BROCK Forte and Jason Marks took nine wickets between them to guide Melton Centrals to victory over Deer Park Ardeer in the A Grade matting competition.
Deer Park Ardeer was sent in to bat and was dismissed for 162 in just under 31 overs.
Forte was stunning with his 5/48 in nine overs while Marks took 4/48.
Brad Macfarlane took the other wicket of the innings for 28 while the wicketless William Thorton-Gielen was most economical giving away just 31 runs in nine overs.
Melton Centrals took 34 overs to knock over their target with Jackson Reale and Brendan Taylor adding 98 for the third wicket.
Taylor top-scored for the Centrals with 56 while Reale produced 44.
Opening pair Michael Bairstow and Simon Smith also proved handy in the middle, adding 40 runs for the first wicket and scoring 16 and 19 respectively.
The win leaves the Centrals equal first on the table after two rounds.
WHILE rain affected a number of matches throughout the West on Saturday, it was a cracking day for Sunshine United in the Williamstown and District Cricket Association’s Composite Grade.
After losing the toss and being forced to bowl against Gellibrand, the Sunshine bowlers wasted no time finding the right lines and lengths as the wickets started to tumble.
Gellibrand was 9/122 at the conclusion of its 40 overs, with an impressive 32 for number seven Wayne Allen being the highlight throughout the card.
The total looked thin on paper and that is precisely how the match played out with the Sunshine batsmen having a field day out in the middle.
Kawaljit Singh top scored with 56 not out while captain Dom Gregorio also brought up his half century as Sunshine stormed to the win in the 33rd over.
Cooper Johnstone was the pick of the bowlers for Gellibrand, taking 1/14 from five overs.
Sunshine will look to make it back-to-back wins against Grand United this week while Gellibrand will take on Tarneit.
LAVERTON had a convincing win in the C-composite competition when it comfortably dismissed Melton Centrals for 114 to win by 51 runs at Melton South Recreation Reserve.
The Magpies were clinical after winning the toss and choosing to bat, losing only seven wickets in the full 40 overs to set the Centrals 166 for victory.
Todd Hooper was impressive with the ball for the Centrals in claiming 4/22 from his 10 overs, while Andrew Zenonos, Daniel Sulics and David McDonald all chipped in with single wickets of their own.
Centrals openers Daniel Vasjuta and Matthew Goatley couldn’t produce their heroics from the week before, with Vasjuta going for a duck and Goatley bowled for 24.
Captain Adrian Kendall (23) and Jake Charge (25) were the only other Centrals batsmen to make a contribution as they crumbled through the middle and lower order to be dismissed for 114 in 34 overs.
TURF cricket competitions throughout the western suburbs are still waiting to see who is going to take the first five wicket haul and hit the first hundred for the new season after Melbourne’s wild weather again prevented any play on Saturday.
In the Victorian Sub District Cricket Association, the matches between Williamstown and Altona, Melton and Roxburgh Park/ Broadmeadows, Sunshine and Werribee and Yarraville and Moorabbin had all been shortened to one-day games but even that wasn’t enough to get any play in.
With the wild weather predicted throughout the week, the Victorian Turf Cricket Association cancelled its matches before the weekend leaving Keilor, Spotswood, Yarraville Club and Hoppers Crossing with back-to-back weekends off.
Players and supporters will be hoping for better weather this weekend to finally launch their respective seasons.
