BOWLERS took the honours over batsmen on a day of carnage in the Bendigo District Cricket Association on Saturday.
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Of the five teams that batted first, the highest score was the 142 Golden Square fought its way to against Kangaroo Flat.
As well as Square’s 142, the other four teams that batted first on day one of round 11 were dismissed for just 133 (Strathdale-Maristians), 130 (Huntly-North Epsom), 121 (Bendigo) and 119 (Bendigo United) – an average score of 129.
However, the one exception to the batting struggles was Sandhurst – in particular dynamic opener Nayana Palamandadidge, who produced another stellar innings that has already secured the Dragons’ first innings points against Bendigo in the clash of third and fourth that is part of the duel for the Ron Slattery Cup.
Palamandadidge – the competition’s leading run-scorer – made another ton after surviving an early caught behind appeal on two off Alex Pearson (0-33) as the Dragons raced to 3-155 in reply to the Goers’ 121 at Weeroona Oval.
The Sri Lankan has now made three centuries in his past four innings – also 132 against Bendigo United and 114 against Kangaroo Flat – as he lifted his tally of runs for the season to 614 at an average of 68.2.
He’s now the first Sandhurst player to surpass 600 runs since Nick Scullie blasted 845 in 2006-07, but he will have to wait to add to his total after he was out late in the day when caught by Matt Gray off Kyle Humphrys (2-27).
Earlier, the Dragons wasted no time putting Bendigo on the back foot, with the Goers slumping to 6-40 in the 20th over.
They lost three of their wickets with the score on 40, with all three – Mark Ryan (0), Will Collicoat (0) and Jack Belsar (0) – dismissed by Will Keck as part of his career-best 4-37 off 9.5 overs.
From 6-40 Pearson (28) and Tom Hart (22) doubled the Goers’ score with a 40-run stand for the seventh wicket.
The Goers’ innings lasted 296 balls – 123 of which were faced by Mitchell Bench, who battled hard for his side’s top score of 34.
• Golden Square fought its way from 6-20 to post 142 against Kangaroo Flat at Wade Street.
Captain Brent Hamblin and Dylan Klemm did the early damage for the Roos as the Square top-order crumbled.
At one stage Hamblin had 3-9 off five overs and Klemm 3-8 off four in the early onslaught before Liam Smith (27) and Grant Connelly (50) worked hard to save the Square innings, which had started on a good note with Jake Higgins (7) scoring seven runs off the first three balls of the day.
Connelly overcame a lean run with the bat to make his first half-century of the season, with he and Smith batting together for 29 overs and adding 67 for the seventh wicket.
The Square innings later featured a valuable 28-run last-wicket stand between Darren Clutton (22 n.o.) and Saheed Akolade (8).
Klemm (4-42) and Hamblin (3-17) finished with a combined 7-59 off 31 overs for the Roos, who still have plenty of work to do on day two as they went to stumps at 3-50 – 41 of which had been scored by Dylan Gibson before he was stumped by Scott Johnson off Jamie Bysouth.
• With finals looking a long-shot heading into the round, reigning premier Eaglehawk’s bowlers stood up under pressure against ladder-leader Strathdale-Maristians at the QEO.
Led by Richard Tibbett’s sixth haul of at least five wickets in an innings, the Hawks – after losing yet another toss – knocked the Suns over for 133.
Tibbett – who recently passed the 200-wicket mark – added another five scalps as he claimed 5-74 off 16.4 overs.
He took three of his wickets in the one over when he dismissed Sam Johnston (27), Dylan Bailie (0) and first-gamer Hadley Bassett (0) all with the score on 114.
The Suns had one stage been 2-63 in the 26th over, before their last eight wickets tumbled for 70 runs over the following 26 overs.
While Tibbett was the chief destroyer for the Hawks, Shaun Knott gave little away with an economical 2-10 off 12 overs, which included the dismissal of the Suns’ top-scorer James Vlaeminck (43).
The Suns regained some momentum late in the day with four wickets as the Hawks fell from 0-55 to 4-86 at stumps, with the dismissals including the key departures of Jeremy Brown (10) and skipper Cory Jacobs (48), who had looked in good touch, with Johnston (2-21) removing both.
The game features three players on debut – the Suns’ Bassett and Darcy Bakes (5) and Eaglehawk’s Ben Williams.
• Strathfieldsaye’s Cory Devanny produced a career-best day with the ball as Strathfieldsaye bowled itself into a strong position at home against Huntly-North Epsom.
In just this third game of the season Devanny bagged 6-28 off 19 overs to play the leading role in the Power being dismissed for 130.
It would have been far worse for the Power had it not been for a 39-run stand for the 10th wicket between Cory Tanner (19 n.o.) and Jarrod Hodoras (17) after the score had been 9-91.
Apart from the last pair the only other players to score in double figures for the Power were Sandun Ranathunga (50) and skipper Elliott Massina (15), who was the first of Devanny’s six wickets.
Left-armer Michael Curtis also bowled well for the Jets in taking 3-40, which included removing previous-round century-maker Russell De Groot (2).
The Jets need 41 more runs with seven wickets in hand on day two after closing play at 3-90.
• White Hills’ coach Rhys Irwin snared five wickets as the Demons dismissed Bendigo United for 119 at Harry Trott Oval.
Irwin took 5-41 off 19.1 overs against a Bendigo United line-up that having one stage been 4-94 lost its last six wickets for 25 runs.
Irwin was well-supported by the sharp hands of Jack Bourke at second-slip. Bourke (2-17) grasped five catches for the day, three of which were off Irwin.
The Redbacks – who had Chris Howgate (27) top-score – lost 3-0 with the score on 94 during a tied-down period in which they didn’t score a run between the 35th and 41st overs.
Having been under pressure early at 2-5 in their chase, the Demons went to stumps at 2-45 with key batsmen Mitch Winter-Irving (23 n.o.) and Gavin Bowles (18 n.o.) at the crease.