FINALS spots are beginning to get locked in for the Diamond Valley Cricket Association (DVCA) season.
Laurimar’s place in the Mash Shield finals is secure thanks to a comfortable seven-wicket victory over Mernda at Laurimar Town Park—a result which has also allowed the Power to move into the top two at the Demons’ expense.
A strong opening partnership between Harley Boland (28) and Yohan Jees (31) helped the Power score 58 runs for the first stand, before David Chesterton, who top scored with an unbeaten 48, finished off the job.
Lachlan Taylor was Mernda’s best bowler, taking 2/18 and bowling a tight line from his 17 overs, which also included 11 maidens.
South Morang were also winners, but their season is all but over, with fourth-placed Hurstbridge also securing victory to leave the Lions nine points in arrears and needing a miracle in the final round.
With Thomastown resuming at 4/90 on day two at Mill Park Lakes Oval, still trailing by 123 runs, the result had Karl Heckmann’s fingerprints all over it, inspiring the Lions with three wickets and a run out to ensure they would take victory.
Heckmann finished with 3/52 off 15.2 overs, while Blair Cass also took 2/12 off 14 as Thomastown were bowled out for 153.
Whittlesea’s First XI fell just two wickets short of securing victory at Eltham College, with their match with Research Eltham Collegians listed as a draw.
The Eagles recovered incredibly well after resuming at 6/61, with Binith Jayasinghe scoring 28, Sachithra Sudasinghe scoring 30, and Kevin Satharasinghede Don scoring 26 to help Whittlesea score a defendable 165.
Whittlesea then had their hands full with opposition opener Matthew Gilbert, who went on to top-score with 45, but it was Nathan Heaney who transformed the game for the Eagles in the early stages, taking 3/31 off 14 overs.
Lathindu Kandage then went on the offensive in an incredible four-over spell, landing 4/2, while also bowling two maidens.
Despite that, Research Eltham finished the day on 8/99.
The result means Whittlesea will have to defeat Dennis and rely on Eltham defeating Montmorency to potentially make the finals.
In other results around the grounds, Mernda’s Second XI were unable to get the job done against North Eltham at Waterview Reserve, losing by 79 runs.
Darren Mercuri did his utmost to give the Demons a chance with his 62, but the batting order was unable to sustain a partnership as they were bowled out for 156 in pursuit of North Eltham’s 6/235.
Laurimar’s Second XI completed a first innings victory against Dennis with quick runs from David Sinclair, who scored 65 off just 48 deliveries, ensuring the Power made 7/300. Man-of-the-match Cooper Lawrenson followed up his first innings century by cleaning up the tail, finishing with 3/27 off 5.4 overs, while Andrew Barber took two wickets to finish on 2/20 off 10.
Whittlesea’s Second XI’s season will require an incredible amount of luck to make up the one game and quotient required to overhaul fourth- and fifth-placed South Morang and Hurstbridge respectively.
The Eagles faced a tough task against the high-flying Diamond Creek at AF Walker Reserve, with the Demons making 9/186.
Dulan Walakalu Arachchige took 3/21 off seven overs to lead the way for the Eagles.
In response, the Eagles were simply never in the game and looked set to record a very low total when they were 7/38.
But Dinesh Arachchige and Arosha Pigera helped the tail wag significantly, scoring 46 and 33 respectively to ensure the Eagles finished with a respectable 9/137 off 34.2 overs.
