Berwick Springs needed an outright victory against Keysborough to keep its season alive and the Titans almost got the job done.
They won the match and snapped the Knights’ nine-game winning streak, and attempted the outright, but Keysborough only lost six wickets in the second innings.
While Berwick Springs plays bottom-placed Fountain Gate this weekend and looks to secure an outright victory, a win from fourth-placed Lynbrook dashed its finals hopes.
Keysborough remains on top, while the race for a top-two spot remains with Buckley Ridges, Springvale South and Lynbrook all one win behind.
The Knights won the toss on Saturday and chose to bat, but it didn’t go well, as the Titans restricted them to their second-lowest score of the season.
It was a consistent bowling performance from Berwick Springs, with Ethan Marinic (3/32), Riyanzi Fernando (3/41), Stephen Law (2/19) and Thomas Brennan (2/34) doing the damage.
Abhinay Motupalli (38) produced the best score at the top of the order for Keysborough as his side was bowled out for 129.
In reply, Berwick Springs’ opening pair worked together beautifully to kick off the innings with a 137-run partnership.
It was Keysborough bowler Sartaj Shinwari who eventually broke the partnership, removing both Jackson Marie (69) and Riley Hillman (72).
Wickets tumbled and the Titans, knowing that an outright was their only hope, declared with 221 on the board and a lead of just 92.
Brennan and Lachlan Marie took two wickets apiece to worry the Knights, but Jonathan Mohamed (31 not out off 114 balls) dug in to get Keysborough to 6/102 at the end of play.
In other games, Narre North caused one of the biggest upsets of the season, defeating Springvale South by 121 runs as the Bloods dropped to third on the ladder.
Half centuries from Narre North pair Kiruba Sathiyaseelan (52 off 135 balls) and Daniel Snell (64 off 67 balls) complemented each other perfectly.
Cameos from Danial Kamil (37), Danidu Perera (27) and Aydin Akin (20) helped the side to 258, before declaring late on day one.
Thanigaivasan Ratnalingam was on song for Narre North on day two, ripping through the Bloods’ top order to finish with impressive figures of 4/36 off 12 overs.
Ranel Seneviratne (30) was the best performer for Springy as Henry Snell, Akin and Sikhie Samarasekera all took two wickets each for Narre North.
Buckley Ridges did it easy against St Mary’s, winning by seven wickets to push into second spot on the Turf 3 ladder.
Bucks’ opening bowler Shawali Mosavi started well, taking two quick wickets with the new ball.
Chameera Fernando strolled in at number five and was left to pick up the pieces with 47 off 116 balls, combining with Ashan Anthony (32) to post 207.
Josh Holden was the first wicket to fall for the Bucks, leaving Cooper Gray and Robert Stewart to wear down the St Mary’s bowlers.
Gray made 72 off 179 balls (nine fours) and Stewart made 74 off 171 balls (nine fours).
Suren Ekanayake came in and blasted 43 not out off 30 deliveries, including seven fours and a maximum as the Bucks chased down the runs in the 69th over.
Lynbrook was always going to have the wood over Fountain Gate, but the Gators fought off an outright win, which is a little win given their struggles this season.
The Lakers won the toss and elected to bat, but a rocky start followed, with the home side on the back foot at 2/33, before Adithya Naron (74), and Jay Walia (59) posted big scores to get Lynbrook out of trouble.
Some strong contributions from the middle-lower order meant that the Lakers had well and truly enough runs on the board, declaring at 8/270 off just 60 overs – Hussain Shafahi and Rodni Kumara taking three wickets each.
Fountain Gate wasn’t worried about chasing the runs, and instead, the Gators batted for as long as they could.
Dawood Miakhel scored 36 off 173 balls, with just one boundary for his troubles, while other players also dug in and spent time at the crease.
The Gators managed to bat for 73.1 overs and while they only scored 143, they had taken enough time out of the game that they only lost 2/61 the following innings before the end of the day – Miakhel (23 not out) and Kumara (19 not out).
