Parkfield suffered its first loss of the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) 2025/26 Turf 2 season at the hands of Silverton on Saturday.
The Bakers won by three wickets to take their season record to 3-4 and stay in touch with the top teams.
After winning the toss at Springvale Reserve, Silverton decided to send the Blues into bat first and despite an opening partnership of 31, it was a good decision for the Bakers.
Parkfield’s top seven batters managed to reach double figures, with Travis D’Souza (31) and Nigel Van der Wert (30) leading the way.
But regular wickets fell throughout the innings and none of the Blues’ batters were able to go on with their start, finishing with a total of 7/151 after 37 overs.
Harsha Dampahalage (2/15 off eight overs) was the pick of the Silverton bowlers, troubling the batters all day.
Silverton’s chase didn’t start too well when the side lost opener Anmol Zakhmi for six, and then Robert North for a duck.
The Bakers had slumped to 4/62 and 151 still looked a long way off until Rohit Sandhu (40) and Amardeep Singh Hothi (42) got the side out of trouble.
Van der Wert backed up his performance with the bat as he took an impressive 4/19 off eight overs to give his side a chance, but the Bakers prevailed.
Varinder Kirk (17), Hemal Ratnayake (23 not out) and Kuldeep Singh Sidhu (nine not out) led the team to victory, chasing down the runs in the 33rd over with only three wickets in hand.
Cranbourne registered a strong win over Lyndale, bowling them out for 159 before pushing on to make 236 and win by four wickets.
Lyndale batted first and it was only opener Faraz Rahman (51) who was able to withstand the bowling from the Eagles, scoring his second half century in three weeks.
Usman Ali (26) offered some support, but he needed more help as the side was bowled out for 159 off 41 overs.
Alex Hollingsworth (3/43) and Saad Bin Tariq (4/21) were lethal with the ball for Cranbourne.
In reply, the Eagles’ top order delivered in spades, with half centuries from Dean McDonell (56), Bailey Paroissien (72) and Harsaroup Singh (57) – while Rajika Fernando (3/56) battled hard.
The trio continue to score the bulk of Cranbourne’s runs and have helped the side to its two wins in the first half of the season.
North Dandenong also got its second win of the season after upsetting third-placed Narre Warren to win by 27 runs.
The victors batted first and with brilliant knocks from Syed Masood Mehmood (58) and Rohien Sangwan (72), they were always going to post a solid total.
Wickets fell rapidly after those two were dismissed, but they had done enough to get their side to a score of 215 – and it was rapid scoring, belting the total off just 25 overs.
The Magpies gave their best efforts during the run chase, but ultimately fell 27 runs short to finish at 8/188 off the allotted overs.
The match between Coomoora and HSD was abandoned and called a draw.
Teams will now enjoy a few weeks off over the Christmas break before Turf 2 action resumes with round 9 starting on 10 January.
