PHOTOS - Bendigo v White Hills

JAMES Vlaeminck's maiden first XI century on Saturday helped Strathdale-Maristians become the first team to break the 300-run barrier in the Bendigo District Cricket Association this season.

The Suns went on a scoring spree against Sandhurst at Weeroona Oval, smashing 5-309 off their 45 overs, with opener Vlaeminck one of three players to pass 50.

Vlaeminck and fellow opener Cameron Taylor laid the foundation for the Suns' massive score with a 170-run partnership for the first wicket, with the scoreboard ticking over from the outset.

The Suns had 51 on the board after 10 overs and 101 after 20, with their first wicket not falling until the 29^th over when Vlaeminck was bowled by Dylan Gibson (1-33) for 102.

Vlaeminck's 102 came off 104 balls with 12 boundaries - the last of which brought up his ton - and two sixes.

Vlaeminck's dismissal brought to the wicket the competition's leading run-scorer, Grant Waldron, who went into Saturday having scored 214 runs without being dismissed.

With Taylor (62) falling soon after Vlaeminck's dismissal, Waldron added 78 for the third wicket with Jack Neylon.

Neylon began his innings with six singles, before upping the ante, going on to smack 55 off just 32 balls with five sixes and two fours.

Waldron's streak of unbeaten innings came to an end with the score on 288 when he was caught on the boundary for 40 by Caelan Smith, with Anthony McMahon (1-55) becoming the first player this season to claim his wicket.

As well as taking the wicket of Waldron, McMahon was the only Dragons' player to bowl a maiden.

Sam Johnston closed the Suns' innings with a quickfire 30 n.o. off 16 balls as Strathdale-Maristians set the Dragons a required run-rate of 6.88 to win.

The Dragons batted out their 45 overs in reply and made a score that would have been good enough to win any other game on Saturday, but instead their 178 was 131 runs shy of the Suns.

Following his superb innings with the bat Vlaeminck followed up by taking the first two Dragons' wickets - Ash Gray (35) and captain Joel Murphy (13) - on his way to tidy figures of 2-29 off nine overs and the No.1 spot in the Addy MVP rankings after four rounds.

Following a relatively subdued start to the season by his lofty standards, fellow spinner Taylor completed his best all-round game of the first four rounds with 3-28 off nine overs.

Among Taylor's wickets was the in-form Gibson (39), who had made 150 runs his his previous two innings without being dismissed.

Having come in at 2-64 in the 13^th over Ben Leed batted through the remainder of the innings to finish unbeaten on 50 off 84 balls.

Nine wickets between Brent Hamblin and Jake Klemm was the catalyst for Kangaroo Flat's win over Huntly-North Epsom in the match of the round at Strauch Reserve.

The Power have caused Kangaroo Flat plenty of problems over the past two seasons, but in a sign of their elevation to genuine contender, this time the Roos won by six wickets.

Batting first the Power were all out for 107.

Hamblin celebrated his 29^th birthday in style with a brilliant spell of 5-10 off nine overs with four maidens.

Among Hamblin's five wickets were the scalps of Power openers Ryan Grundy (26) and Thusith Alboruge (4), while spinner Klemm's solid form with the ball continued.

Klemm snared 4-27 off six overs, which included the dismissals of the Power's two dangermen in Danushka Wijemanna (3) and Adam Ward (15).

Between then Hamblin and Klemm finished with 9-37 from 15 overs.

"It was a pretty flat wicket, so I was really happy to keep Huntly to 107. We took our chances in the field, so that set us up well,'' Roos' captain Chris Barber said

"Hammer bowled really smart... he kept it simple and let the wickets come to him.

"And Klemmy was great as well. His bowling has been exceptional so far this year. For him to be able to bowl his nine overs most weeks and be chipping in with wickets has been really important for us."

Elliott Massina's 27 was the top score for the Power, with his run out by Nathan Newlan off the last ball of the innings the first time he has been dismissed this season.

Playing against the side in which he took 40 wickets for last season, Roos' recruit Lewis Stabler finished with 0-22 from nine overs.

Having to chase for the fourth time in as many games, the Roos took 34.2 overs to reply with 4-108.

Opener Chris Barber was the Roos' chief run-scorer early, scoring 49 of Kangaroo Flat's first 63 before he was the second wicket to fall when dismissed by Sandun Ranathunga (2-13).

Having been integral in setting the win up with his four wickets, Klemm later finished the job for the Roos with an unbeaten 25.

Eaglehawk dug itself out of a precarious position with the bat to defeat Bendigo United by two wickets.

Chasing the Redbacks' 98 on a tough wicket to bat on at Canterbury Park, the Hawks were staring at a third loss in a row when they slumped to 7-66 in the 23^rd over.

However, a determined knock from Nash Viney with support from Richard Tibbett, who was elevated up to No.9, and Brendan Archbold guided the Hawks over the line.

From 7-66 Tibbett (6) and Viney added a steadying 16 for the eighth wicket.

But when Tibbett was dismissed by Ashley Younghusband (1-11) it still left the Hawks needing 17 runs to win with two wickets in hand.

Viney and Archbold were able to deny the Redbacks their first win of the season, adding the 17 runs required, taking the score to 8-99 as the Hawks won with 39 balls to spare.

Viney (14 n.o.) came in under pressure at 4-45 and defied the Redbacks for 66 balls, while Archbold finished 9 n.o.

Both were caught during their innings, but weren't dismissed.

With the score on 91 Viney was caught by Riley Treloar off a full-toss no-ball from Billy Quirk (0-20).

Off the next delivery Archbold was caught by Miggy Podosky at deep mid-wicket off the free hit.

Jake Thrum (3-19), Podosky (2-17) and Tom Batters (2-21) in his return from a hamstring concern combined to take the first seven wickets for the Redbacks.

Earlier, the day got off to a positive start for the Redbacks when Podosky won his first toss of the season and elected to bat.

But it was tough going for the Redbacks, with opener Tom Starr (40) and Batters (13) the only players to score in double figures.

The Redbacks lost their last seven wickets for just 32 runs having one stage been 3-66.

Paceman Tibbett (3-24) and leg-spinner Russell Stockdale (3-13) in his first game for the season both snared three wickets for the Hawks.

"It was a tricky pitch today. Conditions probably suited the bowlers and I thought we bowled really well. It was a tough slog at the Borough," Hawks' skipper Cory Jacobs said.

"We were under some pressure with the bat, but Nash was really good for us... we're putting a lot of time into our kids and it's good for their growth to be able to win tough games like today."

Bendigo with three first-gamers bounced back from consecutive losses to beat White Hills by three wickets at the QEO.

Chamodh Pathirana, Bailey George and Noah Begg all made their first XI debuts for the Goers, who bowled first and dismissed the Demons for 155.

The star with the ball for the Goers was Dylan Johnstone.

The sixth bowler used and not coming into the attack until the 36^th over, Johnstone took the last five wickets to fall to finish with 5-18 from five overs.

The first of Johnstone's five wickets was Caleb Barras, who scored his third-consecutive half-century for the Demons, making 51.

Earlier, Brayden Stepien's return innings for the Demons was short-lived. He was dismissed in the second over when caught by Declan Slingo at cover off Jotham Higgs (2-22).

In reply George had an immediate impact with the bat for the Goers.

Given the chance to open the batting George made the most of it, cracking 69 off 72 balls with nine fours and two sixes.

"Bailey has a bit of a go when he bats and that's something we'd probably been lacking through the early overs in the first few games, so we wanted to try something different and see if we could get ahead of the run-rate," Goers' captain Nathan Fitzpatrick said.

The Goers looked like cruising to victory with George and Shane Koop (26) at the crease.

They had put on 77 for the second wicket and taken the score from 1-42 to 119 before the Demons hit back and gave themselves a sniff.

Led by the spin of the crafty Gavin Bowles (3-8), the Demons took 6-27 to have the Goers 7-146.

But Slingo (7 n.o.) and Johnstone (0 n.o.) held firm for the Goers, guiding Bendigo to 7-156.

"We're a young side, so we know we're going to have ups and downs, but to have now beaten two of last season's finalists (White Hills and Strathfieldsaye) is really encouraging," Fitzpatrick said.

Strathfieldsaye overhauled Golden Square's 8-141 to win by two wickets with one over to spare at Wade Street.

With Jets' captain Ben Devanny losing his fourth-consecutive toss and his side again having to bowl first, Strathfieldsaye had the heat on Golden Square with the Bulldogs crashing to 7-73.

However, the experienced Max Grant dug in for the Bulldogs, batting out the remainder of the innings and finishing unbeaten on 56.

At one stage the Bulldogs lost 4-8, falling from 1-28 to 5-36.

Devanny took two of those wickets to fall as part of his 3-16 off nine overs.

While no player cashed in on a start - six Strathfieldsaye players got to double figures - the Jets had enough contributors to get over the line, answering with 8-142.

Just as he was the previous week when the Jets beat Sandhurst in the final over, Mitch Cheesman was again at the crease when the winning runs were hit, finishing 30 n.o. off 70 balls.

Skipper Liam Smith was the best with the ball for the Bulldogs, claiming 3-41 off nine overs.

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