By Marcus Uhe
Coomoora’s incredible run to begin its venture into Turf 2 of the Dandenong District Cricket Association has climbed to new heights as the sole remaining undefeated side from the first six weeks of action.
Forced to recover from yet another position of disadvantage against the other undefeated side to that point in the campaign in Parkmore, the Roos defended 145, dismissing the Pirates for 132 at home, moving into top spot on the Turf 2 table.
Jackson Noske’s departure from the batting crease saw Coomoora fall to 7/80 batting first after three single-figure scores and a duck in the top six.
Parkmore seamers Ankit Saxena and Avisha Wilwalaarachchi did the damage on the opening overs, with Saxena grabbing the wickets and Wilwalaarachchi keeping things tight at the other end.
39 from Adam Wheeler and 18 from Michael Klonaridis pushed the total to something defendable, and defend it they did, adding weight to the belief that they can win from any position.
Noske removed the dangerous Satheesh Fernandu with the opening ball of Parkmore’s innings, with the wickets of Ben Graham, Kyle Gwynne and Callum O’Connell all departing within the first 13 overs for scores of 10 or less, with the scoreboard reading 4/28.
Josh Tonna and Ammar Bajwa provided some calm and surety at the crease in a 24-run stand but the introduction of last week’s matchwinner in Malan Madusanka offered another turn in the game, removing both set batters in his second and third overs to cut the Pirates to 6/56.
The pressure fell to Parkmore’s number seven, Justin Roswell, in just his first innings of the year to guide the remainder of the chase.
He added 42 for the seventh wicket with Saxena, taking the Pirates to within 48 runs of victory, but when Saxena became Madusanka’s third victim, the Roos moved into the box seat once more.
Parkmore’s tail survived last week in a one-wicket win over Cranbourne, but they failed to repeat the dose in round six, felled by the leg spin of Amarjot Singh.
He bowled just 3.1 overs at the back end of the innings but picked up the final three scalps, as he continues to make an impact in new colours.
The Roos brought Parkmore’s innings to a close in the 38th over, 14 runs short of the target.
Both spinners, in Singh and Madusanka, finished with 3/9.
At Cranbourne, HSD returned to winning form in emphatic fashion with a five-wicket win over the Eagles, following up a brilliant bowling performance with a comprehensive chase.
The Eagles survived their 45 overs but scored at less than three runs per over to post 125.
No batter passed 20 with late contributions from Ketan Bakshi and Tim Fathers seeing them scrape to their total.
Ryan Patterson removed both Cranbourne openers in an excellent spell with the new ball before Jawed Hussaini and Sakuntha Liyanage combined to rip through the Eagles’ batters and leave them languishing at 6/68.
HSD lost Brent Patterson at the top of the order for a duck but the steady heads of Mackenzie Gardner and Ethan French steered them to safety.
Gardner’s 65 continues his sensational start to the year, top-scoring for HSD once more as the Cobras completed the chase in the 37th over.
Through four innings, Gardner has 272 runs at 90.7, with a century and two scores in the 30s to go with Saturday’s knock, topping the table in Turf 2 thus far.
Ben Mongomory’s Lyndale survived a century from Narre Warren batter Amila Ratnaike to claim its first win for the summer over the Magpies.
Ratnaike backed up his 86 from last weekend’s win against St Mary’s with 101 as the Magpies reached 8/219 batting first.
Rodni Kumara’s 50 was the only other contribution of note for Narre Warren, eager to notch consecutive wins and keep Lyndale in the winless bracket.
Faraz Rahman took 2/55 as the pick of Lyndale’s bowlers and backed up his bowling efforts by anchoring the chase.
He made 82 and formed vital partnerships with a number of batters as the Dales complete the chase with nine deliveries remaining.
He added 59 with Ciaron Connolly, 36 with Priyan De Silva, 40 with Himesh Galhenage Don and 34 with Rajika Fernando but consistent wickets kept the Magpies in the contest.
Rahman departed with 31 runs required and four wickets in hand, opening the door for a Magpies victory, but Montgomery and Praneeth Panduka ensured Lyndale grabbed the six points, and open their account for the summer.
Two-day cricket begins this weekend, with Parkfield hosting Cranbourne the pick of the upcoming contests.
