By Nick Creely
Devon Meadows will enter the Christmas break with plenty of momentum and atop the WGCA District ladder after a barnstorming win against Officer.
In the top-of-the-table clash, Lucas Ligt’s group rose to the challenge with a commanding performance that would have turned plenty of heads.
The Bullants batted first, and despite a classy 55 from Ash Smith, perhaps were slightly short of the mark after being bowled out for 183.
Ligt himself snared 3/14, while Ben Hussey was also prominent with 3/41.
And Panther openers Ligt (40) and Jakeb McVicar (67) got off to a rattling start to the chase, and the home side weren’t threatened thereafter, with the Panthers running away with the seven-wicket win.
Pakenham Upper Toomuc were also on-song with a brilliant 73 run win against Upper Beaconsfield.
It was that man again, Rajitha Ranaweera who led the way for the Yabbies.
Shooting for his third ton in just five hits this season, the opener blasted 86 this time around to set up an imposing total of 6/199.
Despite a fighting half-century from Will Haines (56), the Maroons fell well short, rolled for 126 with Ben McLeod leading the way with the ball to snare 3/30.
And in the remaining match of District, Emerald chased down Lang Lang’s 178 with the loss of seven wickets in the tightly-fought affair between the fifth and sixth-placed sides.
Cardinia’s stellar run in A Grade continued, with the undefeated Bulls dominant against Tooradin.
It didn’t go all the way of the Bulls, however, with the visitors actually finding themselves in a dire position at 5/49.
But a staggering 150-run stand for the sixth wicket between Trent Wheller (85) and Brayden Browne (53 not out) saw the visitors recover beautifully to post 6/211.
The Seagulls lost a couple of early wickets and simply couldn’t recover, falling for 130 in reply. Champion tweaker Dwayne Doig (3/16) was a nuisance with 3/16 from five overs.
It was a high-scoring affair down at Barton Reserve, but it was Merinda Park that got the chocolates against Clyde.
Ben Buller led the way with the bat for the Cougars, smacking a brutal 69 not out to set-up the imposing total of 6/195 from 40 overs.
Paul Stockdale replied with a beauty of a knock in reply to set the tone for his side, compiling 57, while Liam Bertrand (46 not out) and Agyapal Sidhu (32 not out) got the job done with a match-winning 88-run stand after coming together at 5/111.
In the remaining match, Kooweerup (5/153) got the job done with ease against Officer (9/152).
Pakenham had the bye.
