AFTER a poor first day, Beaconsfield’s A Grade cricket team bounced back to nearly snatch a reverse outright win against Catani.
After scoring only 90 in the first innings then dismissing Catani at the end of the first day for 227, Beaconsfield batted again to reach 261.
Brad Miles was a standout with 82, with Ryan O’Connor notching up 56.
Kris Fletcher also chipped in with 27 and Jack Benbow (16) and Jason Dodd (15) had a solid opening stand.
With a lead of just 124 and 17 overs to play, Beaconsfield bowled and fielded well to have Catani at 8/96 at the close of play.
Ryan O’Connor took the first three wickets to finish with 3/34.
Ray Cook took advantage of good turn to snare 4/13 from four overs.
B GRADE
In an important game in the runup to finals, Beaconsfield scored a valuable outright win against Cranbourne Meadows.
After having its opponent 3/18 from the first day, Beaconsfield captured the remaining seven wickets for a further 100 runs.
Travis Turnbull returned the excellent figures of 4/52 from 23 overs, including nine maidens.
The remaining wickets went to Jarrod Williams (2/25), Geoff Bliss (2/14) and Troy McDermott (2/17) in a good allround bowling effort.
With 79 runs required for victory, Beaconsfield passed the total with four wickets down.
Matt Brown built on his 76 from the first innings with 57 in the second dig, and Jarrod Williams played well for 16.
C GRADE
Chasing the total of 219 set by Lyndhurst last week, Beaconsfield could only mange 119 in a difficult run chase.
Andrew Mercier topscored with 32, closely followed by Craig Douglas with 29.
Bradman Pitcher with 15 and Paul Benbow with 13 were the only other doubledigit contributors.
Having a second bowl, Beaconsfield captured four of Lyndhurst’s wickets, with one each went to Dave Lennon, Brendan Ewert and Ross Mitchell.
D GRADE
Squaring off against Merinda Park, Beaconsfield faced the tough task of defending 127 from day one.
Merinda Park batted well throughout the day to reach the total of 9/393.
The usual wicketkeeper Paul Dorbolo got rid of the gloves to capture 3/31 from 7 overs, whilst Steve Grindy took 2/49.
Tom Carlyle was the other wicket taker.
E GRADE
Defending just 127 from last week, Beaconsfield couldn’t strike against the Pakenham UpperToomuc batsmen, who reached 7/190.
Best with the ball were young bowlers Chris Cherry (2/61) and Ben Martin (2/22).
Bevan Pitcher took 1/18 and James Marsh 1/19 to contribute with the ball.
