IT was a manic final round of the Diamond Valley Cricket Association, with plenty of permutations for multiple teams in the finals race.
Mernda had a memorable weekend overall, justifying its promotion to Money Shield in two fell swoops on Saturday and Sunday.
Despite losing by five runs to Eltham on Saturday in its final one day game, the Demons locked in a spot in the finals, where it will take on the Panthers again this week.
Nathan Aston took four wickets, while Michael Edwards took three as the Demons held Eltham to 144, but despite Gareth Sharp’s 39 and Arshdeep Singh’s 30, the Demons couldn’t quite chase down the target, finishing on 9/139.
Irrespective of that, Research Eltham Collegians’ loss and Greensborough’s loss meant the Demons had locked in a chance to make its mark in its first season in Money Shield.
On Sunday, the Demons had a chance to score a premiership in the Summer Smash competition, taking on Lower Plenty at Rosanna’s De Winton Park.
The Demons started strongly, with Ben Wilcox hitting well at the top of the order to make 30 runs, while Max Russell scored 36 and Edwards had a cameo at the end, scoring 19 runs off 11 deliveries as the Demons made 6/129.
Mernda looked in complete control early when Lachlan Taylor took two wickets to help leave Lower Plenty in trouble at 3/21, but a 79-run partnership helped put Lower Plenty in the box seat.
However, the Demons did the job in the clutch to take five wickets for just 22 runs to ensure Lower would be restricted to 8/123, meaning the Demons claimed its first Summer Smash premiership.
Meantime, in Mash Shield, Laurimar’s season is over after losing to Lower Eltham by 104 runs.
Bailey Lawrenson took 3/48, while Luke Richardson and Austin Welsh chipped in with two wickets, but the Power could not stop Lower Eltham from scoring 9/202, before getting rolled for 98.
Noah Key top-scored with 26 for the Power.
South Morang’s season has come to an end with an 18-run loss to Mill Park.
The Tigers made 9/151 batting first, with Terry Liddicutt bowling strongly to take 2/10 off four overs to help keep the batting in check, while Blair Cass (2/25) and Darcy Kay (2/34) also took multiple wickets.
However, despite Liddicutt backing up his performance with the ball, scoring 30, and Karl Heckmann 42, the Lions didn’t have enough in reserve to chase down the target, all out for 133.
Whittlesea’s first XI will be hoping to bounce back against Macleod this week, after the Eagles lost by nine wickets.
Still, the Eagles have locked in second on the ladder, despite the loss.
Binith Jayasinghe performed strongly at the top of the order, scoring 38 runs, but from 3/77, the Eagles collapsed, all out for 89.
Macleod chased down the target with ease, finishing on 1/92.
In B grade, Mernda has made finals by the skin of its teeth, despite losing to North Eltham Wanderers by 75 runs, and will play Riverside this week.
The Demons are in on quotient, with just 0.014 separating themselves from Montmorency in fifth in a dramatic final day of the season.
Geordi Summers fought hard in defeat, taking 4/49 off eight overs with the ball, while Satinder Sekhon scored 47 with the bat.
South Morang’s season in C grade is over with a four-wicket loss to Greensborough.
Despite Adwait Vaidya scoring 32 and Troy Slater 33, the Lions’ total of 8/145 was never going to be enough, and Greensborough responded in kind by posting 6/146 in response to win with eight balls to spare.
Joel Isherwood led the way with the ball, taking 2/21 off seven overs.
Laurimar missed out on D grade finals by just one point, despite a final day win over Lower Plenty by 57 runs.
Joel Regan’s 83 allowed Laurimar to post 7/187 after looking in deep trouble at 7/85, and the Power’s momentum continued into its bowling innings, restricting Lower to 9/130, with Jake Keena taking three wickets, and Veera Raghava Reddy Madireddy and Harrison Rodda taking two wickets apiece.
Mernda locked in top spot on the E grade ladder, chasing down Greensborough to win by four wickets.
Batting first, Greensborough made 8/149, with David Taylor leading the way with 3/37 in an even team performance which also saw Charlie Andrews and Nathan Murphy take two wickets apiece.
Darren Mercuri’s 37 and Rob Virtue’s 32 helped get the Demons the start they needed to ensure they scored the 150 runs required with seven balls to spare.
Laurimar finished its F1 grade season on a high, beating Bundoora United by three wickets.
The Bulldogs batted first, and were restricted to 7/113, with an even bowling effort seeing five Power players take wickets, led by Mason Fitzgerald with 2/14.
Reece Emmins’ 45 set the platform for the Power, who, despite a few wobbles, got the job done with just over five overs to spare, scoring 7/114.
In F2 grade, Mernda took an 82-run win over Greensborough in a win-and-you’re-in game to claim fourth spot.
A strong top order performance, led by Saurin Sandeep Sharma’s 56 and Jack Sheahan’s 44, allowed Mernda to post 4/201 from its 40 overs, and Damian Lewis was determined to ensure the Demons would make the finals, taking 4/28 to spearhead their efforts to bowl Greensborough out for 119.
Meantime, South Morang fell short of taking victory in its last game of the season, losing to Hurstbridge by 17 runs.
A good bowling performance from the Lions saw it restrict Hurstbridge to 7/120, with Jack Philp and Brody Kay taking two wickets apiece.
However, the Lions never really recovered from starting 4/12 in response, despite Harsh Shah’s 31 which helped get them into triple figures and were bowled out for 103.
In G1 West, Laurimar had a positive finish to its season, scoring a six-run win over Heidelberg Black.
Batting first, good middle-order runs from Tyson Aldenhoven, who scored 45, helped Laurimar score 132, before Michael Peters and Levi Carnovale delivered with three wickets apiece to keep Heidelberg in check, scoring 8/126.
Mernda couldn’t get a win in its final game of the season, losing to Bundoora United by seven wickets.
Anthony Meek fought hard with 24 runs as he did what he could to get the Demons to 7/95, but the total wasn’t going to be enough, with Bundoora United only needing 18.3 overs to chase down the target and scoring 3/96.
Seth Broughton led the way with 2/22 off six overs.
Laurimar fell short of taking a win in its final game of a torrid G2 season, losing to Montmorency by four wickets.
Mark Goulding set a solid tone at the top of the order with 54 runs, while Mark Huntingford added 33 as the Power made 133 runs, but despite having Montmorency 6/76, the Magpies had too much in reserve to chase down the target, with Simon Thompson and Huntingford taking two wickets apiece.
South Morang finished in fifth, with a four-wicket loss to Bundoora Park on the final day of the season.
Josh Thompson scored 26 to ensure the Lions made three figures, scoring 103, but Bundoora Park was too strong, finishing on 6/107 with a little under 10 overs to spare.
Aayaan Aswal led the way for the Lions, taking 3/25.
In G3, Mernda finished on top of the ladder with a 55-run win over Bundoora.
Strong top-order batting, including Tanay Limbachiya’s 51, ensured the Demons would post 6/227, and Bundoora did not have the batting depth to chase down the target, with Limbachiya taking 2/19 and Devnaren Parameswaran 2/22 to keep the Bulls to 7/172.
Whittlesea had a positive finish, scoring a three-wicket win over Riverside.
After sitting 3/81, Whittlesea clawed back some ground to restrict Riverside to 131, with Dulan Walakulu Arachchi taking 3/23 with the ball, before Thomas Watt (36) and Lochaden Graham (40) combined beautifully to set the Eagles up to make 7/132.
South Morang’s season ended with an eight-wicket loss to Panton Hill.
It could have been much worse, sitting at 6/28 at one stage, before Nick Perry’s 55 and Adi Sharma’s 46 allowed the Lions to set a defendable 6/161.
However, the Lions had no answer to Panton Hill’s top order, which scored 2/163 to win easily with six overs to spare.