By Marcus Uhe
After nine rounds of the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 2 season it’s time to take a look at the best performers before the Christmas break.
Only two players from last summer’s official side have continued to thrive in the second division of the DDCA, as a bunch of new faces with high levels of esteem and experience begin to make their mark in the competition.
Sitting pretty at the top of the table, Parkmore takes up three positions, with HSD, Lyndale and Cranbourne offering two representatives each.
Coomoora is the only top four side without multiple names in the side, with just the Roos’ masterful spinner making the cut.
Harrison Carlyon – Cranbourne. 307 runs at 51.2, seven wickets at 22.4.
Came to the country with a strong reputation and has lived up to the hype thus far at Casey Fields.
Carlyon has successfully seen off new ball threats in each innings, reaching 20 in every venture to the crease, and cashed-in on his first opportunity to face the red ball with a brilliant hundred against St Mary’s.
His strike rate ensured the Eagles scored at a steady tempo in white ball games while his off-spin bowling will be more effective as the season continues, the days in the field get longer and the wickets flatten out.
Satheesh Fernandu – Parkmore. 280 runs at 46.6, 3x50s, seven wickets at 21.1.
If Amila Ratnaike is the best-performed batter in Turf 2 this season, then Fernandu is a close second.
There has been plenty of responsibility on his shoulders at the top of the Parkmore batting card and he has rarely let the Pirates down.
Outside of two single-figure scores, his innings this season read as follows; 51, 35, 63, 78, 44.
A golden duck against Coomoora highlighted just how significant he is to the Pirates’ side, with Parkmore dropping its only game of the summer that day.
With the ball, he’s been a consistent threat too, supporting the competition’s best attack.
Mackenzie Gardner – HSD. 290 runs at 48.3, 1x 50, 1x 100.
Started the year in exceptional touch, peeling off a big hundred against Narre Warren and making solid scores in one-day cricket but has fallen back to the pack with recent innings, despite sitting third for total runs scored behind Ratnaike and Carlyon.
His wicketkeeping, however, has been first class, and with 59 more runs than his next best gloveman, this becomes a clear-cut selection.
With just 18 runs in his most recent three innings’, HSD will hope he can rediscover his best form later in the summer when the whips are cracking.
Amila Ratnaike – Narre Warren. 430 runs at 86, 3x 50s, 2x 100s.
The best-performed batter in the entire DDCA this season with a comfortable margin across the top three grades from the next highest run scorer.
Ratnaike has made the Magpies’ middle order a robust unit and displayed incredible consistency in his first season in black and white.
Just a single innings saw him not pass 50 and he has been one of few to have success against Coomoora’s credentialed bowling attack, making 117, his second century in two weeks.
Despite a middling season from the Magpies, don’t rule out this man from Gartside Medal contention.
Faraz Rahman – Lyndale. 257 runs at 36.7, 1x 50.
Unlucky to be squeezed out of the top order but beaten out by the quality of those above him on this occasion.
Rahman is sixth for total runs scored and has been Lyndale’s most consistent contributor, thrice top-scoring from seven opportunities, passing 20 in all but one contest.
His 82 was the backbone of a chase of 220 against Narre Warren in round six to put the Two Blues on the board, while runs against two of the competition’s best attacks, in Parkmore (49) and Cranbourne (36) reflect his talent.
Triyan De Silva – HSD. 260 runs at 37.1, 2x 50s, 13 wickets at 19.5 1x 5 wicket haul.
Last summer’s Gartside Medal winner is the only player in the top 10 for both wickets and runs, sitting eighth and fifth respectively in said counts.
De Silva is class and every captain would love to have a guy of his quality, who can hold down a spot in isolation in the top three or as an opening bowler.
He has not shown the same consistency with the ball as he reached last summer but still has a wicket in every spell.
The fact that HSD is second without him hitting his stride yet should be cause for concern for Turf 2 sides.
Only he and Cobras teammate Gardner have repeated as Team of the Year picks from last season.
Himesh Don – Lyndale. 242 runs at 34.6, 2x 50s.
Coming with a rush late in the piece following a slow start but enters the Christmas break as one of the in-form players of the summer.
After opening the season with 19 and a duck in the first two matches, he has 223 runs at 44.6, with back-to-back hard-hitting half-centuries against top-four sides, HSD and Coomoora.
The Cobras had no answer for him and against the Roos he turned the contest on its side with 52 from just 21 deliveries.
Don can play the lower order aggressive role, similar to a Travis Head or Adam Gilchrist of yesteryear.
Niranjen Kumar (c) – Parkmore. 12 wickets at 14.2.
Kumar’s figures are not going to leap off the page, sitting on the bubble for the top 10 in wickets taken, but he offers a point of difference and variety for this side as an effective seam bowler without the new ball.
He’s also an impact player – he’s only sent down 32.3 overs but has 12 wickets to his name, striking every 2.6 overs.
In big top-four contests against Cranbourne and Coomoora, he took three wickets, and has big scalps like Carlyon, Harsaroup Singh, Sahan Jayawardana, Rahman and Don in his list of victims.
As captain of the side sitting top of the table, he has earned the right to wear the armband in this team too.
Martin Kelly – Cranbourne. 14 wickets at 10.29.
One of the most consistent contributors in the DDCA for a long time, Kelly is leading a Cranbourne attack this summer that keeps finding ways to win.
His average is only bettered by Ankit Saxena’s and he has wickets in all but one spell, taking four in back-to-back weeks against HSD and Parkfield.
He might be usurped as the spearhead of Cranbourne’s pace attack in the second half of the season with the signing of Julius Sumerauer, but through absolutely no fault of his own.
Expect those two to form a brilliant new-ball pairing, with less of the load on Kelly’s shoulders allowing Carlyon to use him in shorter, sharper spells.
Ankit Saxena – Parkmore. 22 wickets at nine.
One of the recruits of the season and the premier seam bowler in the division by some margin.
He has just one match where he took less than two wickets, and one where his economy rate breached three.
Not an express quick but painstakingly accurate and unrelenting, honing in on the off stump and a constant thorn in opposition batters’ side.
His most recent effort, 3/39 in 25 overs with eight maidens in an important win over Narre Warren, may have been his best.
A key pillar to the Pirates’ lethal bowling attack and one of the most critical players in the incredibly tight run to the finals.
Malan Madusanka – Coomoora. 23 wickets at 12.1.
The move up the divisions has been a seamless one for Coomoora’s genius spinner.
Coming off a season where he took 54 wickets averaging seven, he has continued to bamboozle opponents with his variations and wizardry to be the leading wicket-taker at the Christmas break.
With their backs to the wall against HSD in round five, his match-changing spell of 4/43 in 11.3 overs ripped the backbone out of the Cobras’ middle over from a position of supremacy in the chase.
Against Lyndale in round nine, meanwhile, his 3/40 on Barry Powell’s short boundaries was crucial in swinging the match into his side’s favour.
He’s taken four wickets three times and like Fernandu, his worst performance of the summer came in the Roos’ only loss, when he took 2/92 against Narre Warren.
THE XI
Harrison Carlyon
Satheesh Fernandu
Mackenzie Gardner (wk)
Amila Ratnaike
Faraz Rahman
Triyan De Silva
Himesh Don
Niranjen Kumar (c)
Martin Kelly
Ankit Saxena
Malan Madusanka
