Wild bags six for Ormond, Caulfield and Bayswater tie

Six wickets for James Wild, a tie and a fine innings from Brendan McGuinness highlight Subbies south-east section action.

Whack: Brendan McGuiness hits out for his Oakleigh team. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Having stepped down from the captaincy, James Wild is taking more of a back seat at Ormond this season.

Clearly, he intends to be no passenger.

The veteran allrounder grabbed 6-17 off eight overs on Saturday as the Monders hit Moorabbin with a second heavy loss to start the Sub-District season.

With veteran Brendan Barry clouting 3 sixes and 3 fours and speeding to 39 off 22 balls, the Monders finished with 9-197 off their 40 overs.

A patient 31 from Dylan Rhys-Jones and a flowing 35 from Sachin Varadajaran (2 sixes, 3 fours) were also handy for the hosts after they struck early trouble from impressive Moorabbin quickie Damsara Munuwara, who captured 4-29 off eight overs.

The Binners had been swept aside for 39 by Malvern in Round 1, and they fared only marginally better on Saturday, falling for 57 in 26.1 overs.

Wild bowled not only in sunglasses, but his club cap since he could not hand it to the umpire under the new COVID-19 playing conditions.

Nishantha Weerakkody lets fly for Noble Park. Picture: Valeriu Campan

He said Moorabbin, a finalist last season, was clearly missing the experience of former coach Romain Grenville and overseas pair Karl Carver and Vish Wijeratne.

The 34-year-old said that after five years he was happy to hand over the captaincy to Ben Speake.

As he has done often over the years, skipper Brendan McGuinness played a matchwinning innings for Oakleigh, this time against Noble Park at the Pat Wright Senior Oval

The Oaks lost prize recruit Jack Blyth and veteran Graeme Vimpani for blobs, both falling to Nishantha Weerakkody (2-24 off eight).

Ryan Pearson (41), Blake Pearson (24) and Mick Splatt (21) helped the steadfast McGuinness with repairs.

The left-hander came in 78 not out, made off 106 balls and with 8 fours.

“Bit scratchy, but nice to get a few after missing out last week,’’ McGuinness said.

“Some really good contributions in there from the middle-order as well.’’

Noble Park replied with 118, 41 of which came from the blazing bat of Amal Athulathmudali (6 fours, 1 six). Few batsmen strike the ball harder or longer than the powerful left-hander; he will bruise some bowling attacks this season. “He certainly knows how to hit a ball. He’s a great find for Noble Park, that’s for sure,’’ McGuinness said.

Ryan Pearson cuts for Oakleigh.

Youngster Zachary Raymond collected 3-31 off eight overs for the Oaks, and he also pulled off a stunning run-out, hitting the pegs from backward point to send the great Issy Perera on his way for four. It was a brilliant piece of work, and his teammates knew the importance of it.

“Fantastic run out. He would have had one-and-a-half stumps to aim at, and he cleaned them up and got us off to a great start,’’ McGuinness noted.

Croydon (7-115) did enough to scrape past Elsternwick (114) in a bowler-dominated match at Croydon Park.

Elsty No 3 Patrick Gorman’s 59 was by some distance the best innings of the game, occupied 94 balls and was a steadier after early strikes from Croydon new-ball man Tom McQuinn.

McQuinn returned to dismiss Gorman and finished with 4-15 off his eight overs.

Hamish Paterson nabbed 3-17 off 7.2, and then hit a valuable 25 not out as Croydon recovered from 7-82 to gain a crucial win.

Caulfield and Bayswater played out a tie at Caulfield Park, a tight, tense match going down to the last ball.

With James Small on strike, the Fielders needed three to win as they chased 5-172.

Small hit the ball to third man, he and partner Andy King completed two runs but Small was run out at the non-striker’s end as he scrambled for the winner. By Caulfield captain Jacob Thorne’s estimate, “he ran two-and-a-half’’ as the hosts finished all out on 172.

“It was a tiny boundary, like 40m basically, and it went straight to the fielder … they obviously ran hard and the throw came in ordinarily, over the keeper’s head, and someone picked it up and they got the run out at the bowler’s end,’’ Thorne said.

Elsternwick bowler Jacob Kerr bends his back against Croydon.

He said it was the first tie he had played in, “and it felt like a bit of a loss’’.

“Ultimately it’s good to get out of the game with some points,’’ he said.

“Both teams probably thought they were going to win it at some stage. Both teams probably thought they were going to lose it at some stage. I thought we could win most of the way through, to be honest. I was always pretty confident. We’ve got a long batting line-up. And in 40-over games you’re never really that far away.’’

Bayswater’s total was built around No 3 Paul Gloury’s 61, which came off 92 balls and included 2 sixes.

Jack Pollard (25no) and Quinton Hodgkinson (19no) gave the innings a late blast after Thorne (3-31 off eight overs) retarded Baysy’s progress.

Johnathon Aikins’ 44 from No 5 kept Caulfield alive, with the left-hander shedding his reputation as quiet accumulator by cracking 2 fours and 2 sixes.

And Dan Anderson (27) played another handy knock down the list to push Caulfield closer.

Hodgkinson, Tim Sugumar and Ben Livingstone each took two wickets for Bayswater.

Brighton made it two wins from two starts when it hit 8-215 and held Mt Waverley to 162. Recruits Josh Drummond (39), Rob Salerni (30) and Noah Severin (40) led the way for the Tonners with the bat, and Luke Shimmin (3-29 off 6.1 overs) had a big say with the ball.

Opener Michael Millier, with 56, launched the innings well for the home team, but the dismissals of Ben Hocking and Kurt Benjamin through the middle were a hit for Mt Waverley.

Elsternwick celebrates a Croydon wicket.

Malvern No 3 Tom Rickarby took a classy century off Endeavour Hills bowling as the Roosters flattened the Hills at Pargeter Reserve.

Rickarby’s 105 not out came off 123 deliveries, was studded with 3 sixes and 7 fours, and took in a 103-run partnership with Glen Parker, who blitzed 47 off 40 balls.

Parker’s day wasn’t done. He snaffled 4-12 off 4.5 overs as the home XI was bowled out for 86.

Only Lachlan De Zilwa (22) and veteran Rohan Pike (22) made it to double figures for Endeavour Hills.

In the remaining game Balwyn was castled for 75 as it chased Box Hill’s 9-146.