By Marcus Uhe
Corresponding outcomes for last season’s Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 1 grand final teams left Buckley Ridges as the final undefeated team standing in the division after round five.
Where the Bucks defended 210 against Berwick, Springvale South fell four wickets short of preventing Narre South from reaching its total of 7/227 to taste defeat for the first time this summer.
The Lions got the better of Springvale South in a 50-over contest earlier this year at Strathaird Reserve and history repeated itself to see Narre South notch this summer’s maiden win.
79 from Jordan Wyatt and 58 from Blade Baxter were the primary contributions for the Bloods in the first innings of the contest after the rest of the top order failed to fire.
Mitch Forsyth’s excellent run of scores to begin the summer ended with a duck in the opening over to Callan Tout, as Cameron Forsyth (14) and Stephen Hennessy (seven) also departed for low scores.
Wyatt was at his destructive best at the other end, with his 79 featuring a number of trademark boundaries.
Against the seam of Liam Sheehan he launched the left-armer for a glorious straight six towards Community Parade and targeted the same area of the ground with back-to-back maximums in Joel Zietsman’s first over later in the innings.
Not even Jeevan Mendis was spared his wrath of destruction, as the two latest to join the Wookey Medal honour board went toe-to-toe.
Mendis’ first ball of the afternoon was cut to the cover boundary for four and Wyatt took 10 from the first two balls of his second over to bring up his half-century from 31 deliveries.
A change of ends for would bring Wyatt’s undoing however, having had his strike rate reduced by Mendis and Morteza Ali.
With Mendis now bowling with the hill at his back, Wyatt shelled a cut shot to the ring field and made way for 79, featuring five sixes and eight fours, with his demeanour as he left the centre alluding to frustration at losing his wicket when he did.
Baxter and Jackson Sketcher then added 65 for the fifth wicket but Sketcher’s attempts to lift the intensity saw him hole-out for 36.
With Baxter the only player to join Wyatt in passing 50, it was a case of the Bloods’ issues from last season coming back to haunt them, with too much responsibility falling on the talismanic batter’s shoulders once more.
Tout and Ali both took two wickets each in impressive bowling performances.
Ali’s torrid start to the summer with the bat continued, earning his second duck from three innings in Narre South’s chase, but unlike Springvale South, his compatriots were able to make solid contributions with the blade.
Four players scored 20 or more and four partnerships passed the 40-run mark to keep the pressure on Springvale South.
Kyle Hardy and Vineth Jayasuriya each fell in the 20s as captain-coach Mendis played the anchoring role in the pursuit.
Mendis kept the strike ticking while also finding the boundary, sharing a 59-run stand with Jayasuriya before the number three became Jarryd Straker’s first victim.
He then added 48 with Zac Wilson, with the tall Englishman playing a key role in helping to neutralise the threat of Straker with a handful of boundaries, but with Wilson and Riley McDonald succumbing in consecutive overs, an opening for the Bloods emerged.
Mendis and Adam Snelling quickly steadied the ship, taking the fight to Springvale South with a counter-punching partnership of 46.
The pairing had little trouble in finding the boundary and transferred rarely-seen bowling pressure back onto last summer’s runner up.
Mendis eventually fell for a brilliantly crafted 71, leaving Snelling and Stephen Brooks to finish the job for the Lions.
Snelling finished unbeaten on 37 and provided some of the highlights of the afternoon with some sumptuous straight drives off the express pace of Nick Boland.
Boland, Straker and Josh Dowling each finished with economy rates over six, with Baxter and Matt Wetering each shortly behind on 5.5 runs per over.
Straker and Boland did themselves a disservice by sending down seven wides each and Wetering six, in an uncharacteristically undisciplined performance.
In nearby Berwick, Buckley Ridges made a welcome return to the venue at which they were crowned Turf 1 champions last summer by defending its score of 7/210.
They have Ishan Jayarathna to thank primarily for the result, who finished with sensational figures of 6/33 from his 11 overs.
The Sri Lankan removed Matthew Hague on the third ball of the innings as he nicked a catch to Jake Cronin behind the stumps and finished his opening spell with the wicket of Brodie Herkess for 23.
After taking the catch to remove the big wicket of Michael Wallace, he made an instant impact on his return to the bowling crease by getting through Jordan Cleland’s defences in his first over back.
He made the critical breakthrough of dismissing Jarryd Wills for 53, before returning later in the innings to help wrap-up proceedings with wickets five and six.
Berwick reached 170, its innings coming to its conclusion in the 43rd over.
Seamer, Prav Chahal, continues to make an impact with the ball, taking 3/37.
Earlier in the day, German debutant Matthew Montgomery made a half-century on debut for his new side, sharing in a 106-run stand with Ben Wright for the second wicket.
The pair spent more than half the innings together and provided the backbone of the Bucks’ score, with 57 and 64 respectively, as Roshane Silva joined them as the only other batter to reach double figures.
Berwick let themselves down with the ball, meanwhile, bowling 27 extras.
Elliot Mathews was the leading wicket-taker with 4/37 but his six overs were expensive.
Other Turf 1 results saw Hallam Kalora Park hang on for a seven-run win over Dandenong West, and Beaconsfield thrash North Dandenong by 81 runs.
Susantha Pradeep played his best game yet for his new Beaconsfield side, hitting 79 from 69 balls in a 99-run stand with Ashan Madhushanka.
Each of the top six got starts, with the Tigers skipper the only player to pass 50, before Mitchell Tielen took over with the ball.
The spinner grabbed 5/28 from his 12 overs as the Maroons were bundled out in 37 overs for just 147.
Beyond Ramneet Dhindsa’s 57, contributions were limited from the remainder of the North Dandenong batting card.
Beaconsfield moves into third place and with a strong percentage following two significant wins and a tight loss in its opening three contests, adding fuel to fire for a significant contest with Berwick on Saturday.
At Hallam, Mahela Udawatte’s 83 and Damith Perera’s 53 pushed the Hawks to 6/231, just out of Dandenong West’s reach.
Adam Reid and Amrith Sri Mahan were the Bulls’ only wicket-takers.
Venuk Hemachandra led the Bulls’ response with 72 and Anthony Brannan made 41 but a middle order stumble following Brannan’s departure put the Bulls too far back in the game, finishing at 8/224.
Round six, meanwhile, begun on Sunday afternoon, as Dandenong West chased Narre South’s total of 101 five wickets down.
