A tough weekend for the Mt Evelyn Cricket Club as they could only convert two of their six senior games into victories.
The Community Bank – Mt Evelyn 1st XI hosted last season’s grand finalists, South Warrandyte, in a key clash after a run of outs. Mt Evelyn were asked to bowl first and a young opening bowling pair of Kynan Yates and Billie Laird kept things tight early but were unable to make early inroads into the Hawks batting line up. Gun pair, Fraser Day and Morgan Persson-Clark put together a patient 94 run partnership, but also ensured the scoreboard ticked over.
At 1/120 in the 25th over, the visitors were set for a late onslaught on a hefty total. Jamie Shaw would momentarily halt proceedings as he collected three wickets in a probing spell of bowling including the wickets of Day (48) and Persson-Clark (65) before the pair could put icing on their earlier work. Although Shaw’s breakthroughs provided a speed bump for the Hawks, the platform had been set and the visitors’ middle order cashed in. In the final ten overs of the innings, the middle order bats of Sean McMahon, Darcy Harris and Cayden Skien plundered the bowling for 97 runs, and blew the total out to an imposing 5/246. Shaw was the pick of the bowlers with 3/46, whilst Yates and Laird held their own in keeping things tight early.
Mt Evelyn openers Campbell Mole and Troy Hancock made a blistering start to the innings scoring 47 runs off the first five overs to shock the team into some action. Unfortunately for the home side, the pair would be dismissed within an over of each other with a lot to play out. The blistering start, however, had put the Hawks on the back foot, and it allowed the Mounters top order to continue to move the score forward, and at 3/122 at the halfway mark of their innings, the Mounters would’ve been satisfied with how the innings had progressed. Daniel Giblin and Jesse Fraser were the mainstays at the crease, and if either of them could kick on, the Mounters had victory at their beckoning.
As has been the case for the Mounters this season, they couldn’t capitalise on another key moment. Giblin would fall in the over after the break, and the innings would stall disastrously. Inexplicably, the home side would lose 4/24, whilst the run rate was dulled, leaving the Mounters a monumental task over the closing overs. Jett Hartman would blast his way to a brisk half century, giving a glimmer of hope, but the task become all too grand as the innings would be wrapped up with the fall of Hartman with the score at 207.
The Professionals Outer East 2nd XI slipped to a close loss to Seville last round and were keen to atone as they travelled to Bayswater Park. Mt Evelyn won the toss and elected to put a score on the board as they did last week. Openers Adam Smith and Brad Westaway looked to emulate their efforts from last round as they compiled an excellent century partnership. Cautiously they approached the opening overs, but when it was time to gather some momentum, the pit lost their wickets and with the loss of Chris Morrow shortly after, the team was left in a little hole at 3/36 after 15 overs.
Entrusted with resurrecting the innings, and gathering some momentum, Luke Paterson and Mike Mawson would be able to do both as they would keep their wickets intact and push the score along with a little more freedom. The pair would put on a partnership of 72 runs before Paterson would fall, just short of posting an excellent half century. Mawson would plough on at nearly a run a ball, leaving the team an opportunity to boost their total over the closing overs. Wickets would fall regularly in the pursuit of quick runs and when Mawson fell for 61, in the 36th over, the innings would be quickly wrapped up with the score on 163. This total looked a little light on at the change of innings, but with early wickets it could quickly become a challenging chase.
The Sharks’ innings took similar path to that of the Mt Evelyn innings. Gun opening bowlers Caleb Hrabe and Bohdie Jones would press the opposition bats with an extra yard of pace making runs hard to come by. With stout resistance, the top order would keep their wickets intact and they would successfully navigate the opening spell with the loss of just one wicket. As is so often the case, with the shackles released, and an opportunity to ramp up the run rate, Brad Westaway would chime in with a wicket to give the visitors some ascendency in this arm wrestle. Experienced paring of Brendan Trump and Michael DiManno would reset the chase and would grand their team back into the chase, as Paterson and Mawson did for their opponents.
The difference would be the closing overs of the innings. DiManno would stay at the crease until the total was reached, and he wouldn’t lose partners as rapidly as the visitors did over the closing overs. In the end, the total would be reached with five wickets in hand and a couple of overs in the bank. With Hrabe and Jones being the most economical of the bowlers, it would be captain Shane Laird who would be the wicket taker as he finished with figures of 3/31.
The Rhead Group 3rd XI finally found a home at Gruyere Reserve and they hosted Heathwood in their round five clash. Heathwood took the opportunity to put a score on the board, and in an even contribution, they batted out their overs to score 9/163. Sam Vanhoogstraten was the pick of the bowlers with 3/36, whilst Aussie Leonard was economical up front.
The required run rate of the chase provided few issues for the Mounters, however the ability to build partnerships and keep wickets intact proved more problematic. The home side always looked destined to reach the total in quick time, but the continuous fall of wickets left the chase in a hole in which the team never extracted themselves from. In the end, the Mounters would fall 26 runs short of their target with nearly 13 overs still in the bank. A loss the Mounters might rue. Kadyn Newport (31) and Vanhoogstraten (26) would make useful contributions with the bat, but it just wasn’t enough.
In the lower grades, the Hop Hen Brewing 4th XI would clasp a victory from the jaws of defeat after looking like they would fall short in their pursuit of a target of 216. Jonathan Brew would be the pick of the bowlers taking 5/38, whilst his 41 at the top of the order gave the chase an ideal start. This looked to be all in vain as the middle order offered little resistance until a blistering finish by Marty Potter (50 not out), saw the home side sprint to victory with two overs to spare.
The 5th XI would come out on the better side of the ledger for their second tight finish in consecutive weeks. Mt Evelyn would post 4/187 on the back of unbeaten half centuries to Craig Kenins and Alastair Churchill, whilst a blistering 30 not out from captain Jason Dunstone added cream to the finish. Hoddles Creek made a fair fist of the chase, but found themselves victims of regular wickets. Young gun Ben Dunstone would lead the attack with excellent figures of 4/25.
The Flowtec 6th XI would find an experienced Warranwood outfit too tough to overcome and were subsequently soundly beaten. The bowlers would battle manfully with youngsters Caden Kuhne and Jacdan Mikaelian showing great skill beyond their years, whilst the batting never got going against the accuracy and pace of Warranwood’s opening pairing of Berryman and Buyck.
