At the weekend, the Diamond Valley Cricket Association club’s played round three in sunny conditions. The Whittlesea Cricket Clubs second XI team played the Eltham 5th XI team at the A.F Walker Reserve in Whittlesea on Saturday.
Eltham won the toss and elected to bat first. Steve Allen walked onto the crease first with Liam Allen at the other end. Whittlesea on the other hand chose Manju Thanthulage to bowl first and he quickly dismissed Allen after six runs with help from Ruwan Hewa Malawige who caught the heavy ball. Despite great fielding, Eltham increased their run rate when their third batter who stepped into his crease. Oliver Hibbert made 22 runs before Malawige took another sound catch for Whittlesea.
The excitement hit fever pitch when Whittlesea Captain Dinesh Arachchige bowled and caught out Luca Klaic after he had made 35 runs for his team. There were 35 overs in the innings and Eltham finished with one of their fill in players still on the pitch, 8 out for 147 runs.
Having had a great day on the field, Ruwan Hewa Malawige appeared first in the batting order for Whittlesea. Unfortunately, he went out for a duck when the umpire called leg before wicket (LBW), and shortly after, Sanjeewa Liyanage, on five runs, was bowled out by Steve Allen. Arachchige joined him on the bench after he was quickly caught out by fielder Joshua Hibbert.
Next, in the Whittlesea batting order, two ducks were lodged when Vice-Captain Tharanga Thantrige was caught out by Kye Wilson Whelan, while Steve Allen took another LBW wicket from Polwaththe Weeraman. In between, Manju Fernando had a long and satisfying innings and retired at 50 runs, not out. Lachlan Heaney, fifth in the batting order, hit 41 big runs and remained in the game until the final ball of the final over. The Whittlesea team ran out of overs and the game finished at 35 overs, 6 out for 142 runs defeated by Eltham by 5 runs.