By JARROD POTTER
WGCA Sub-District Division – Round 10 (one-day)
CARDINIA and Emerald continued to fall further away from finals contention while a rare Sub-District upset left Pakenham red-faced against Clyde.
CLYDE v PAKENHAM
Languishing near the foot of the ladder – still at risk of relegation to B Grade next year – Clyde (6/145) pulled off a remarkable victory over the once-ladder-leading Pakenham (141). Outside of Josh Gonzalez (41) and a middle order push from Scott Webster (23) and Dale McCraw (23), the Lions were left at the behest of the Cougars as Shane Jack and Kane Avard claimed three wickets apiece. The Clyde response started just as badly before the lower order started to pick up the pace. Avard (46) and Shane Jack (38) finished the job with just an over left on the books. Nathan Goodes (2/8) decided one-an-over was all the Cougars were permitted as he excelled across eight overs with five maidens.
Pakenham is off to Cardinia this week and Clyde will drive out to Catani to see if their giant killing was aberrant or consistent.
CARDINIA v LANG LANG
Cardinia (99) has more problems than runs currently as Lang Lang (7/106) did enough to secure the points. The problems started as the Swamp Tigers mauled every ounce of resistance from the Bulls’ secondary XI. P. Black (3/12) and Gareth Andrews (2/19) had the best time of the cheap dismissal, but to their credit the Bulls hung on to see out 38 overs.
The Lang Lang response will not inspire future generations, but it paid the bills and got the job done. Brian Christensen (23), Andrews (22) got the Swamp Tigers 99 per cent of the way to the target before Hayden Laidlaw (8 not out) and Glen Easton (5 not out) completed the task at hand.
Lang Lang hosts ladder-leader Tooradin in the match of the round while Cardinia faces Pakenham.
TOORADIN v NYORA
It wasn’t as easy as Tooradin (4/164cc) would have liked, but points are points as they dispatched Nyora (133) and took top of the ladder. Brenton Adams (66 not out) made his case for re-promotion to the first XI as he carried his bat. His knock allowed the likes of Daniel Hunt (33), Tim Lenders (22) and Ben Spicer (22) to tee off and up the tempo as the run rate went above four an over. That would prove enough to derail Nyora, in spite of a solid knock from Aaron Ford (42). In the end Lenders (5/34) had a big slice of the bowling unit’s success while Hunt (2/1) knocked over a couple of cheapies in his first and only over.
Tooradin will look to defend its crown at Lang Lang this week – in a mini-final of sorts – while Nyora is hosting Emerald.
EMERALD v CATANI
Emerald (60) will shut the books on this loss quickly and expunge it from memory just as fast as Catani (2/66) absolutely steamrolled the home side. Cam Williams (24) was the only Bomber to fly his route and deliver some kind of payload to the scoresheet. His 34-run stand in tandem with Cameron Ward (11) was the only batting of any note as Tom Keily – three wickets – and Trent Adams – three wickets – surged through the order.
It took Catani 10 overs to belt the winning runs and elevate the Cats to a handy 18-point buffer over fifth-placed Cardinia.
Catani will face Clyde while Emerald is off to Nyora.
