Parafield Gardens’ Phil Mendrin diving for a catch. PHOTO: Phil Williams
Liam Phillips
BEGINNING day two chasing Eastern Park’s mammoth 8/305 total, Parafield Gardens had too many weak links in its Para District Cricket Association grade one away fixture.
The visitors’ openers combined for five runs, and despite two solid middle-order performances Matthew Atherton (run-out on 51) and Dylan Taylor (48), the six batsmen who failed to eclipse six runs told the tale.
After Parafield Gardens was dismissed for 180, resulting in a 125-run first-innings victory for the hosts, Eastern Park decided to bat out the rest of day’s play to reach stumps at 6/192.
The win was Eastern Park’s second of the 11-game season so far, but the team now sits just one win back from Parafield Gardens in the fourth finals position, as Virginia, Angle Vale and Salisbury West have proven to be the class of the six-team top division.
Salisbury West was closing in on an outright win in its home matchup against North Eastern Knights, only to be denied by fading daylight with four wickets remaining.
Defending 266, the home side dominated with the ball to wipe out the visitors for just 92 in 31 overs, as Travis McIntyre (5/45) and Justin Davies (4/33) were at their unstoppable best.
Enforcing the follow-on, Salisbury West gave the Knights another go around, but the steady heads of opener Andrew Leonard (32) and Peter Atkins (48) killed enough time to avoid the outright loss, finishing the day at 6/119, still trailing by 55 runs.
Virginia was unable to leave its home wicket with a result after failing to chase down Angle Vale’s 5/253 target, as seven batsmen reached double figures, but only one was able to carry on past 21.
Highlighting the importance of partnerships in reaching big scores, Angle Vale’s bowlers were never dominant, but came through with timely wickets to continuously keep the batting side on the back foot, before finally closing the innings on 178 for a 75-run first-innings win.
Angle Vale made a savvy decision to have a quick 10-over hit, adding 79 runs to the lead before sending Virginia in to defend the last 12 overs, which it did safely.
