READ MORE – Last week’s day one wrap
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SANDHURST V BENDIGO
SHANE Koop produced a marathon 305-ball innings and spent the entire match on the field in Bendigo’s first win of the BDCA season on Saturday.
Having lost their opening round match to Sandhurst, the Goers reversed that result with a 42-run victory over the reigning premiers in their return battle.
Chasing the Dragons’ 188 at Weeroona Oval, the Goers answered with 5-230 in an innings where Koop batted through all 97 overs.
READ MORE – ROUND TWO, DAY TWO PHOTOS
Having negotiated 12 overs before stumps last week, Koop then batted all 85 overs on day two, bringing up his ton in the shadows of stumps off the 301st ball he faced.
Having started the day on four, Koop finished it 102 not out in what was an innings where his first 50 came off 247 balls, before he upped the ante with his next 50 scored off 54.
The Dragons will be rueing the fact they were bowled out with 15 overs left unused last week given it took the Goers 92 overs – seven more than the customary 85 – to reach their target.
Koop struck eight boundaries in his innings, two of which were consecutively off Will Keck (0-29) that took him from 91 to 99.
He then squeezed the ball to gully and scampered for a single the next delivery to bring up his century.
Earlier, Koop put on 80 for the first wicket with recruit Liam Evans (39), with the Dragons taking 51 overs to break the partnership.
It was slow going for much of the Goers’ innings.
They took 33 overs to get to 50, 66 to get to 100 and 84 to get to 150 before all-rounder Alex Pearson (39 off 31) produced some lusty hitting late to go with his four wickets on day one.
The Goers at one stage lost 3-2 as Kyle Humphrys (21), Craig Pearce (0) and Tom Hart (1) all fell in quick succession as they fell from 1-115 in the 74th over to 4-117 in the 78th.
With the spinning duo of Sam Sperling and Shasheen Fernando doing plenty of work, the Dragons had already bowled 56 overs by the tea break.
The pair ended with a combined 3-103 off 53 overs – Sperling taking 2-64 off 29 and Fernando 1-39 off 24.
WHITE HILLS V EAGLEHAWK
• Eaglehawk recorded the season’s first outright victory at the expense of White Hills at Scott Street.
The Hawks declared on their day one score of 6-244 – leaving Anthony West unbeaten on 117 – in reply to the Demons’ 107.
After a disappointing showing with the bat the previous week, it looked like being more of the same for the Demons when by the fifth over of their second innings they were already 2-7, with their star batsman Gavin Bowles (0) among the early dismissals.
Despite the shaky start, the Demons produced a better effort in their second innings in getting to 173, largely thanks to a half-century to skipper Mitch Winter-Irving and fighting knock from Ben Daley.
Coming in at 3-26 in the 10th over, Winter-Irving played with aggression from the outset and belted 74 off 64, with 54 of his runs coming in fours (12) and sixes (one).
However, the introduction of Brodie Hawke (1-14) reaped immediate dividends for the Hawks when Winter-Irving was caught by West at deep mid-wicket off his first delivery.
Across the Demons’ two innings in which they lost 20 wickets for 280 runs, wicket-keeper Daley had the longest stay at the crease of 74 balls in his unbeaten 41 in their second dig.
Paceman Richard Tibbett (3-48) was the Hawks’ leading wicket-taker, with his first scalp courtesy of a superb diving catch by wicket-keeper Matt Fitt to dismiss Linc Jacobs (1).
Needing 37 for outright points, Hawks’ openers Marcus McKern (17 n.o.) and Cory Jacobs (16 n.o.) took 57 balls to reach 0-39.
As well as his knock of 117, the Hawks’ West also ended the match with five catches and a run out, earning him 182 points in the Addy’s MVP rankings.
STRATHDALE-MARISTIANS V GOLDEN SQUARE
• Scott Woodman and coach Grant Connely combined to steer Golden Square from a precarious position to inflicting a rare loss on Strathdale-Maristians at Bell Oval.
In pursuit of the Suns’ 7-231, Golden Square stumbled from 3-101 in the 30th over to 6-108 in the 33rd as the home side gained the momentum.
Desperately needing a partnership to stem the tide, Woodman and Connelly delivered with a brilliant 161-run stand for the seventh wicket in Golden Square’s tally of 281.
Woodman spent 251 minutes at the crease and faced 220 balls, but was dismissed on the devil’s number of 87. He came in at No.3 with the score at 1-46 in the 10th over and didn’t depart until Square was 269 and had its second win secured.
Connelly (81) was also dismissed in the 80s soon after, with he and Woodman both falling to the spin of teenager James Vlaeminck (2-32).
In his debut first XI game for the Suns Sam Bates picked up 3-44, with his first wicket that of opener Tim Wood (30 off 20), who had got Square off to a flyer.
Ryan Haythorpe (3-50) also finished with three wickets for the Suns.
STRATHFIELDSAYE V HUNTLY-NORTH EPSOM
• Strathfieldsaye is off to a 2-0 start to a season for only the second time since 2009-10.
The Jets successfully defended their 279 against Huntly-North Epsom, despite a gallant century from Power opener Ryan Grundy.
In his first innings back at the Power since rejoining the club from White Hills, opener Grundy amassed 104 in his side's tally of 192.
It was Grundy’s sixth BDCA century and featured nine fours and one six, with his innings ending in the 70th over when he was the final wicket to fall.
Grundy and fellow opener Danushka Wijemanna (29) got the Power off to a solid start with a 53-run stand for the first wicket, but once the partnership was broken by Jed Rodda (1-24) the Jets assumed control.
Six Power batsmen were dismissed for scores of six or less, while new Jets’ off-spinner Savith Priyan showed just what a valuable acquisition he will be by snaring 4-61 off 23.4 overs, which included the scalp of century-maker Grundy.
KANGAROO FLAT V BENDIGO UNITED
• Chris Barber spun Kangaroo Flat to its first victory of the season as the Roos defeated Bendigo United by 35 runs.
Resuming at 2-42 in reply to Kangaroo Flat’s 154 at Dower Park, the young Redbacks collapsed to be all out for 119.
Having one stage been 4-80, the Redbacks lost their last six wickets for just 39 runs in 23 overs.
Leg-spinner Barber took four of the last six wickets to fall as he finished with the brilliant figures of 4-18 off 16 overs, which included seven maidens.
Fellow spinner Dylan Gibson (1-13 off 11) also put the clamps on the Redbacks.
Thomas Starr (36) and skipper Jake Klemm (34), playing against his former side, combined to score more than half of the runs for the Redbacks, who had seven players dismissed for scores of six or under.
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