods have now beaten Buckley in their last three matches, including last year’s Turf 1 Grand Final, and would appear to have an edge over their local rivals.
But not according to Manusinghe, who welcomes the challenge of playing against the best.
“I would really like to see another final against Springvale. We have no concerns because we beat them easily twice last year and then got beaten in the finals, but we are confident.
“They’re a good team, there’s no doubt about it, but we are even better and on the day, we’ll be better.”
Buckley’s fall was Hallam Kalora Park’s gain after the Hawks comprehensively took care of business on the road against Parkmore, dismissing the Pirates for 107 after posting 3/243 batting first.
Jagveer Hayer and Leigh Booth added 120 for the first wicket, with Booth registering his fourth 50 for the season with 85.
The returning Ryan Hillard notched 51 from 30 in a display of late hitting to post a total that would prove to be out-of-reach for the Pirates.
Things started brightly for Gavin Lehman’s side, as Johann Brohier and Mohomad Safras reached 34 before the first breakthrough.
That was as good as it got for the home side, however, with a steady procession of wickets seeing them dismissed for their lowest total of the year.
From 0/34 they lost all 10 wickets for 63.
Jordan Hammond and Lauchlan Gregson bagged three each for the Hawks, who have a crucial two-game stint remaining in order to hold-on to second, against North Dandenong and Buckley Ridges.
North Dandenong’s grip on fourth place took a hit, going down to Narre South to by four wickets at home.
Ramneet Dhindsa’s excellent season with the bat continued, posting 57 at the top of the order as the Maroons made 199 batting first.
Outside of Javed Khan, all their batters made starts, but it was only Dhindsa who passed 50.
They targeted Jeevan Mendis, who went for 64 from his 12, but grabbed the crucial wickets of Dhindsa and Clayton McCartney along the way, and took a difficult skied-catch off the bat of Tahsinullah Sultani.
Imran Laghmani hit the former Sri Lankan star for two sixes in one over and was dropped at midwicket in his quest for a third.
But some poor running between wickets and excellent fielding from Narre South meant the home side were never able to string together long partnerships.
A Langmani slog sweep to square leg was cut off by a Lions fielder prowling the boundary, who threw the ball to the bowlers end as the batters contemplated a second.
Ethan Kolaritsch collected the throw and threw down the stumps at the keeper’s end in what was a superb piece of awareness from the tweaker, whose six over spell of 2/30 tightened the screws late in the innings.
Mendis showed his class with the bat, combining with Jonty Jenner to successfully steer the chase.
Jenner’s 77 was his highest score for the season, and included five sixes and six fours as he and Mendis put on 83 for the third wicket.
North Dandenong are now only one game ahead of the Lions, and have a tricky contest against Hallam Kalora Park next week.
Meanwhile at Berwick, an economical bowling effort from the Bears’ setup a chasing victory against St Mary’s in their quest to avoid relegation.
Two wickets each to Andrew Perrin and Jake Hancock and two run-outs helped restrict the Saints to 7/158 at Carroll Reserve.
Despite a minor collapse of 4/35 in the middle of their batting innings, Hancock carried his bat with 55 not out to steady the case, supported by strong contributions from Mason Binns and Luke Engler.
The result sees the Bears leapfrog their vanquished opponents into sixth, three points both ahead of St Mary’s and behind Narre South, in fifth.
