By Marcus Uhe
Springvale South is in a commanding position to inflict the first loss of Buckley Ridges’ season following day one of the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s two-day clash clash in Turf 1 action at Park Oval.
The Bloods fought back from a tough opening hour in which Buckley Ridges played with attacking intent with the bat to be 52 runs into the chase of 270 at stumps, having rolled the Bucks for 269 in 59 overs.
You can always expect something unexpected when these two sides go toe-to-toe, the clear benchmarks in recent seasons as the only teams to play in the last three grand finals and with a respectful but fierce rivalry spanning many recent seasons and battles.
Hot conditions saw Buckley Ridges win the toss and bat first on their home deck, but waste away a position of promise with a series of starts.
From 1/119 in the opening session, the final nine wickets fell for just 150 runs, pleasing new Springvale South captain Cam Forsyth.
“If you had have said at the start of the day that they’d end up with what they ended up with, we probably would have taken it,” he said.
“I think our guys on the weekend were quite good in only getting hit to one area of the ground and that made it quite easier to set fields, unless the batters were more willing to take more of a risk.
“Especially after their strong start, it was (about) trying to limit where they could score boundaries and build pressure that way.
“It’s a good score and we’ll still need to bat well to win the game next week, obviously, but at 1/110, it was looking a little bit ominous.
“The boys had in the back of their mind that they chased 360 against us last year, so we were happy with how we came back into the game.”
Opening batters Jake Cronin and Josh Holden got their side off to an excellent start who finding the boundary with relative ease to frustrate the Bloods’ attack.
Having added 157 for the first wicket in the corresponding contest last summer, the Bloods were aware of the threat they posed and looked set for more pain once more.
Holden hit nine fours and a six on his way to 51 and Cronin made 33 from 34, as solidly-struck ground strokes and the dissection of a tight infield replaced the outlandish stroke-making often enticing sides at Park Oval’s tight parameters.
The pair added 61 for the opening wicket before Cronin’s was beaten for pace and
bowled by Matt Wetering, before Holden was the next to go, having shared in a 58-run stand with Ben Wright.
Holden dragged a short ball from Jarryd Straker, a man he targeted and took down last summer, to Forsyth at midwicket, and Straker had his second shortly after when Wright offered a leading edge to Wetering on 31.
Straker’s third victim, in Bucks’ skipper Jayson Hobbs shortly before the lunch break, put the contest back on level pegging at the interval, and consistent wickets after the break gave Springvale South the chance to bat late in the day.
Straker bowled brilliantly in tough conditions to wash away the memories of last summer where he took 2/103 and conceded nearly six runs per over as the Bucks found a way to neutralise his impact.
“He bowled into a big breeze which means you can get hit back over your head for six, but it also means the ball might do a little more in the air, whether that’s dipping or drifting,” Forsyth said of his left-arm spinner.
“I think he had some success on the weekend doing that.
“It was a really good bowling performance and made it a lot easier for us to rotate the quicks at the other end.
“I don’t think it was the case that they really took him apart (last year), they just targeted him and waited on that opportunity to put the bad ball away.
“Sometimes they weren’t even bad balls, they were just clean hits on a small ground.
“I think Holden would have hit him for five or six sixes last year and he got him for one or two at the start of this game and he was bowling from the same end.
“It would have been quite easy for him to think about last year but he bowled really well this year.
“He’s a consummate professional with how he goes about it on a Saturday; he very rarely has bad games and he’s been one of the best spinners in the competition for a long time, so I know he’s got that inner belief.”
Roshane Silva was the anchor in the Bucks’ top order, making 45 and Daniel Watson added 37 in his first two-day contest since before the Pandemic, but a collapse of 5/23, instigated by Springvale South quick Josh Dowling, wiped out the hosts’ lower order.
Only Hussain Ali’s boundary-laden 37 saved the Bucks’ blushes, the primary contributor in a frustrating 36-run final wicket partnership with debutant spinner Sam Bates.
Straker finished with 4/63 from 20 overs and Dowling 3/40 from nine as the visitors’ most successful bowlers.
Springvale South survived 21 overs before stumps, reaching 0/52 when play was called.
Mitch Forsyth and his new opening partner, Cam Scott, will both resume their innings on Saturday on 23.
The Bloods take a slight edge into Saturday’s second day, with another 80 overs to bat for a full day’s play should it be required, but against a side like Buckley Ridges, they know they will have their work cut out for them.
“We’re aware that they’ll come out hard on the weekend and that first hour or two will be pretty critical,” Forsyth said.
“Hopefully the wicket and the weather is quite similar, but they’re always going to come out and give it a red-hot crack, with 20 overs on the board and a new player in Cam Scott at the top of the order as well.
“To get through (to stumps) unscathed and to knock 50 off the total was very pleasing but we’re very aware that there’s a lot more to do this coming Saturday as well.”
