THE hot weather prevented all Diamond Valley Cricket Association games from finishing on Saturday afternoon, with a number of games in the balance as the temperature rose.
Mernda’s Money Shield game was in the balance against Lalor Stars, requiring a further 143 runs from 26 overs.
Lalor Stars did well to make 9/208 off its 40 overs, despite strong bowling from Lachlan Taylor, who took 4/37 off eight overs, and Michael Edwards, who took 3/39 off eight.
At the time the game stopped, Stuart Wright was unbeaten on 29, and Gareth Sharp was unbeaten on 26, with Mernda 2/65 off 14 overs.
Laurimar was bailed out from a likely loss at AE Cracknell Reserve, with Panton Hill 2/76 chasing just 129.
After Justin Billing’s 25 and Luke Richardson’s 34 gave Laurimar a solid start, the Power fell apart, losing their last nine wickets for just 54 runs.
Bailey Lawrenson had the best figures with the ball, taking 1/9 off 4.2 overs before heat stopped play.
South Morang required a further 96 runs with six wickets in hand against Dennis.
Ricky Lee took 2/18, and five other Lions took wickets as Dennis made 9/182 off its 40 overs.
With the bat, Karl Heckmann was looking good, making 43 before play stopped with the Lions 4/86.
A thrilling B grade game was stopped with Mernda trying to defend 120 against Rosanna.
Jarmyn Marshall’s 21 and Chris Smith’s 19 provided handy tail runs as the Demons scored 120.
Marshall continued his good form with ball in hand, taking 3/18 to get the Demons into the contest, with Rosanna 5/63 at the end of play.
In C grade, South Morang and Rivergum was locked in combat.
The Lions made 8/175, with Darcy McLean scoring 46 and Nick Terpou 33 providing handy middle-order runs.
Prageeth Hewa Pothuwilage and Joel Isherwood took a wicket apiece, with Rivergum 2/52 when play stopped.
Laurimar’s D grade team was in a reasonable position to chase down Old Ivanhoe’s 183 after play was stopped.
Old Ivanhoe was guided by Jake Busuttil-Poskitt’s 104, but otherwise, it was all Laurimar as Veera Raghava Reddy Maddireddy took three wickets, while William Nyman, Jake Abbey and Michael Peters took two wickets apiece.
Seth Thomson was set on 18 as the Power made 2/49.
Mernda made a reasonable start to defending 158 in E grade as the heat stopped play.
Middle-order runs from Rob Virtue, who scored 35, and Geordi Summers, who added 32, helped the Demons make 8/158, with Thomastown 2/26 at the end of play.
Summers was the best bowler for the Dees, taking 1/11 off four overs.
South Morang’s E grade team looked in good shape, but was prevented from chasing down Greensborough’s 180.
Sarvesh Soni led the way with 4/29, while Kane Slater took 2/39 as the Lions held Greensborough to 7/180.
Atinder Singh was looking in good shape with 29 before the heat halted play.
All teams will return to action this weekend.
With the women’s competition hosted on Friday and Sunday, play was on all weekend.
South Morang Blue was outclassed by North Eltham Wanderers, losing by five wickets.
Natasha Kiper provided good runs late to score 31 as the Lions scored 7/71, but it was never enough as North Eltham got it done with nine overs to spare.
In division two, Laurimar Black had some strong performances from stars of the future in its 41-run win over Hurstbridge.
Kyra Rule got things started with 36, but it was Anika Behal and Poshika Joon who performed beyond their years, with the two young guns scoring 36 and 29 respectively to help Laurimar score 2/157.
Joon soon took 2/11 off four overs as the Power restricted Hurstbridge to 4/116.
In division four, South Morang Maroon was beaten by Macleod/Heidelberg.
Kylie Kreuzer-Pierce scored 36 and Vrishti Mangrolia 30 as the Lions made 2/113, but Macleod/Heidelberg was too strong, winning with four overs to spare.
Laurimar Teal lost by six wickets to the Baseballers.
Danielle Toull provided good runs late on to score 21 as the Power made 3/91, but the Baseballers got the job done with eight balls to spare.
Last week, the junior summer smash was played at Laurimar, with Mernda taking out the north division.
The Demons split their two round-robin games, defeating Laurimar by 31 runs, before losing to Plenty by nine wickets, however, the Demons turned it all around in the north final when it mattered most, defeated Plenty by 26 runs.
Mernda will now take on Banyule in the junior summer smash final on February 22.
