BDCA ROUND 8 - Trio of centuries as Stepien, Ryan, Beard start 2023 with a bang

White Hills' Brayden Stepien, Bendigo's James Ryan and Sandhurst's Taylor Beard have all returned to the BDCA this season after previously playing in the competition, with all three belting tons on Saturday.

Ryan and Beard scored their centuries in the same game against each other at Atkins Street, while Stepien smashed the BDCA's highest score during what is now the third straight season of the all one-day format.

It's the first time since December 12, 2020, three first XI centuries have been scored on the same day.

Stepien warmed up for the upcoming Australian Country Cricket Championships beginning later this week where he will represent Victoria Country by plundering 144 for the Demons against Golden Square at Wade Street.

Unlucky not to make a century earlier in the season when he finished 99 n.o. against Sandhurst in round five, Stepien put on a masterclass of power hitting.

The left-handed opener got his innings away with two boundaries from his first two scoring shots on his way to 144 off just 121 balls.

At one stage early in his innings the Demons had 65 on the board of which Stepien had scored 55, while the last 14 scoring shots of his knock featured five sixes.

As well as the five sixes in his innings, Stepien also cracked 13 boundaries before his 154-minute stay at the crease ended when he slipped and was stumped by Jake Higgins off Jack Keating (1-25) in the 39^th over with the score on 204.

Of the Demons' 8-254, Stepien and skipper Mitch Winter-Irving (60) combined for 204 of the runs.

Keating also had a hand in the dismissal of Winter-Irving, who he caught off the bowling of all-rounder Scott Trollope (2-67).

Already facing a mighty tough run chase, the innings got off to a disastrous start for Golden Square when opener Keating (0) was bowled by Rhys Irwin off the first ball.

It would be the first of five wickets for Irwin, while the Bulldogs fought their way to 225 before being dismissed in the 43^rd over as the Demons bounced back from two losses in a row prior to the mid-season break.

Irwin finished with figures of 5-34 off nine overs, while the bulk of Golden Square's runs were scored by the quartet of captain Liam Smith (64), Lachlan Saunders (39 n.o.) in his debut first XI innings, Max Grant (39) and Trollope (35).

In his 350^th first XI game for the Bulldogs - just the second player in BDCA history to reach the milestone - Scott Johnson scored nine as Square fell 29 runs short.

Highlighting the longevity of Johnson's career that began in 1991, seven of his team-mates on Saturday weren't born when he debuted in the first XI.

* At Atkins Street both James Ryan and Taylor Beard made unbeaten scores of 102, but it was Ryan's Bendigo that got the win over Sandhurst.

Ryan's phenomenal season with the bat for the Goers continued as he notched his maiden first XI ton for the club.

The class No.3 batsman came in at 1-21 in the fourth over and batted through the remainder of the innings to guide the Goers to 8-237 after he won the toss.

Captain Ryan's pursuit of a ton went down to the wire, with it taking until the second last ball of the innings for him to get to 100.

With his unbeaten 102 off 106 balls (nine fours, two sixes), Ryan in his first season back at the Goers from Essendon now has 499 runs at an average of 83.1.

To add some context to the calibre of the season Ryan is putting together, the No.2 run-scorer in the competition is Stepien with a distant 358.

Ryan was involved in two stands of 50-plus during his knock, putting on 51 for the third wicket with Kyle Humphrys (29) and 63 for the fourth with Bailey George (33).

Sandhurst didn't do itself any favours by bowling 29 wides, while the Dragons also suffered a blow when Nick Gladman (1-44) was forced to cut short his seventh over with a leg injury.

Beard (3-48) was the only multiple wicket-taker for the Dragons before later peeling off a ton with the bat.

Beard began his innings with the Dragons under immense pressure at 3-13 in the fifth over and at that stage looking long odds to bat out their 45 overs and challenge their target.

But Beard held the innings together and the Dragons did face out their full quota of 45 overs, but fell 30 runs short as they closed at 7-207.

Beard's 102 n.o. came off 123 balls with 10 fours and one six in what was his first century for the Dragons.

After taking the first three wickets to fall, at which stage he had figures of 3-7, Bendigo opening bowler Bailey Goodwin finished with 4-24 in what were the game's best figures.

* Strathfieldsaye retained its hold of second position - crucial this season given it comes with the bonus of a double chance - with a 60-run win over Eaglehawk at Canterbury Park.

The Jets overcame the loss of opener Pat Felmingham (0) in the first over of the day to post 7-219 after skipper Ben Devanny continued his good run at the toss with a fourth-straight win.

The cornerstone of the Jets' winning total was a 112-run stand for fifth wicket between Tim Wood and Campbell Love.

Both made half-centuries with Love finishing 66 n.o. off 101, while Wood struck at better than a run-a-ball with 57 off 54 balls, picking up from where he left off before the break when he had also made a half-century (53) against Golden Square in his previous knock.

Spinner Nathan Walsh was the Hawks' leading wicket-taker with 3-45 off eight overs, while Aaron Monro claimed the scalps of both Felmingham and Wood in his 2-45.

In reply the Hawks were immediately on the backfoot, slumping to 3-9 after just 22 balls as Jets' openers Jed Rodda and Chathura Damith made the most of the new ball.

From 3-9 the Hawks battled their way to 159 before bowled out in the 42^nd over as Rodda and Damith combined for seven wickets.

Damith bagged 4-25 and Rodda 3-28, while Hawks' skipper Farley battled hard to make a defiant 54 off 89 balls.

* Strathdale-Maristians is still unbeaten after defeating old rivals Bendigo United by five wickets at Harry Trott Oval.

After winning the toss the Redbacks compiled 8-160 against a Suns' attack that had Sam Johnston reach a milestone with the ball.

Johnston's dismissal of Redbacks' opener Tom Starr (14) was his 200^th wicket for the Suns, who he joined in 2014-15 after previously taking 117 for Huntly North.

Johnston (2-25) was one of three Suns' bowlers to take two wickets against a Redbacks' batting line-up that had plenty of starts with six players contributing between 13 and their top score of 44 made by Steve Barrett in his first A grade innings of the season.

Barrett and Marcus Mangiamelli (30) added 74 for the sixth wicket in the best stand of the innings.

The Redbacks gave themselves a chance of pulling off the upset when the Suns in reply crashed from 1-78 to 4-81, with young spinner Henry Edwards (3-38) taking the three wickets to fall in quick succession - opener Daniel Clohesy (42), Jack Neylon (0) and Matt Wilkinson (0).

Later at 5-115 there was still a glimmer of hope for the Redbacks - albeit the odds were still well and truly in favour of the Suns given their much revered batting depth.

Experience and youth combined to guide the Suns home as the pair of coach Grant Waldron (66 n.o.) and James Barri (20 n.o.) together finished the job for the visitors, who reached 5-161 in the 35^th over.

Earlier, the Suns' run chase had began with a rare duck from captain Cameron Taylor (0), who was caught by keeper Barrett off Sam Langley (1-28) off the first ball of the innings after gloving a rising ball.

* Kangaroo Flat's nine-wicket romp over Huntly North ensured all four of the top-four teams re-started their seasons with victories.

After being sent in at Dower Park the Power was all out for 126 against a Roos' bowling attack that had five players take at least one wicket led by veteran Adam Burns' 3-18.

Jack Simpson (27) top-scored for the Power after coming in at 5-49.

In reply the Roos needed just 16.2 overs - a run-rate of just under 8.0 - to answer with 1-127, with Daniel Barber (61 n.o.) and captain Jake Klemm (56 n.o.) scoring unbeaten half-centuries.

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