By David Nagel
A reserve day will be required to decide the winner of the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 3 grand final after an absorbing day of action at Greaves Reserve on Saturday.
Persistent rain stopped the run-chase of Keysborough from beginning on day two, with the Knights now needing to wait until Saturday 22 March to try and rein in the competitive total of Silverton (206).
And if day one is anything to go by; the first day of this weekend is going to provide an absolute ripping contest.
Keysborough got off to a fabulous start in the big one, with McDonald Medallist James Wright (2/29) removing Anmol Zakhmi (12) and Rohit Sandhu (0) off consecutive balls to make it 2/19 off the first five overs of the match.
Rob North (42) survived Wright’s hat-trick ball at the beginning of over seven; but lost another key ally a short time later.
Charith Anthony (2) went cheaply to make it 3/30 after the first block of 10.
North and Varinder Virk (28) then stopped the bleeding for the Bakers, making an innings-high 51 run partnership from the next 20 overs.
Keysborough skipper Christo Otto (2/50) then made the key breakthrough, with North hitting straight back to the bowler to make it 4/81 after 31 overs of absorbing cricket.
Virk, Hemal Ratnayake (3) and Harsha Dampahalage (27) then all fell within the space of 13 runs as the Knights made the critical move of day one.
Ashan Fernando (3/23) did all of the mid-innings’ damage; the Bakers now 7/115 and looking in all sorts of trouble.
There were more twists in this intriguing contest to come, with still 26 overs of day-one action remaining.
The Bakers needed someone to stand tall to stop a modest total from being scored; and Kalapu Gamage (62 off 77 balls) was more than happy to put his hand up and help his team to 200.
He dominated stands of 40 and 23 with Aaron Baldsing (4) and Harkanwal Singh (16); smashing three fours and six mighty maximums to lift the Bakers from the doldrums.
Gamage went ballistic late in the innings, whacking four sixes from just 12 balls faced to have the scoreboard ticking over at an alarming rate for the Knights.
Gamage and Singh combined to take 17 runs from over 70; the Bakers looking at a very competitive score being 8/181 with 10 overs left to play.
But Otto could breathe easy once again after removing Singh himself in over 73, before catching Gamage off the bowling of Abhinay Motupalli (2/35) to end the innings 37 balls short of the bakers intended target.
Those six overs left in the tank could prove critical when the Knights run-chase begins at 12.30pm this Saturday.
Will Keysborough rubber-stamp its top-of-the-table billing; or will joint McDonald Medallist – Harkanwal Singh – power the Bakers to a famous victory?
There are only a few more sleeps until we find out!
TURF 3 GRAND FINAL SCORES
VENUE: Greaves Reserve Dandenong
TOSS: Silverton – Bat
SCORES: Silverton 2026 (Kalapu Gamage 62, Rob North 42, Varinder Virk 28, Harsha Dampahalage 27, Ashan Fernando 3/23, James Wright 2/29, Abhinay Motupalli 2/35, Christo Otto 2/50).
