The last day of Turf 2 action in the Dandenong District Cricket Association highlighted the tightness of the competition.
A 69-run eighth-wicket partnership helped Lyndale sneak home against Keysborough, Dandy West edged Narre Warren by two wickets, Parkfield upset Heinz Southern Districts and Cranbourne smashed Parkmore.
Lyndale bowled the Knights out for 137, usually well under par at Rowley Allan.
But Keysborough was on the front foot for most of its bowling innings, reducing Lyndale to 7/73, before number nine Faraz Rahman backed his stroke play in an unbeaten knock of 49 to guide the Dales out of trouble, alongside Sushant Kashyap (20).
At Sweeney Reserve, Dandenong West’s Shaun Weir and Anthony Brannan continued their fine form, but Narre Warren’s batting lineup will be ruing an inability to get a big score and bat the ladder-leaders out of the game.
Each of the Magpies’ top six got starts, but no-one reached 50 which limited their ability to pounce on the death overs.
A counter-punch from Bevan Radhakrishnan (41 off 53) helped Narre reach 6/172 off its 45.
On a slow pitch, Dandy West closed out with the spin of Malinga Bandara (2/36 off 11) who bowled to the conditions perfectly, while Riley Siwes bowled with excellent control in a 10-over spell of 2/38.
Shaun Weir smashed a second over six over the midwicket fence which set the scene for a birthday knock to savour for the Turf 2 leading run-scorer.
With a century and two half-centuries already under his belt, he continued his brisk stroke-play, helping the Bulls go at a run-rate of 6.7 in the first 10 overs en route to 61 off 59.
Weir’s dismissal brought the chase to a grinding halt, as Clarke, John Mentiplay and T Shahzad wrestled momentum back to Narre Warren.
In the 13.3 overs following Weir’s dismissal in the 17th over, the Bulls scored 3/37 at a run-rate of 2.7, a period which included four consecutive maidens.
The cool head of skipper Anthony Brannan (42 off 70) guided them towards victory and, while they got across the line, the bottom five was exposed as brittle for the second consecutive week.
The form of Brannan and Weir has shielded them from much responsibility so far, but while that pair sit one and three in the league leading run-scorers, the Bulls have only one other batter – Nuwan Kulasekara – in the top 20.
Parkfield, meanwhile, upset HSD by 23 runs with a steady batting performance.
After electing to bat first, each of the Bandits’ players batted with positive intent led by a 93-run opening stand between Dishan Malalasekera (36) and Nathaniel Cramer (52), while Zaron Chanel stood and delivered, batting through injury to make an important 27.
The visitors’ ability to build partnerships quickly kept the Cobras from sustaining any pressure.
In response, Mackenzie Gardner was the big threat, but had minimal support and was eventually dismissed for 53 with his team still 70 runs in arrears.
Ryan Patterson played well for an unbeaten 35 at number nine but, like Gardner, didn’t get the help he needed to make an assault for the target.
Experienced seamer Stephen Cannon shut the game down through the middle with a frugal six-over spell which contained the scalp of Triyan De Silva, while spinners Travis D’Souza and Nick Jeffrey combined for five wickets.
In the other game, Cranbourne smashed Parkfield by 106 runs to maintain its spot in the top four, while separating the Pirates from the four by two games.
The game was set up by a series of cameos from Cranbourne, with different names helping the Eagles reach 9/177.
While much of the batting reliance has fallen on Harsaroup Singh and Sajana De Silva so far, that pair combined for just 17.
Chenutha Wickramasinghe worked hard for 41 after Cam Kelly played another innings of spark up the top, while Justin Dickinson was dropped down the order and played his best knock of the year.
Having been sparingly used with the ball so far this season, Ammar Bajwa challenged the Cranbourne batters from his first overs and took 6/35 off 10 in a plucky display against the tide.
Cranbourne promoted usual first change bowler Tim Fathers to open the bowling in place of Jakeb Thomas and it proved a masterstroke.
The reliable medium-fast bowler bowled 12 straight upfront and finished with 6/33 to make a mess of Parkmore, eventually dismissed for 71 in the 26th over.
Results: Lyndale defeat Keysborough by three wickets, Dandenong West defeat Narre Warren by two wickets, Parkfield defeat HSD by 23 runs, Cranbourne defeat Parkfield by 106 runs
Ladder: Dandenong West 41, Cranbourne 30, Lyndale 30, Parkfield 30, HSD 27, Parkmore 18, Narre Warren 15, Keysborough 9
Fixture (Saturday 6 January): Dandenong West v Keysborough, Parkmore v HSD, Parkfield v Cranbourne, Lyndale v Narre Warren
