VSDCA: Bowling brilliance as Hoppers Crossing and Oakleigh charge towards finals in south-west section

Hoppers Crossing is eyeing a piece of club history in its VSDCA south-west season with Simon Lambert’s side in the mix for two pieces of silverware. See our weekend wrap plus a look ahead to Tuesday’s T20 final.

Aayushdeep Pathania lets fly for Oakleigh on his way to 4-17 against Williamstown on Saturday. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Hoppers Crossing has jumped into second spot after producing a bowling masterclass in VSDCA south-west section on Saturday as it eyes a piece of club history.

New-ball partners Brett Smith and Harshit Takkar took five wickets apiece as Hoppers routed Taylors Lakes for 89 to secure an 83-run victory at Lionheart Oval.

And Cats gloveman Justin Goegan snared five catches in a flawless display behind the stumps.

Takkar began the rout with a wicket in his first over, and Smith struck minutes later as Taylors Lakes crashed to 2-0, chasing 172.

Brett Smith had it hooping around. Picture: Andy Brownbill

The Hoppers slips fielders were on high alert as Smith pounded away on a good length and swung the ball.

He grabbed three wickets in quick succession to have Taylors Lakes reeling at 5-32.

Takkar then put his stamp on the game with four wickets in a row as the home side crashed from 5-63 to 9-78.

Smith completed the job by clean bowling No. 11 Prageeth Edirisinghe, Taylors Lakes’ run chase expiring in the 47th over.

Smith finished with 5-24 off 19.3 overs, while Takkar took 5-33 off 16 overs.

Smith is up to 25 wickets for the season, at an average of 10.72.

“The conditions were tailor made for Brett,” Hoppers captain-coach Simon Lambert said.

“He’s one of the best swing bowlers in the competition and he’s having a really strong season. The pitch was a little soft on top and he was able to make the most of the opportunity.

“Harshit bowls with a little bit of extra pace and he’s done a lot of his work with the older ball throughout the season. He came back in his second spell and was able to take more lower order wickets.

“It’s a role he’s been very effective in this season.

“As a team we’ve bowled well all season, they’re not leaking many runs.”

Hoppers Crossing has banked eight wins to position itself for a tilt at the title but the club’s first piece of Subbies First XI silverware could come as soon as Tuesday night.

The Cats will take on Elsternwick in the final of the T20 competition.

“It’s a massive opportunity,” Lambert said.

“We’ve been playing some good cricket across all forms this season, we’ve only lost two out of 15. We do like to go out and take the game on so T20 does suit our line-up.

“There is a bit of a challenge going from two-day games to the shorter format where you’ve got to be striking the ball well. But you never know what a good score might be, look at our game last week where both sides were around the 80s”.

Aayushdeep Pathania was impressive for Oakleigh. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Oakleigh demolished Williamstown at Warrawee Park with a stunning display of pace and seam bowling. The Oaks had the visitors reeling at 3-3 in an explosive start to the second day’s play. Oaks paceman Aayushdeep Pathania sent Willy opener Antone Harb’s middle stump flying to start the collapse. New-ball partner Alexander Jones chimed in, also disturbing the furniture as Williamstown slumped to 6-29. Sam Jones took a sharp catch at gully as Pathania claimed his fourth. Left-arm spinner Madurawalage Jayasundera completed the job. Jones finished with 5-32 off 17 overs, and is up to 24 wickets for the season, while Pathania took 4-17 off 13 overs, with six maidens. Oakleigh (9-2) sits three points clear on top of the ladder.

Ormond had to settle for first innings points after falling six runs short of outright victory over Melton. Jamie Price cracked 83 off 82 balls as the Monders, in reply to 123, rushed to 8-175 before declaring. Batting again, Melton was shot out for 139 in its second dig, with Ormond champ Rodney Bird taking 4-27. Set 88 off 14 overs to take maximum points, Ormond finished 7-82, with Bailey Moon blasting a couple of sixes in a gallant bid, making 46no off 35 balls.

Oli Hayes (4-32) and Jacob Thorne (4-40 off 31.4 overs) bowled Caulfield to a gripping 18-run win over Brighton. Hayes took the first three wickets before Thorne spun a web as Brighton’s pursuit of 153 ended in the 74th over, all out for 135. Caulfield skipper and wicketkeeper James Small took six catches behind the stumps.

Yarraville’s top order fired to set up a rousing run chase win over Elsternwick. In reply to 255, Yarraville skipper Joshua Hahnel and No. 4 Ashish Mathew scored half-centuries in a total of 6-258 off 78.3 overs. Hahnel made 52 (with 9 fours) and Mathew 66 (with 6 fours), while opener Matthew Harrison (33), Tejas Hari (27), Michael Sheedy (29no) and Akshat Buch (18no) made key contributions.

Altona improved its record to 7-4 with a clinical win over Moorabbin. Defending 231, Altona rolled the Saints for 135 in 54.5 overs, with Rory Medlock (3-18) and Charlie Ward (3-14) doing the damage. Altona has cemented fifth spot.