Gisborne and Murray Valley showed their class with decisive wins in division one on day two of Bendigo Country Week.
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Gisborne outclassed Emu Valley on the back of a brilliant 175 from Ben Way, while Murray Valley's Liam Evans made an unbeaten 119 in his side's comfortable win over Northern Districts.
Way monstered the Emu Valley bowling attack at Canterbury Park.
The former Melbourne batsman faced just 140 balls for his 175, hitting 17 fours and five sixes. His total was just 34 runs short of Emu valley's team score.
Way added 120 for the third wicket with Haydn Ross (43 off 67 balls) as Gisborne cruised to 5-320 off 50 overs in reply to Emu Valley's score of 6-209.
After making 82 on day one, Emu valley opener Matt Dwyer top scored for his side again on Tuesday with 79 off 74 balls, including six fours and five sixes.
Greg Thomas (48 off 121 balls) and Daniel Chamberlain (46 off 73 balls) also made scores for the EVCA.
Nathan Dantonio took 3-25 for Gisborne, which sits on top of the table ahead of fellow undefeated side Murray Valley.
Northern Districts battled hard, but didn't have the depth to match Murray Valley at White Hills.
Murray Valley's bowlers hardly put a foot wrong in restricting Northern Districts to 174 on a good batting deck.
Young quicks Kane Goldsworthy (3-18) and Jesse Trower (3-45) did the bulk of the damage with the ball.
After taking two wickets bowling his off-spinners, Liam Evans made a fine 119 off 160 balls with the bat. The tall opener hit 10 fours and two sixes in his 50-over stay at the crease.
Teenager Riley Gow set the tone for Murray Valley by blasting 76 off 82 balls in a 116-run opening stand with Evans.
West Indian import Zeniffe Fowler finished the job with an unbeaten 54 from as many balls.
Defending champions Goulburn Murray moved into third spot on the ladder after breaking its duck against Castlemaine.
After being sent into bat by Goulburn Murray, Castlemaine caollpased from 1-61 to all out for 152.
Cameron Sharp (4-42) bowled superbly for Goulburn Murray, while Sam Bartlett top scored for Castlemaine with 43.
Goulburn Murray overcame the early loss of its openers to pass Castlemaine's total five wickets down.
Sam Kershaw led the way with 75 off 105 balls and Alister McCann made a quickfire 31 off 24 balls.
Once the winning runs were struck, Goulburn Murray lost its final five wickets for 25 runs to be all out for 179 in the 46th over.
Karson Beer and Jonty Entwistle took three wickets each for Castlemaine.
In division two, Wangaratta and Portland are the only undefeated teams after two rounds.
Wangaratta set up its round two win with a solid bowling performance against Red Cliffs.
Wangaratta restricted Red Cliffs to 180 despite a hard-hitting 53 off 59 balls by skipper Mark East.
Wangaratta opening bowler Mark Butters (3-34) claimed his second-straight three-wicket haul, while Joe Thomas took 3-46.
Number three batsman Matt Casey ensured Wangaratta (6-206) had few troubles in the run chase by posting an unbeaten 100 off 130 balls.
Casey has made 159 runs in two days and is yet to be dismissed.
Portland’s total of 8-213 proved to much for Maryborough (178) at Golden Square.
A fine half-century from Jordi Withers (59) was the highlight of Portland’s innings.
Maryborough opening bowler Steve Dellavedova took 4-29 off 12 overs.
A quickfire 40 by opener Liam Radlof and 48 from Kane Leathem put Maryborough in a strong position in its run chase.
However, when Leathem fell the wheels fell off. Maryborough lost 3-0 and couldn’t regain the momentum.
Sydney Ray (3-55) continued his good form with the ball for Portland and he received great support from Jarrod Holt (3-32).
Colac won a high-scoring game against Grassmere at Weeroona Oval.
Stephen Blacker made 48 and Braden Hotker 42 in Grassmere’s total of 210. Alberts took 5-33 for Colac.
In reply, Colac raced to victory after openers Mulgrew and Parker added 157 for the first wicket.
Mulgew made 89 off 111 balls and Parker added 74 off 91 balls to lead Colac to 7-239 off 50 overs.
Liam Balcombe (5-37) did his job with the ball for Grassmere.
Northern United stamped itself as the team to beat in division three.
After making 97 on day one, Northern United’s premier batsmen James Harney belted 125 on day two against Colac Colts.
Opening batsman Luke Bell (102) also made a fine century in Northern United’s total of 7-275 at Huntly.
Northern United opening bowler Jeremy Blencowe (4-29) took some crucial wickets as Colac Colts (249) put on a brave performance with the bat.
Another Mitch Winter-Irving century wasn’t enough to get Bendigo Colts over the line against Swan Hill at Bell Oval.
Winter-Irving added 109 to the 200 not out he made against Upper Loddon on day one.
Chasing Swan Hill’s score of 7-263, Winter-Irving and skipper Miggy Podosky (57 not out) were the only batsmen to score more than 25. Frank Violi took three wickets for Swan Hill.
Earlier in the day, former Huntly-North Epsom batsman Daniel Cruickshank belted a brilliant 95 for Swan Hill.
Upper Loddon and Grassmere Colts played out a thrilling tie at North Bendigo.
Upper Loddon lost its final nine wickets for 27 to collapse from 1-91 to all out 118 inside 35 overs.
Grassmere Colts looked set for victory when they were 5-107, but their lower-order fell away under pressure.
Upper Loddon took 5-9 to tie the game at 118 each. Luke Cassells (3-24) and Nick Leach (3-9) were the heroes with the ball for Upper Loddon.
In the final game of the round, Grampians Colts made it two wins from as many games when they defeated Wimmera-Mallee by 103 runs at Strathfieldsaye.
Chris Jerram (54) and Matt Heffer (43 not out) led the charge with the bat for Grampians in their score of 7-205.
Jerram then took 5-26 with the ball as Wimmera-Mallee collapsed to be all out for 102.
The top two teams in the division two and division three competitions will clash on Wednesday.
Bendigo Country Week round three draw:
Division one – Gisborne v Northern Districts at White Hills, Emu Valley v Goulburn Murray at Bell Oval, Castlemaine v Murray valley at Wesley Hill.
Division two – Portland v Wangaratta at Canterbury Park, Colac v Maryborough at Weeroona Oval, Grassmere v Red Cliffs at Harry Trott Oval.
Division three – Bendigo Colts v Wimmera-Mallee at Strathfieldsaye, Colac Colts v Grassmere Colts at Huntly, Northern United v Grampians Colts at Raywood, Swan Hill v Upper Loddon at Dower Park.