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MARONG'S David Blume fell just short of a century, but his innings helped propel Marong to a second-consecutive win in the Emu Valley Cricket Association on Saturday.

The Panthers backed up their one-day win over United last week with a 65-run victory over Mandurang at Marong.

Batting at No.3, Blume was in almost immediately after opener Scott Ross (0) was caught by Phil Berry off James Bailey (3-31) on the first ball of the day.

And when Bailey struck again in his next over to remove fellow opener Habaragamu Buddima (2) the Panthers were 2-5.

However, Blume was the catalyst for the Panthers digging themselves out of early trouble to post 7-186 off their 40 overs.

Blume batted through until he was the sixth wicket to fall, making 96 off 124 balls.

He was denied a ton when caught behind off James Pietromonaco (2-20).

Blume, who took his season tally to 370 runs, struck six fours and two sixes and shared in partnerships of 81 for the third wicket with Duane Anderson (20) and 56 for the fourth with skipper Tom Wilson (27).

The Rangas were on the ropes early in their chase at 3-6 before being bowled out for 121, of which 86 were made by the pair of Matt Pask (50) and Pietromonaco (36).

Jayden Laubsch (3-41), Adam Brown (2-8) and Blume (2-18) were all multiple wicket-takers for the Panthers, who dismissed the Rangas in the 29^th over.

* United overtook Maiden Gully in third position after beating the Lions by 38 runs.

Jayde Mullane (55), Troy Young (44), Broderick Williams (42), playing against the side he spent the first half of the season with, Chris Ryan (41) and captain Harry Whittle (41 n.o.) spearheaded a strong Tigers' batting performance that had three partnerships of 50-plus at Epsom-Huntly.

Mullane and Williams laid the foundation with a 66-run opening stand, which was followed by Mullane and Ryan adding 76 for the second.

Whittle and Young later put on 51 for the fourth wicket as the Tigers posted 5-237.

Maiden Gully batted out its 40 overs in reply, making 9-199 after openers Brodie Pearce (51) and Matt Felini (40) had also got the innings off to a solid start with a 61-run stand before the Lions lost 3-7 to fall to 3-68.

The Tigers' Ryan followed up his 41 with the bat by taking 4-42 with the ball as United notched its sixth win in its past seven games.

* Emu Creek has cut its gap to the top four from 24 points at the start of the day to 16 following its six-wicket win over West Bendigo.

The Redbacks, who upset the Emus earlier in the season in round two, were dismissed for 127 batting first, with No.3 Connor Robertson's 40 the top score.

Torin Petrie (3-15), Nathanael Lesuey (2-6) and Anthony Collins (2-28) took seven wickets between them for the Emus.

With Brent Downie and Simon Marwood both scoring half-centuries, the Emus hit back from 2-8 early to answer with 4-132, winning in the 24^th over at Ken Wust Oval.

Opener Downie batted through the innings, finishing 53 n.o., while Marwood cracked seven boundaries and three sixes in his entertaining 60 off 50.

Taran Kilcullen (3-26) took three of the Redbacks' four wickets and now has 28 for the season.

* Spring Gully maintained top spot after its three-wicket win over California Gully.

The Cobras could muster just 116 batting first as wickets tumbled regularly throughout.

However, while wickets fell around him, No.4 Travis Nolan (38 n.o.) battled hard to try to hold the innings together.

Nick Skeen took the first three wickets for the Crows on his way to figures of 3-23.

The Cobras gave themselves a sniff of an upset victory when the Crows slumped from 2-88 to 7-104 in reply as Brad Webster (3-13) and Jesse O'Connell (2-29) gave California Gully a spark, before Byron Perrin (16 n.o.) and Skeen (4 n.o.) finished the job for the Crows, who were 7-124 when stumps were pulled.

* Sedgwick defeated Axe Creek by 66 runs.

Sent into bat at Longlea, the Rams' 8-227 featured 72 from captain Greg Thomas, who put on 56 for the first wicket with Alan Friswell (29).

All five Axe Creek bowlers took a wicket, with Blake Hodgskiss (3-55) picking up three.

While they didn't win, a positive for the winless Cowboys against the reigning premier was they batted out their 40 overs making 6-161, with the bulk of the runs coming from the trio of Daniel Dixon (52 n.o.), captain Ash Dixon (45 n.o.) and Dean Comensoli (32).

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