THE Diamond Valley Cricket Association continued its competition on Saturday with a bevy of games which truncated the round due to last week’s rain.
In Money Shield, Mernda has set itself up for a blockbuster top two battle with Banyule to determine who sits on top at Christmas thanks to a comfortable 104-run victory.
Gareth Sharp set things up at the top of the order at Greensborough College after the Dees elected to bat first, scoring 84, while Max Russell provided good support with his 35 as they made 8/169.
As is regularly the case, the Demons’ bowling triumvirate of Lachlan Taylor, Stuart Wright and Michael Edwards set the pitch alight with their bowling, and so it proved as Greensborough was rolled for 65.
Taylor took 4/9 off eight overs, which included five maidens, while Wright was similarly in good form, taking 3/5 off eight overs. Edwards took 2/25 off eight.
Laurimar has kept its hopes alive in Mash Shield courtesy of a thrilling three-wicket win over South Morang at Mill Park Lakes Reserve.
The Lions batted first, sent in by Laurimar, but it was Brad Riley and Terry Liddicutt who looked to take the game away from the Power with 57 and 41 respectively.
However, Laurimar’s bowlers would slow down the pace, with Patrick Richardson, Luke Richardson, Bailey Lawrenson and Thomas McCumber taking two wickets apiece to hold the Lions to 162.
Luke then top-scored with 53 in the Power’s chase, but at 5/83, the game was still on the line.
Patrick’s 25 and Christopher Milne’s 23 helped get the Power home, finishing on 7/164.
Whittlesea are still well in touch with the front runners in the F1 grade competition, scoring first innings points against Greensborough at AF Walker Reserve.
After restricting the Boro to 178 last week, Nathan Heaney’s 55 and Isuru Jayasekara’s 43 helped guide the Eagles to 238 off 49 overs.
Greensborough batted again and made 1/18 off 11 overs before the game was called.
Around the lower grades, Mernda’s B grade outfit fell to Heidelberg by 32 runs, despite the best efforts of Bailey Turnbull, who scored 41.
In C grade, South Morang lost to Eltham by 82 runs, unable to catch the Panthers’ 231, despite strong middle-order batting from Toby Lafford (37), Adwait Vaidya (33) and Matthew Kiriakopoulos (38).
Laurimar’s D grade team was guided strongly by Aaron Dickson’s patient batting, scoring 39 to help the Power win by six wickets over Montmorency, 4/123 to 6/122.
Four players scored more than 30 runs in Mernda’s 76-run E grade win over Lower Eltham.
Andrew Edwards and Rob Virtue anchored the middle order to score 33 runs each, while the tail wagged thanks to crucial runs from Geordi Summers (33) and Stephen Otter (35) to help Mernda to 9/191.
David Taylor took 3/12, while Summers, Gurbinder Pannu and Tejus Pathak took two wickets apiece, rolling Lower Eltham and keeping it to 9/115.
South Morang was a comfortable eight-wicket winner over Dennis, with Dennis restricted to 7/90, before Atinder Singh’s unbeaten 50 helped the Lions win with ease.
In F1 grade, Laurimar was no match for Banyule, losing by nine wickets.
Xavier Meye provided solid lower order runs with 30 runs, while Chaminda Arachchige and Daniel Wigney both scored 20 as the Power made 8/109, but Banyule chased down the target with ease, 1/109.
Tim Lowe’s incredible 109 was enough to see South Morang win a thrilling, high-scoring encounter by 16 runs over Banyule, with Lowe hitting 10 fours and seven sixes.
Alongside Junior Sachdev’s 44, the Lions made 5/220, before the Bears made a big run at the target.
However, Jack Philp’s 2/34 helped the Lions do enough to hold Banyule to 4/204 in response.
Despite Saurin Sandeep Sharma’s 62, Mernda was not able to mount a challenge against Montmorency, losing by nine wickets.
It was a similar story for Mernda’s G1 West team, losing by 92 runs to Rosebank.
Only Mohid Ashraf’s 40 provided resistance for Mernda, but its 6/120 was never enough to compete with Rosebank’s 3/212.
Laurimar was no match for Lalor Stars, losing by six wickets.
Shaun Lewin scored 39 and Ben Brown 29, before Tyson Aldenhoven scored 44 runs to help the Power make 7/158, but the Stars were too strong despite Jack Cordwell and Heath Huntingford’s two wickets, scoring 4/160.
Laurimar’s fifth XI did not take to the park, forfeiting against North Eltham Wanderers, while South Morang had the bye.
In G3 grade, Mernda did enough to win a low-scoring game by four wickets.
Jamie Knell’s four wickets helped restrict Greensborough to 8/114, before Tanay Limbachiya’s 28 and Vivek Mahajan’s 24 helped the Demons recover from a slow start to chase it down in 22 overs, scoring 6/117.
Similarly, South Morang won a low-scoring game by 18 runs over Whittlesea.
Nick Perry anchored the Lions’ innings as they made 8/124, scoring 33, while Lachlan Heaney and Dayaratna Liyanage took two wickets apiece for the Eagles.
Jack Jerabek started promisingly for Whittlesea, scoring 41, but steadily ran out of partners, with Raj Koppula and Natasha Kiper taking two wickets each as they helped the Lions bowl the Eagles out for 106.
Next week’s action will be the final round before the Christmas and New Year break.
