By Kane Latham
St Francis Old Collegians won the toss and elected to bat against Tooradin on a lightning fast Beaconsfield ground, and were pushing the ball around before Jarrad Thompson trapped Anthony Shepherdson LBW with the score on 18.
Noel Betreen fell shortly after for a duck, Kane Latham taking a sharp catch in the gully from the bowling of Jarrad Thompson.
David Hill and Aaron Warn came together, and formed a match shaping partnership, taking the score to 93 before Hill was bowled by Mat Walker for 58 runs.
Chris Shepherdson then came to the crease, and hit some big balls before he became the first of Sean Baker’s four wickets for the day, dismissed for 20 runs. Aaron Warn was the next wicket to fall, with the score now 5/168, for a well compiled 62 runs.
Brendan Hunt attacked the Tooradin bowlers, and it paid off as he scored 45 runs, including six fours, and formed a 56 runs eighth wicket partnership with Leigh Otten. Otten finished 26 not out, and helped his side to the strong total of 9/245 from 80 overs.
For Tooradin, Sean Baker bowled well and took wickets when they were needed, finishing with 4/37 from 10 overs, while Rick Holland and Jarrad Thompson both took two wickets each.
With 245 runs on the board, Tooradin had a task ahead of them if they were to be victorious.
Tooradin got off an average start, losing Mat Walker with the score on 14. This brought Kane Latham and Dave Freeman together at the crease, and they formed an 81 run partnership before Freeman was caught behind off the bowling of Anthony Shepherdson for 37 runs.
Sean Baker fell quickly, and SFX had peggedTooradin back to 3/102. Sam Clarke joined Kane Latham at the crease, and together they took the score to 138 before Latham was dismissed, for a fantastic 71 runs, by Leigh Otten.
At 4/138, the game was in the balance. Jarrad Thompson was dismissed for 11 runs, but had put on 26 runs in quick time with Clarke. Shane Somers joined Clarke at the crease, and together they took the game away from SFX, hitting the ball all over the ground, reaching 239 before Somers was caught brilliantly by David Hill for a well made 35 runs.
Sam Clarke hit the winning runs shortly after, finishing with 67 not out in a match defining innings, as Tooradin passed the total just six wickets down with eight overs to spare.
Aaron Warn was the pick of the bowlers for SFX, taking 2/42 from nine overs.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:B GRADE
Emerald won the toss against Upper Beaconsfield, batting first. This turned out to be a mistake almost immediately, as Xavier Gargan and Kyle Gibbs tore through the Emerald top order to dismiss them for just 103 runs. Middle order batsman Owen Thorne was the only real person to show any resistance, scoring 36 runs at number 8, while Nathan Copey chipped in with 20 runs.
Gargan finished with 4/35 from 21 tight overs, while Gibbs took 3/22 from 25 in an economical spell.
With four overs to bat, Upper Beaconsfield are in a strong position at 0/14.
Resuming on Sunday, Upper Beaconsfield made light work of the total as Brendan Hennessy slayed the attack, finishing 73 not out, guiding his side to a victory for the loss of just two wickets, in 32 overs on the day.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:C GRADE
Cardinia lost the toss and batted first against Clyde, and were in serious trouble at 6/26 before some lower order fightback from Clint Gilpin (29 runs) and Matthew Ryan (24 runs), helping their side to 108 runs in 54 overs.
Brad Goodman bowled well for Clyde, taking 6/41 from 22.3 overs, while Nick Sadler chipped in with 3 wickets.
Cardinia’s Chris Lemmon then bowled brilliantly, running through the Clyde batting line-up to bowl them out for just 91 runs, giving Cardinia a great win.
Chris Lemmon finished with 6/37 from 17 overs, while Matt Hobson chipped in with two wickets.
With 34 overs left in the day, Cardinia batted again and finished 5/74.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:D GRADE
Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll batted first against Emerald, posting 8/199 from their 70 overs. Unfortunately, Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll had not entered their details online when this report went to print.
Lachlan Doedens was the pick of the bowlers for Emerald, taking 3/33 from 20 economical overs.
In reply, Emerald were bowled out for just 93 runs, Jason Hildebrand scoring 23 runs, giving Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll the win.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:E GRADE
Lang Lang batted first against Emerald, posting 186 in 66.3 overs. This was thanks to a team effort, Brian Christensen top scoring wtih 37 runs.
Paul White was the pick of the bowlers for Emerald, taking 3/54 from 21 overs.
In reply, Emerald wereall out for 171 runs, 15 runs short. Colin Burns led from the front, scoring 54 runs, while Paul White chipped in with 33 runs.
Brian Christensen completed a good game, taking 3/35 from 13 overs, while Wayne Atta led the way with 4/35 from 19 overs.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:F GRADE
Pakenham batted first against Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll, posting 206 from 68 overs. Andrew Ratcliffe (49 runs), Gary Sewell (49 runs) and Shannon Hayhow (53 runs) all batted well.
In reply, Nar Nar Goon/Maryknoll could only manage 102 runs as Hayhow ripped through the batting line-up, taking 5/30 from 20.1 overs.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz: G GRADE
Clyde batted first against Nyora, posting 7/141 from 35 overs. Gary McGuinness led the way with 36 runs, and Gary Moses chipped in with 32 runs.
Craig Leith was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/9 from four overs.
In reply, Nyora were all out for 95 in 30.2 overs. Mark Strybosch top scored with 21 not out.
For Clyde, J. D’Costa was the hero taking 3/18 from 6 overs in a good win.
