By RUSSELL BENNETT
WGCA PREMIER DIVISION
REVIEW – ROUND 2 (One Day)
UPPER BEACONSFIELD v CARDINIA
ON Saturday at Upper Beaconsfield, Bulls skipper Neil Barfuss played a major role in the two sides racking up one of the more remarkable statistical achievements in recent seasons – a hat-trick of hat-tricks.
There have now been hat-tricks taken the past three times the two sides have squared off at Upper Beaconsfield. First there was Ryan De Reus, then there was Kyle Gibbs last season, and now Barfuss.
Saturday’s hat-trick – as the Maroons were skittled for 124 – was the third of the Cardinia skipper’s career, but the first on Australian soil.
“It was definitely unexpected,” he told the Gazette after Cardinia (6/126) reached the Upper Beaconsfield total with just an over to spare.
The first two wickets – Will Haines (8) and Chad McDonald were both clean bowled, before Barfuss trapped Gibbs in front leg-before, hitting him on the foot.
“That’s the type of delivery I try and bowl off a couple of steps and a lot of guys don’t seem to score of it,” Barfuss said.
“When the batsman’s feet aren’t moving, it’s a good way of cutting off the runs.
“On the third ball I just tried a yorker and it tailed in and hit him on the back foot.
“I spoke to (wicket-keeper) Luke Turner after the second wicket and he said to me to hit him on the toe.
“It was the most intense look I’ve seen him give me, so I tried to do exactly that and it worked.”
Barfuss said his hat-trick on Saturday was his favourite, given the way the wickets fell, and all the more exciting given that he prides himself as a batsman.
“But I haven’t done anything with the bat so far this season so it was nice to do something with the ball,” he said.
“We wanted to finish the innings off strongly because when (Bathiya) Perera was up and going he just looked a class above. He was unreal, and we were lucky he holed out (to Dean Henwood off Travis Wheller) in the end.
“But we always talk about finishing off an innings well.
“It could have been a tough chase but we were able to give ourselves a real chance by keeping them to a lower score.”
Perera was brilliant for the home side – finishing with a dominant 56 before eventually holing out in the deep.
Cardinia didn’t get things all their own way over the weekend – losing to the Seagulls in Tooradin on Sunday.
“We’re getting there, but it’ll probably take until Christmas for our batting and bowling both to gel,” Barfuss said.
“Our bowling and fielding has been good, but our batting in the middle order has let us down – myself included.
“On Sunday we were probably 30 runs short but by the end of the innings we’d showed we we’ve won so many of those close games.
“I thought our pressure was really good.
“They definitely deserved the win, but we nearly stole it.”
Barfuss said the Bulls would much rather be sitting on a 2-1 record, instead of 1-2, but added he was pleased with how his side is progressing.
“The development of Trav Wheller, along with Alex (young vice-captain Alex Nooy), has been great to see.
“Trav Welsh was outstanding on Saturday too. He’ll get more and more opportunities as the season goes along, as well as Brayden Browne.
“It’s also great having Doigy (Dwayne Doig) back, knowing he can tie up an end, and picking up Ben (Maroney) and Trevor (Johnston) has been excellent as well.”
Barfuss finished with 3/29 on Saturday against the Maroons, while Welsh took 3/16. Ben Parrott (33), Nooy (24), Wheller (23) and Johnston (26) all made starts and contributed to their side’s successful chase, but they’ll be looking to capitalise next time around.
Click below to see footage of Neil Barfuss’ hat-trick ball:
EMERALD v TOORADIN
UPPER Beaconsfield was at one stage in a world of hurt in its innings on Saturday at 4/7, and Tooradin wasn’t faring much better up the road in Emerald against the Bombers.
A devastating early spell from Bombers quick Clinton Marsh – which included the wickets of Tom Hussey, Kane Latham, Bradey Welsh and Aaron Avery – had the visitors scrambling at 4/27.
But yet they recovered – thanks to some superb lower and middle order hitting from Dan Hunt (63), Michael Ralph (37) and Matt Welsh (25 not out) – to finish on 9/200. Welsh took 23 off the final over of the innings, bowled by Michael Nell.
“We were definitely staring down the barrel (of defeat),” said Seagulls skipper Tom Hussey in the wake of Saturday’s game.
“No discredit to Emerald, but we know we have to win these sorts of games if we’re going to make the finals.
“This was a really important game because in the past at 4/27 we probably would have fallen in a hole and we would have been lucky to make 100.
“But I know Hunty is a very capable cricketer – he counter-attacks really well – and
Ralphy was looking to pick up the ones early and turn the strike over, and then he looked for those bigger shots. His innings was perfect for us right when we needed it.”
Hussey reserved even greater praise for Welsh, saying: “For a 17-year-old to get 23 off the final over was awesome.
“To be honest at 4/27 I thought setting a target of 150 would have been fantastic, but the extra 20-odd runs we got off that final over was massive.”
Emerald was seemingly sitting pretty at 2/90 in its chase, but the Seagulls got the key wickets of AJ Walker (0) and import Hashan Goonetilleke (24) right when they needed them.
“Look, in the end it looks like a comprehensive win for us but when they were 2/90 it was game on,” Hussey said.
“Getting AJ (Walker) for a duck and their import (Hashan Goonetilleke for 24) was huge for us.
“We knew they were the two key wickets.”
Hussey said spinner – and opening batsman – Josh Lownds was really leading the way with the ball for the Gulls. The league’s leading wicket-taker took 4/18 on Saturday, and 5/30 on Sunday in a big win against Cardinia.
“We couldn’t have asked for much more from him,” Hussey said.
“We hadn’t quite figured out how to set fields to him, or the lines he wanted to bowl but Azz (Aaron Avery) and I sat down with him and had a chat about it.
“We’re still working it out, but we know he’s got super control and he gets really good bounce too being a tall spinner.”
Tooradin currently sits third on the ladder with a record of 2-1, following the win over the Bulls.
“If you can beat Cardinia early on in the season that really can really set you up for a top four spot,” Hussey said.
“We were really disappointed to drop that game (in week one) to Kooweerup, but we worked super hard as a group.
“We really haven’t fired a shot with the bat as yet, so it’s really pleasing to have a couple of wins on the board.
“We’ll definitely work on turning our starts into scores, but in nearly all our games so far we’ve been in positions where we would’ve crumbled in the past but we fought through it.
“You can’t teach that stuff.”
CRANBOURNE MEADOWS v PAKENHAM
BRILLIANT Pakenham opener Chris Smith may’ve just put the rest of the Premier division on notice.
After a down season in 2014/15, he came out on Saturday and showed his class in an awesome 120 – putting the Rebels to the sword.
He’s one of the best all-around players in the competition and the whole WGCA knows it, but a Pakenham line-up with an in-form Smith at the top of it would cause all sorts of nightmares for opposition sides – given they also have to find a way past the likes of Russell Lehman, Jason Williams, Ben Shipperd, Dom Paynter, Rob Elston … the list goes on.
The Lions won the toss on Saturday against the hometown Cranbourne Meadows and piled on 5/250 in their 40 overs thanks to Smith’s huge knock, an unbeaten 47 from Williams, and 32 from Shipperd.
Then, a miserly Lions bowling effort restricted the Rebels to just 8/116 with Tom Smith (28) and player-coach Chris Milne (27 not out) top-scoring.
The Lions now sit proudly on top of the Premier ladder with wins from each of their first three games and will look to continue their impressive form this week at home against the Bombers.
KOOWEERUP v MERINDA PARK
SOME genius from Cobras leg spinner Dylan Cuthbertson restricted the reigning premiers Kooweerup to just 134 in their Saturday clash at Denhams Road.
After winning the toss and batting, the Demons just couldn’t get going – losing a steady stream of wickets including the huge scalps of skipper Michael Giles (13), Jess Mathers (2) and Chris O’Hara (28).
Cuthbertson ultimately finished with 4/12 inside eight overs – with two of those wickets out stumped. Kooweerup wicket keeper-batsman Chris Bright (48) continued his strong start to the season with the bat but he was his side’s only batsman to pass 30.
Opening the bowling for Kooweerup against his old side, Mathers was kept wicketless in his five overs with John Bright (2/12) the pick of the seamers. Jason Pongracic (63) yet again showed his value to the competition’s only other unbeaten side, as the Cobras reached the Demons’ total six wickets down with just an over to spare.
This week (two-day round)…
– Merinda Park v Tooradin (at Donnelly Reserve)
– Pakenham v Emerald (at Toomuc Reserve)
– Cardinia v Kooweerup (at E. Gunton Oval)
– Upper Beaconsfield v Cranbourne Meadows (at Upper Beaconsfield Rec Reserve)
