In the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 2 competition, Parkfield and HSD found the going tough on a Parkfield Reserve pitch which was offering plenty for the bowlers.
Parkfield won the toss and sent the Cobras into bat, with Madusha Croos wasting little time before he incredibly took the first five wickets of the match and put HSD on the back foot at 5/28.
That trend continued as Sanjay Kahawatte came on and took 4/13 bowling out the Cobras for just 78 with Jude Owen (22) the top scorer.
The pair dismantled the Cobras and were a lethal combination with the new ball … 79 to win for the Blues.
This should’ve been a relatively easy chase for Parkfield, and while it appeared that way when the scoreboard read 1/38, a choke was soon to follow.
Having won its first three matches this season, Parkfield was yet to taste defeat until wickets began to tumble rapidly.
The Blues incredibly lost 7/18 and were bowled out for just 76, with only skipper Dishan Malasekara (26) offering any resistance.
The four HSD bowlers shared the wickets around, but captain Ryan Patterson’s 4/43 off 13 overs set the tone.
Sakuntha Liyanage (3/19 off 10 overs) was at his damaging best, while Brett Hookey (2/1 off 1.1 overs) and Brayden Lambden (1/7 off 4 overs) also contributed well.
Hookey took the final two clutch wickets, dismissing Nicholas Jeffery with the first ball of his second over, winning the game on first innings result.
HSD went back out to bat late in the day and finished on 2/27, as Croos picked up his sixth and seventh wickets for the match … there is still plenty to play out next week.
In other games, Silverton won the toss against Coomoora and batted first, starting quickly through Anmol Zakhmi and Rohit Sandu.
Zakhmi was dismissed for 20, but Sandhu pushed on alongside skipper Robert North to combine for a 100-run partnership before Sandhu (74) was stumped off the bowling of Malan Madusanka (4/37).
The top-order brilliance got the Bakers to 209, but Coomoora looked good in the run chase, getting to bat for 25.4 overs on day one to finish at 2/74, putting them in the box seat despite trailing by 135 runs.
Cranbourne was bowled out for 165 against North Dandenong thanks to a five-wicket haul from Zarak Aseel, while the Maroons finished the day 1/82 – just needing 83 runs to win with nine wickets in hand.
Lyndale is in a lot of strife against Narre Warren after being bowled out for 110 inside 35 overs, before the Magpies came out and scored 131 and declared, with their eyes set on an outright victory.
Lyndale’s second innings started worse than the first as the side lost 2/6 late in the day, making the task for a reverse outright victory extremely difficult this weekend.
