By Marcus Uhe
Silverton is on the verge of both an outright victory and silencing its critics this weekend following a brutal performance against Hampton Park in the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 3 competition.
The Bakers are already 206 runs ahead despite bowling first on Saturday against the Lions, having bowled them out for 93 on their home turf and posting a monster score in reply.
Despite having just 44 overs to bat, the Bakers scored at 6.8 runs per over to reach 2/299 at stumps, with Anmol Zakhmi blasting a boundary-heavy 157.
Harsha Dampahalage added 69 with the bat, while Harkanwal Singh (4/28) and Charith Anthony (3/16) were the pick of their bowlers.
For captain-coach Rob North, the spread of contributors is what most pleased him about the performance, rather than the dominance they displayed.
“A lot of clubs already against us have said ‘as soon as you get North out, they’re stuffed’,” he said.
“It’s not nice for the guys to hear, and my players hear that as well.
“It’s nice that in the last couple of weeks, the other batters around me have performed.
“It was nice to see, especially Anmol, he really deserved that; he’s been knocking on the door for a good score.
“I said to the group ‘I want to be two down and be at least 160/170 after 44 overs.’
“It just happened like that, it wasn’t planned at all.”
Zakhmi played his natural game on Saturday but displayed the controlled aggression that North has been asking from him.
Having previously played in Canada, he bounced between the first and second XI last summer before consolidating a place in the senior side this year.
Should Silverton claim 10 wickets next week, they’ll also bank a critical 10 points in what is expected to be a tight jostle for finals places.
“That’s been our main goal, to have points on the board early, because it’s so hard chasing in the second half of the year,” North said.
“It’s super crucial and puts a lot more pressure on Berwick Springs, Fountain Gate in the back end.
“We’re all about 10 points at this stage. We’ll probably get a pretty good percentage anyway if we get the 20 wickets.”
Keysborough joins Silverton in looking set for an early-season outright with a similar performance to the Bakers’ against Doveton.
The Knights lead by 204 runs against the Doves, having rolled the hosts for just 74, and posting 5/278 in reply.
Doveton batters Hassan Ali and Tareq Rasauli shared in a 57-run stand for the second wicket but their demise predicated another nasty collapse of 9/17, a common theme in the Dove’s performances this summer.
James Wright took 5/29 to lead the Knights attack which completed the rout in 29 overs.
Four Keysborough batters reached half-centuries in the chase, in Chanaka Kahandawala (50), Shanaka Perumpuli (51), Anant Singh (65) and Hennadige Fernando (64), as the Knights scored at 5.4 runs per over in the 51 they were afforded.
Following a poor first round against Lynbrook, Keysborough is on the verge of a fifth-straight win and shapes as a premiership contender.
Around Turf 3, a seven-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Surya Pratap put Fountain Gate in a promising position against ladder-leading Lynbrook, but a pair of late Laker strikes makes for a compelling second day.
Pratap’s sensational figures of 7/24 from 17 overs helped dismiss Lynbrook for just 154, with only Harjinder Sohal raising the bat for a half-century.
His spell included 17 maidens and all the wickets after the top three, bamboozling the Lakers with his craft and bringing the innings to a close in the 59th over.
The dismissals of opening batters John Mirranay and Mohammad Nasimi before stumps has Fountain Gate at 2/40 from 21 overs, with 115 more runs required.
