Neilson goes back-to-back
Division 5
Western Park 4/350 def Longwarry 7/331 Western Park’s John Neilson has recorded back-to-back hundreds in spectacular fashion at the weekend, amassing an incredible 192.
After a watchful start that saw him reach the half-century, Neilson began to accelerate with the ball flying to all parts of the ground.
Milestone after milestone was passed and it looked as though a rare double hundred was on the cards before Neilson went to the well once too often and was caught on the fence.
Dave Winfield (32) was the perfect foil to Neilson’s onslaught, turning the strike over with good running between the wickets. Josh Winfield (36*) remained calm under pressure helping his side to a hard-fought victory.
Earlier in the day it was Raman Gautam (29) and Al Hickman (42) who set a solid foundation for the Warriors chase.
Single wickets went to Jesse Lafrantz, Darren Pope, and Bob Thomas.
Both sides move into the semi-finals this weekend with Western Park facing top side Garfield-Tynong and Longwarry meeting Jindivick.
Vandenberge unleashes
Garfield-Tynong 7/316 (dec) drew Jindivick 4/209 (cc)
Titan’s all-rounder Darren Vandenberge unleashed a savage attack on the Jindivick bowlers that saw him amass a whopping 146 not out. His innings included 18 fours and six sixes. Resuming at 4/211 (with Vandenberge on 67) Garfield-Tynong raced away to set a huge target for the Jumping Jacks.
Toby Hart broke through to snare two wickets.
In reply, Jindivick set a good pace with Mick Dixon (30) and Tim Jeffrey opening up. Jeffrey top-scored with a season high 82.
David Chugg finished the day not out on 56 as the match petered out to a draw due to the rain interruption on day one.
Hawks hold off Lyrebirds
Buln Buln 4/261 (cc) drew Drouin 8/128 Drouin narrowly avoided defeat in their rain affected clash with Buln Buln.
Resuming at 2/223 the Lyrebirds added a further 38 rains while losing the wickets of Rob Park (114) and John Rowe (71).
Ben Nixon added to his wicket tally to finish with 3/56.
In reply, the Hawks struggled from the outset with wickets falling at regular intervals.
Jayden Bibby top-scored for the home side with 24 while Lochie Downie (16) and Chris McNeill (17) making handy contributions.
Riley Sherrard bowled his best spell in senior cricket to date, picking up 4/12 off six overs. Patrick Ireland chimed in with 3/29.