It was a disappointing end to the season for Keysborough in the DDCA Turf 3 competition after the Knights were bowled all out for just 58 against Lynbrook to lose by five wickets in the semi-final.
The Lakers won the toss and chose to bowl first on a Marriott Waters Reserve pitch that was offering plenty for the bowlers.
The match started with 13 consecutive dot balls and with the runs ticking over ever so slowly, Lynbrook opening bowler Jacob Stephens began to zero in on the pegs.
But it was fellow opener Ismatulla Shariffie who got the first wicket of the game in the eighth over and this started a collapse.
Stephens began the ninth over with a seed that knocked over Dante Happawana, before getting both Anirudh Motupalli and Shanaka Perumpuli for ducks in the same over – the Knights were 4/14.
Things only got worse for Keysborough, who dug in and batted time, but couldn’t score.
James Kellett came on and took two quick wickets before Stephens came back on and finished off the innings with 5/24 off 14.5 overs.
The Knights had managed to bat 39.5 overs but only had 58 runs to show for it, largely thanks to Jonathan Mohamed (27 not out).
In reply, Lynbrook also started shaky losing two early wickets to be 2/4, then 3/23 and 4/36 at the 22-over mark.
But Adithya Naron (34 off 118 balls) showed incredible resilience, while Harjinder Sohal (39 not out) came in and sped things up, with Naron scoring the winning runs in the 30th over, before batting until tea and calling the game at 5/95.
In the other semi-final, it was Springvale South who was too strong for Buckley Ridges, advancing to the grand final to meet Lynbrook.
The Bloods batted first and it was the contributions from three players who guided the team to a strong score of 242.
Andrew Staude (73 not out) made it look easy at Alex Nelson Reserve, while Matthew Jameson (42) and Adam Read (34) also impressed.
Adharsh Kannan did a power of work with the ball, bowling 32 overs to finish with incredible figures of 4/70 (8 maidens), while Shahwali Mosavi (3/41) also took a few poles.
In reply, Bucks’ opener Josh Holden was the only batter to get going, scoring six boundaries on his way to 45, but Jameson (3/35) and Mohammad Mudasir Soliman Khail (3/23) delivered with the ball, bowling Buckley Ridges out for just 127.
