BDCA ROUND 10 ACTION | PHOTOS

A SUPERB diving catch low to the ground by Golden Square wicket-keeper Max Grant clinched a thrilling two-run win for the Bulldogs against Eaglehawk in the resumption of the Bendigo District Cricket Association season on Saturday.

With the Hawks' 9-143 chasing Golden Square's 145, Eaglehawk's No.11 Richard Tibbett (1) edged a delivery from the Bulldogs' Callum Tibbett (1-17).

With the game on the line Grant dived to his right and took the catch for the Bulldogs to win their third match of the season and cap a fightback from the home side.

The Hawks appeared well on track to win at 6-126 with Aaron Monro and Nick Farley having put on 40 for the seventh wicket.

At that stage the Hawks needed 20 to win with four wickets in hand.

However, the Bulldogs hit back with the dismissal of both Monro (9) and Farley (27) with the score on 126.

Monro was caught by Riley Hocking at mid-wicket off Jake Higgins and Hawks' top-scorer Farley was bowled by Square mid-season recruit Kayle Thompson (2-26).

Nash Viney and Brendan Archbold then set about reproducing their ninth-wicket partnership against Bendigo United from round four when they got the Hawks over the line from a similar position.

They added 14 to take the score to 140 before Archbold (5) was bowled around his legs trying to sweep Golden Square captain Liam Smith.

That left No.11 Tibbett and Viney (4 n.o.) needing to put on six for the final wicket to win, of which they managed to score three.

"I think today shows how far we've come because we were pretty much buggered when Eaglehawk needed 20 runs with four wickets in hand and 15 overs to go. But we're learning from the close games we've had and to come out the other side today with a win is great," victorious skipper Smith said.

Smith led from the front with the ball, taking a season-best 4-29 from his nine overs, while fellow spinner Higgins had an immediate impact in his first A Grade game of the season.

Leg-spinner Higgins snared 3-22 from nine overs, including the wicket of Hawks' dangerman Anthony West (24).

"Jake has had a calf injury and to be honest, he probably wasn't going to bowl today. But we needed to get a wicket and we threw him the ball and he ended up getting three," Smith said.

Earlier, the Bulldogs left 22 balls unused after they were bowled out in the 42^nd over for 145.

Golden Square had been 8-102 before a pivotal 37-run partnership between Connor Miller (20) and teenager Ben Derrick (13) set Square up for what proved to be a winning score.

As well as his four-for with the ball, Smith also top-scored for Square with 33 to continue his solid season.

Josh Williams (3-9) and captain Cory Jacobs (3-24) both snared three wickets for the Hawks.

Earlier in the day in the third XI Eaglehawk stalwart Jason Abbott notched a milestone with his 10,000^th career run for the Hawks.

Bendigo United has strung together back-to-back wins for the first time since the 2016-17 season.

The Redbacks followed up their win over Bendigo pre-break with a five-wicket victory over White Hills at Scott Street.

The win was set up by the Redbacks' bowlers, who restricted the Demons to 7-150 after White Hills won the toss and batted first.

Redbacks' captain Miggy Podosky edged closer to the career 300-wicket milestone by bagging 3-15 off nine overs to be the pick of the Bendigo United bowlers.

Also keeping the pressure on the Demons' batsmen was Billy Quirk (1-17), whose nine overs cost just 17 runs and featured three maidens.

Quirk claimed the key wicket of the in-form Gavin Bowles.

Coming off scores of 64 and 114 n.o. in his previous two hits, Bowles was caught at cover by Jake Thrum off Quirk for 13.

Thrum was also involved in another of the Redbacks' key dismissals when he ran out Demons' captain and round one nemesis Mitch Winter-Irving (3) with a direct hit from point.

Coming in with the Demons' 5-80 in the 33^rd over, Ollie Geary smacked an unbeaten 51 off 48 balls with four boundaries and one six.

In reply, openers Ben Daley (42) and Scott Harper (31) got the Redbacks' chase off to a strong start with a 58-run partnership, which was followed by a 46-run stand for the second wicket between Daley and Riley Treloar (36).

There was some cause for concern for the Redbacks through when they lost 3-2 to fall from 2-116 to 5-118, but that was only short-lived as Harry Donegan (21 n.o.) and Thrum (12 n.o.) combined to lift Bendigo United to 5-153 with 23 balls to spare.

"It was probably a 180 wicket, so we were really happy to restrict them to 150. Having said that, we leaked some runs through poor fielding and dropped catches," Podosky said.

"But we still needed to put our heads down and bat well to get the runs.

"We needed someone to stand up with the bat today and it was really good to see the way Ben Daley went about it, particularly against his former side. He stepped up really well for us."

Winter-Irving (2-22) was the only multiple wicket-taker for White Hills.

Strathdale-Maristians retained its unbeaten record, holding off Huntly-North Epsom to win by 12 runs in the match of the round at Strauch Reserve.

At a ground where runs haven't come easy this season, the Suns cracked 6-204 off their 45 overs batting first.

The cornerstone of the innings was an 82-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Jack Neylon and captain Ben DeAraugo.

They took the score from 3-46 in the 18^th over to 128 in the 32^nd before they were dismissed in consecutive balls by the Power's left-arm spinner Malan Madusanka (3-57)

Neylon's knock of 59 was his fourth half-century of the season, while DeAraugo made 34.

Sam Johnston chimed in with 41 n.o. off 44 late, helping the Suns score 66 off their last 10 overs to push their score above 200.

Led by opener Ryan Grundy, the Power made a good fist of their run-chase, but the Suns' 204 proved beyond them as they were restricted to 6-192 in reply.

"Credit to Strathdale... Chris Sole and Sam Johnston bowled really well at the end and didn't give us a chance to get up and under anything," Power captain Elliott Massina said.

"Strathdale showed why they are the best side in the competition."

Grundy returned to form with 89 off 117, cracking eight boundaries and two sixes before holing out off the bowling of Cameron Taylor and being caught on the boundary by Neylon with the score on 155 in the 37^th over.

Grundy was well supported by fellow opener Supun Devinda (24), with the pair putting on 94 for the first wicket.

Paceman Chris Sole (2-36) and leg-spinner Taylor (2-33) picked up two wickets each for the Suns, who moved a step closer to locking up a double chance.

The Huntly-North Epsom side featured a new recruit in Peter Manser, who opened the bowling and took 1-22 off six overs.

Manser has previously played second XI cricket for Victoria, as well as Premier Cricket with North Melbourne and Carlton.

"He bowled pretty well off four or five paces today. He hasn't played for a while, but you could see the competitive juices get flowing," Massina said.

Strathfieldsaye opener Nayana Fernando scored the BDCA's first century of the 2021 calendar year in the Jets' win over Bendigo at Atkins Street.

The Jets produced the best batting performance of the day, posting 7-244 on the back of a 182-run second wicket partnership between Fernando and Callum McCarty.

Opener Fernando crunched 119 - his first century for the Jets and fourth in the BDCA after making three for his previous club Sandhurst in 2017-18.

Fernando smacked 12 fours and three sixes, while McCarty made 66.

The pair's superb partnership began in the third over with the score on one when captain Ben Devanny's attempt to leave a ball from Dylan Johnstone (1-24) instead came off the toe of his bat and was caught by wicket-keeper Xavier Ryan.

However, the Goers wouldn't take their next wicket until the 33^rd over.

"Nayana and Cal batted really well together. We were only 50-odd (54) after 15 overs, but they then really got a move on with some good shots," Devanny said.

"Cal rotated the strike well and once Nayana got to about 40 he was then in a real hurry."

Bendigo skipper Nathan Fitzpatrick's 3-37 included the wickets of both Fernando (c Will Collicoat) and McCarty (c Ryan), while fellow all-rounder Kyle Humphrys (3-56) also snared three wickets.

The strong start the Goers needed in their chase eluded them when they quickly fell to 2-12 in the third over.

Apart from a 60-run stand for the fifth wicket between Shane Koop (42) and Ryan (26), wickets tumbled regularly before the Goers' innings ended in the 40^th over for 178 as they fell 66 runs short.

Jed Rodda (2-32), Stuart Payne (2-30) in his first A Grade game of the season in place of Chathura Damith (knee) and spinner Darcy Hunter (2-44) all took two wickets for the Jets.

Kangaroo Flat's Lewis Stabler claimed the BDCA's first five-wicket haul of the calendar year in the Roos' win over Sandhurst at Weeroona Oval.

Star left-armer Stabler bagged 5-24 as the Dragons were all out for 162 batting first.

Stabler took the first three wickets to fall - Will Keck (11), Dylan Gibson (3) and Jasper Langley (2) - and later knocked over Nathan Walsh (11) and debutante Alec Robson (0).

Wicket-keeper Matt Dwyer was busy behind the stumps, taking three catches, inflicting two leg-side stumpings off Kenny Beith (3-23) and combining with Stabler for a run-out.

Captain Joel Murphy (46) and Braydon Vaz (42 n.o.) were the best with the bat for the Dragons.

In reply, Jake Klemm (87) in his best knock of the season and Riley Burns (44 n.o.) with his highest A Grade score provided the backbone of the Roos' successful run chase, putting on 114 for the fourth wicket as the visitors took 40.5 overs to reach 4-164 and keep a tight grip on second position.

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