AN astonishing first day of action between the Laurimar Power and Old Ivanhoe Grammarians in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association’s Dyson Shield headlined the week’s two-day cricket action across the league.
Laurimar’s top side had its first chance to play at home at Laurimar Town Park for this season and chose to bat first.
A wobbly start had them at 4/18 after seven overs and shortly after reduced to 6/56.
Saurin Sandeep Sharma (47) and Cooper Lawrenson (25) stood up to put together a 58-run partnership and right the ship for a short time but the tail end fell for just 12 runs.
126 from 36.2 overs surely wasn’t the way that Laurimar captain Luke Richardson envisioned the day going when he won the toss, and when Old Ivanhoe raced to 0/46, the alarm bells were ringing loud.
Wickets to opening bowlers Jayden Clifford and Joel Regan stemmed the flow, and then a leg-before-wicket dismissal from Richardson held the Grammarians to 3/74.
But instead of launching from its positive start, Old Ivanhoe was torn apart by a mesmerising spell from Andy Evans.
He took three wickets in his first five overs, and with the help of Regan (3/32) and Clifford (2/22), cleaned up the remaining batters for just 46 runs to give Laurimar a first-innings lead of six.
His figures of 4/16 off eight overs were inspiring.
Laurimar now enter the second day of action in a relatively strong position at 0/31 and just need to bat well to secure the points.
In other Dyson Shield action, South Morang had a strong day with the ball against Thomastown in an away fixture.
A couple of early wickets to Bailey Arnot was a good start for the Lions, but the game really opened up when captain Karl Heckmann brought himself on to bowl.
A nick behind in his first over, a catch in the covers in his fourth and another caught behind in his sixth had Thomastown on its knees at 5/44.
The batting side steadied to reach 119 before Heckmann knocked two of Jonathan Potenza’s stumps out of the ground and removed Sanjay Yadav a few overs later.
When Thomastown’s Jordan Cugnetto was removed for 77, it didn’t take long for South Morang’s attack to finish off the job.
Set 172 to win, South Morang navigated six overs at the end of the day’s play to be 0/9 with plenty of time on Saturday to chase the score down.
In the second division Money Shield, Mernda had a much better outing than last week and would consider themselves on top of their clash with Rosebank at Waterview Reserve.
Bowling first, the Demons made regular inroads throughout the day to never let Rosebank away, eventually bowling them out for 194 after 78 overs.
Jarmyn Marshall was the pick of the bowlers taking 4/26 from 15 overs, including the second wicket of the day where Gareth Sharp took a catch that reflected his name perfectly.
Marshall was ably supported by the rest of the Mernda bowling crew.
Alex Mitris (2/65) and Nathan Aston (2/31) picked up handy wickets before Mitris joined Satinder Sekhon at the crease to see out the final two overs of the day with the bat.
Mernda sits at 0/7, 187 runs behind Rosebank’s total.
Whittlesea’s top DVCA team had a great day at home, the Eagles well on top of Lower Eltham in their F grade matchup.
Bowling first, the Eagles leant on experienced wicket-taker Kevin Satharasinghege Don (4/38) to keep their opponents to 195.
Although the home side lost two early wickets, Nathan Heaney (13*) and Susipsara Dehigaspitiya (18*) held firm to guide their team to 2/68 at the close of play, needing a further 128 to win.
In the reserve grades, Mernda’s 2nd XI have a hill to climb against Heidelberg, chasing 244 in B grade.
Meanwhile in D grade, South Morang’s 2nd XI lost the early wicket of captain Adwait Vaidya in its run chase against Greensborough.
The Lions need 218 to win, and are currently 1/3.
Laurimar’s reserves copped a battering from Rosebank and will be chasing 348 this Saturday.
Both the 3rd XIs for South Morang (led by Arnav Kadian’s 81*) and Mernda (led by Roshan Paudyal’s 5/21) are in good positions, while their 4th XIs are chasing 195 and 269 respectively.
Laurimar’s thirds are in trouble trying to defend 134, while Whittlesea got handed a forfeit win from Hurstbridge for its 2nd XI.
In the one day comps, Laurimar’s fourths, South Morang’s fifths and Whittlesea’s thirds all jagged wins.
The second day of the two-day matchups continue this weekend.
