DDCA: Roos do hard yards to curtail Hallam

Big effort: Buckley Ridges' Wes Nicholas bowls against Cranbourne during the DDCA Twenty20 semi-finals at Casey Fields on Wednesday. Picture: Sam Stiglec

CLICK HERE for our picture gallery of the Buckley Ridges v Cranbourne T20 game.

COOMOORA added another win to its impressive return season in the Dandenong District Cricket Association turf 1 competition, beating Hallam Kalora Park on Saturday.

The Roos lost the toss and had to head into the field but toiled hard to keep Hallam to 9-160 from its 40 overs, with Nicholas Cox scoring 60 and Leigh Booth 31. In reply, the Roos’ chase went down to the wire. 

They got over the line, finishing on 8-163 with captain-coach Paul Hill (48) and David Nutting (33) leading the way. Hallam’s Cory Booth took 2-25.

The Roos have three difficult two-day matches to end the season with Dandenong West, Parkfield and Springvale South on the horizon, so the win over Hallam should see them stay safely in the top flight for next season.

In other matches, Parkfield beat Narre Warren while Berwick beat Doveton. There were also two DDCA turf 1 matches scheduled for yesterday afternoon. North Dandenong hosted HSD and Springvale South hosted ladder-leader Dandenong West.

Those two matches had not been completed when the Journal went to print.

■ Buckley Ridges will face Lyndale in the grand final of the DDCA Twenty20 competition. The two sides won their semi-final matches last Wednesday.

Buckley Ridges beat Cranbourne at Casey Fields to claim their place in the final. Daniel Watson (52) led the way in the score of 8-133.

Dandenong Panthers player Nathan Lamden took 3-19 as a guest player for Cranbourne, which could only manage 80 all out in reply.

Lyndale upset Heinz Southern Districts at Barry Powell Reserve. The Two Blues batted first and put up an imposing 6-150 from their 20 overs. Opener Jaime Brohier (36) and Carman Mapatuna (47) did the damage.

In reply, HSD was unable to find a stable partnership, eventually finishing its 20 overs on 9-95.

The grand final is expected to be on January 30 with a venue yet to be announced.

■ The DDCA’s junior sides recorded some impressive results during the Victorian Metropolitan Cricket Union junior competitions last week.

The under-12s finished third in the Mitchell Shield. The under-14s finished in ninth place in the Russell Allen Shield while the under-16s finished fourth after bowing out in the semi-finals.

Narre North’s Liam Richardson won the best player medal in the under-14 competition.

Rodney Keyaerts (under-12s), Andrew Chapman (under-14s) and Peter Mathison (under-16s) coached the sides.

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