By Jonty Ralphsmith
A generational knock by Lynbrook allrounder Jattinder Singh has monstered the Lakers to an historic victory over Silverton.
The Lakers took 81 runs off the last 11 overs, led by Singh’s unbeaten 96 off 94 balls.
With the first hour of day two washed out, Lynbrook merely needed to bat out the overs to net three points for a draw.
That looked to be the aim for the last 28 overs, playing-coach Shane D’Rozario’s dismissal straight after tea seemingly putting paid to the opportunity for a win.
But that wicket brought Singh to the crease and he was batting to a faster beat.
Not until the last three overs, which went for 35 runs, did D’Rozario think a win was in play.
Singh took 20 runs off the 68th over when Silverton looked to have three points pocketed, if not six.
The overall run rate to that point was less than two.
“I thought that if we played out the overs and we still had wickets in hand, as long as he was there in the last two or three overs, he could go hard even if we needed 20 or 30,” Singh said, with the assistance of teammate Hukam Karir translating.
“Every over I wanted to take two to four runs off knowing I could get 11 or 12 off the last three.
“I knew the batters to come could bat so my mindset was to make all the runs, I backed them to stay in.
“As long as players could stay with me, I knew we could get the runs because we were running hard between the wickets.”
Singh, who was known to many of the Silverton players as an aggressor, reigned in his usual high-risk approach during his first 50 runs.
On a wicket that was at times keeping low, he capitalised on the Bakers often having five fielders on the rope.
While they were looking for him to hole out, while happy to allow him the single, he continued to weight the ball perfectly in gaps off the spinners to steal plenty of twos.
He upped the ante in the 68th over, crunching four runs off tweaker Varinder Virk’s first ball before hitting it over deep long on for six to bring up his half-century.
That over went for 20, which came out of nowhere, as the tension on the sidelines stemmed to that point from whether the batters could maintain the eighth-wicket partnership.
The following over, paceman Dylan Hayes returned to dismiss youngster Karir, who didn’t score but was solid in absorbing 22 balls.
But that didn’t phase Singh.
He continued to back himself, with teenager Brayden Balasuriya at the crease until the end and looking competent against the pace.
He took it deep, remained composed, took calculated risks and punished Silverton for dropping him four times, including twice in the last three overs.
Things looked to be slipping away in the third over of Hayes’ spell – and third last over of the match – before Singh smashed three of the last four balls to the fence.
A lofted drive to the extra cover fence was a show of class unrivalled so low in the order across the Turf 3 competition.
“I tried to play as straight as possible when the pace bowlers came back because the ball was swinging around,” Singh said via Karir.
Another feature of the innings was how well he protected the lower-order from much of the strike, while trusting Balasuriya late when necessary.
Everything seemed to come out of the middle of the bat, with straight drives interspersed with legside hoiks and flicks.
That was until the shot which unceremoniously won the game: a thick edge which ballooned towards backward point but was dropped, allowing the batters to complete two runs.
“In years gone by, it’s no secret we would have struggled when it got tight – some of the boys don’t deal with the pressure well but today was a really good result for us,” coach D’Rozario said.
“Jatty being new to the club, it’s hard to know what he’ll do but he has great confidence in himself and the boys say that’s how he plays his cricket.
“You can almost draw similarities to the belief that (Glenn) Maxwell’s got.
“He likes hitting the ball hard.
“To see that in local cricket, it’s probably been about 20 years since I’ve seen a knock like that.”
Silverton reaching 183 was a feat in itself, as they were 7/68 before Sampath Arachige (54 off 127) and Hayes (26 not out off 96) showed resistance.
It’s the second consecutive week, though, they have dropped a player multiple times who has gone on to guide their team home, and they face a big test against Berwick Springs next, coming off a win against Coomoora.
AROUND THE GROUNDS
Silverton’s lower-order partnership was a pattern seen across Turf 2 and 3 of the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) as sides grappled with the return to two-day cricket.
At Parkfield, the hosts chose to bat first but were undone by five Triyan De Silva wickets to be reeling at 5/40 against Heinz Southern Districts.
Narre Warren lost 4/2 in the middle of the day at Greaves Reserve, Dandenong West looking like it would skittle the visitors when reduced to 7/112.
Fountain Gate, too, was struggling as Gayan De Silva and Sachith Jayasinghe ran through the visitors to have them 7/90 in the 35th over.
But each batting side responded to that pressure, Narre turning the tables by attacking the Bulls and the other three teams at the crease absorbing deliveries and stemming the bowlers’ momentum.
Magpie Sahan Jayawardana brought up his counterattacking half-century with an elegant back-foot pull shot for six which was symbolic of the fearlessness he displayed throughout his innings.
Number nine Jayawardana (63 off 95) and number eight Pansilu Deshan (75 off 121) saw off the initial onslaught from Noman Khan and potency from tweaker Malinga Bandara.
Even usual Dandy West bailout Nuwan Kulasekera couldn’t find the breakthrough in a three-over burst early in that partnership.
Thereafter, the pair scored freely, hitting gaps and running hard, which brought more scoring opportunities, seeing Narre Warren to 255.
HSD’s Omair Rana and Jordan Margenberg got through their overs quickly and tied down Travis D’Souza and Stephen Canon, whose mere goal was to bat the overs.
The pair, along with Hansika Kodikara who got an unbeaten 38, ensured they did just that, finishing 8/158.
At Power Reserve, Ray Pal and Jasdeep Singh each absorbed more than 110 balls each to resuscitate the Gators’ to a gallant 175.
