Balraj Randhawa plays a powerful shot through the off side on his way to 31 on Saturday. 76347 Picture: EMILY LANE
By Liam Twomey
KEALBA Green Gully is in danger of dropping a game to top four rival Pascoe Vale Central in the lead up to finals after a disappointing batting display in the North West Metropolitan Cricket Association.
Having won the toss and elected to bat in the brutally hot conditions, the Cougars found themselves in early trouble after the usually reliable Evan Long was bowled for three runs.
Things went from bad to worse as first drop Danny Viani was walking back to the pavilion just one run late as the score limped to 2/4.
Captain Andrew Lambropoulos was joined at the crease by Matthew Nadzielski and the two set about a rescue mission.
The innings looked to be getting back on track with a quick partnership of 25 before Nadzielski was caught for 17 and any momentum built came to a halt.
Throughout the rest of the Cougars’ innings most of the middle order batsmen got starts but none were able to kick on to a big score as wickets continued to tumble each time Kealba looked to be fighting back.
The highest partnership came between David Morris (26) and Balraj Randhawa (31) who added 29 for the fifth wicket.
However, when Morris was dismissed with the score on 77, it was clear Kealba would be coming up short of its desired total.
The final wicket fell in the 65th over with the score on 145.
Pascoe Vale was given 12 overs out in the middle to eat away as much of the total as it could before stumps while the Kealba bowlers were on the hunt for quick wickets to get themselves back into the contest.
There would be no such luck as Pascoe Vale raced to 0/34 at the close of play and a bad day became even worse for the Cougars.
The Centrals will require 111 runs to win this week and complete a major upset with finals on the horizon.
All is not lost for Kealba who have produced stunning fight backs with the ball on multiple occasions this year to turn seemingly straightforward losses into miraculous wins.
Nadzielski will be a key bowler coming off 10 wickets from his last three matches while Long is also in form with the ball after tacking 6/21, which included a hat-rick in the club’s Twenty20 match against Royal Park Reds last month.
