Endeavour Hills and Noble Park can pack away their two-day clothing until 2026 after day one of their two-day contests were washed out in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association (VSDCA) on Saturday.
Those round-seven encounters will now revert to one-day match ups this weekend before the VSDCA finishes up for the Christmas break with a round of T20 cricket on Saturday 20 December.
Noble Park will head into both contests – against Werribee (away) and Box Hill (home) – with some real confidence in the bank after a strong victory over Mt Waverley in round six.
Noble has had some really consistent performers with both bat and ball this season, led by outstanding all-rounder Sahan Perera.
The gifted left-hander has made more runs than any player in the competition, with his 376 runs currently 89 clear of the next best batter in the league.
Perera has received great support from Pawan Dias (247), Janaka Liyanabadalge (193) and Archie Stefan (156), while Mahesh Kumara (106) has also made some handy contributions with the willow.
Perera and Yehan Gunasingha have been the shining lights with the ball, taking 13 wickets apiece to be ranked number-six in the comp.
Jermaine Levy has also been useful with ball in hand, snagging 10 valuable scalps, while Liyanabadalge has filled the second all-rounders spot with impact, taking nine wickets to add to his almost 200 runs.
Noble will be confident of maintaining, or even improving on, it’s third place on the ladder in the lead up to the break.
Endeavour Hills on the other hand, currently 10th, is lacking that same consistency across the board.
The Falcons face a massive two weeks ahead, against second-placed Spotswood (home) and top-of-the-table Balwyn (away).
Zac Perryman leads the way with 169 runs, while Adish Bhavsar (162) and Assadollah Vala (128) are the only other players to have scored more than 100 this season.
The modest output is also obvious with the ball, with Jasmeet Singh (10 wickets), Tallha Ahmed (9) and Blaize Bainbridge (7) the only trundlers to have had a major impact.
The Falcons need to pull a surprise or two over the next fortnight to keep their faint finals hopes alive.
Only two games saw action on the weekend, with Williamstown making 6/152 against Box Hill, while sixth-placed Altona (3/87) has already secured first-innings points against the previously unbeaten Balwyn (72).
VSDCA SUMMARY
Results R7 (Two Day) Day 1: Box Hill v Williamstown 6/152, Altona 3/87 v Balwyn 72.
Ladder: Balwyn 33, Spotswood 30, Noble Park 27, Hoppers Crossing 24, Melton 24, Altona 24, Werribee 21, Bayswater 21, Croydon 15, Endeavour Hills 15, Taylors Lakes 12, Yarraville 12, Mt Waverley 12, Box Hill 9, Williamstown 9, Donvale 0.
Fixture R7 (One Day) Saturday 13 December: Endeavour Hills v Spotswood, Werribee v Noble Park, Bayswater v Melton, Donvale v Croydon, Mt Waverley v Hoppers Crossing, Yarraville v Taylors Lakes.
