By STEVE BROWN
FERNTREE Gully timed it perfectly when it defeated Monbulk with three balls to spare in the Round 2 clash of the FTGDCA Norm Reeves Shield.
Set 140 to win courtesy of an unbeaten half century to Shane Cosstick, the Blues were in a little bother at 9/124 but were rescued by fast bowler Jarrod Bradley who remained 45 not out to give the Gully its second win of the season.
This is ultimately another agonising loss to Monbulk in successive weeks.
Rick Lamers and Jason Fraser, with three wickets apiece, caused problems early but could not grab the last wicket.
Upwey Tecoma pair Matt Mulcahy (52) and Chris Jewell (52) set the pace at Pickett Reserve against footballers compiling a handy 9/188.
This proved too many for the Ballers who were knocked over for 152 despite Nick Bogar’s 59.
Fast bowler David Bell with 4/13 took the best figures for the round from his eight overs.
Knoxfield were a little disappointing with 116 against Eildon Park after Nathan Caton-Robertson 4/15 and Adrian ‘Bolts’ Baltruschatis 3/17 ripped through the line-up.
Opening batsman Ben Morris ended it quickly scoring 66 and the Panthers got the chocolates in only 24 overs for the loss of three wickets.
Johnson Park compiled 7/170 against Belgrave, aided by opener Bryn Gaunt, run out using a runner for 73, and Martin Weightman (32).
Belgrave fast bowler Michael Litterbach had a good day with the ball taking 4/28.
Belgrave in reply failed to bat their allotted 40 overs and were toppled for 145 going down by 25 runs.
Doug Oaten showed some fight with a half century and Bendigo Country Week premiership off spinner Steve Devenish claimed 4/32 from eight overs.
Knox Gardens opened its account this season with a great win over last year’s finalists Upper Ferntree Gully.
Once again openers Shannon Small (40) and Jarrod Butcher (64) got the ball rolling enabling the Falcons to post 207 and this proved too many as the Kings were all out for 164.
Wicket keeper Darren Osbourne was the only shining light for the Kings with 50.
In the Decoite Shield there were a few surprises with Auravale chasing down The Basin’s 177 with two overs up its sleeve, with hard hitting batsman Nathan Phillips blasting 87 for the Lakers.
Knox City won its first match in the association defeating South Belgrave by six runs with the Singh brothers dominating for the Tigers.
St Johns Tecoma made it two in a row, accounting for Lysterfield by six wickets and 10 overs to spare as veteran Dean Palandri (56) and Edwards 5/31 dominated, and Mountain Gate fought out a close one to hold off Rowville by three runs.
SCORES
REEEVES SHIELD
Eildon Park 3/119 (Morris 66) d Knoxfield 116 (Caton-Robertson 4/15, Baltruschatis 3/17).
Upwey Tecoma 9/188 (Mulcahy 52, Jewell 52, Cranston 3/39) d Footballers 152 (Bogar 59, Muscat 30, Bell 4/13).
Johnson Park 7/170 (Gaunt 73, Weightman 32, Litterbach 4/28) d Belgrave 145 (Oaten 50, S Devenish 4/32, DeSilva 3/19)
Ferntree Gully 9/142 (Bradley 45, Fraser 3/9, Lamers 3/17) d Monbulk 7/139 (Cosstick, 57).
Knox Gardens 207 (Small 40, Butcher 64, McInerney 34) d Upper Gully 164 (Osbourne 50).
DECOITE SHIELD
Mt Gate 9/150 (Bowden 41, Buckland 32, Rodgers 3/29) d Rowville 8/147 (Guest 49, Hill 32, Bunting 3/37).
Auravale 5/181 (Phillips 87) d The Basin 6/177 (Webb 3/38).
Knox City 5/130 (K. Singh 52, Hill 3/31) d South Belgrave 5/124 (McDermott 33, Suckling 33, B. Singh 3/15).
St Johns Tecoma 4/139 (Palandri 56, Johnson 38) d Lysterfield 133 (Finch 51, Edwards 5/31).
Division Three
Knox Gardens 6/184 (Young 60) d Upper Gully 153 (Marget 3/3).
Eildon Park 5/213 (Hicks 76, Kennedy 69, Smythe 41) d Knoxfield 144 (Kodi 44 J.Hicks 3/23).
Belgrave 7/215 (Thiel 68, Reid 39, Rickard 124, Reid 35, Feeney 3/38) d Johnson Park 9/211.
Upwey 3/126 (Lizza 53, Evans 45) d Footballers 77 (Hepburn 40, Cross 3/10, Erdmanis 3/11).
Ferntree Gully 7/198 (Morrison 75, Wright 43, Trevenen 31, Tripp 4/24) d Monbulk 9/194 (Anderson 50, Simmonds 43, Ramadan 32, Stockton 3/35).
Division Four
Knox Boronia Churches 5/184 (Morris 54, Walker 38, Banbury 32) d St Johns Tec 165 (Chandler 81, Morris 4/5, Walker 3/28).
The Basin 1/116 (Porch 88) d Auravale 102 (Van Ryn 60, Betka 3/14).
South Belgrave 7/194 (Ray 64, Maling 42, Ferguson 3/27) d Lysterfield 171 (Hill 50, Wells 32, Atkinson 3/23, Maxwell 4/19)
Rowville 9/122 (Davey 3/27) d Mt Gate 120 (Tierney 4/25).
Division Five
Knox City 9/115 (White 36) d Johnson Park 114 (Handley 4/16).
Ferntree Gully 3/126 (Catalano 49, Ellis 35) d Belgrave 118 (Brown 30, Ileri 3/19).
Knoxfield 8/144 (Petrovski 32) d Eildon Park 140 (Gill 31).
Upwey 163 (Campbell 38 Tailby 32) d Footballers 76 (Crombie 3/15).
Upper Gully 5/309 (Roleff 34, Gstrein 76, Corrigan 33, Hart 56, Hands 50, Bakker 3/40) d Knox Gardens 4/101.
Division Six
The Basin 8/150 (Brown 49) d Eildon Park 8/108 (Evans 4/21).
Knox City 127 (Newman 31) d Mt Gate 69 (White 3/7, Bench 3/16).
South Belgrave 1/83 (Dunkley 30, Williams 34) d Knox Boronia Churches 8/82 (Hunt 3/16, Bromley 3/18).
Lysterfield 7/262 (Nicolopoulos 88, Grimstone 60, Lapthorne 41, Sanderson 3/74) d Auravle 97 (Heap 3/19, Hall 33).
Division Seven
St Johns Tec 9/167 (Mitchell 63, North 3/29) d Eildon Park 158 (Tait 76, Stroud 3/27).
The Basin 192 (Betka 115, Best 58) d Upwey 8/191 (McKernan 88).
Lysterfield 8/192 (Peluso 70, Treloar 36) d Knox Boronia Churches 6/131 (Goodman 43, St Clair 50).
Knox Gardens 8/122 (Jongen 46, Marget 35, Wilson 3/9) d Rowville 116 (Cowdrey 31, Zandt 4/34).
Monbulk 1/88 (Creed 64) d Ferntree Gully 85 (McKay 5/9).
Johnson Park 6/70 d Knoxfield 63 (O’Neill 3/8).
B1 (one day grade)
SE Wanderers 6/277 (Pulliyanayagam 51, Peris 51, Perera 47) d The Basin 7/84 (Davis 30).
Wandin East 0/56 (Green 35) d Mt Gate 53 (Hodges 5/8).
Upper Gully 2/73 (Bailey 45) d Eildon Park 69 (Lamarca 3/13).
Lysterfield 157 (Stubbs 44) d St Johns Tec 73 (Smith 39, Psathas 5/34, Vincent 3/3).
Johnson Park 173 (Greentree 46, Saker 5/29) d Footballers 172 (Saker 52, Heffernan 41, Meath 31, Gilbee 5/44).
B2 (one day grade)
Knox City 2/78 (Cranfield 34) d South Belgrave 77 (Sandhu 3/9, Singh 3/7).
Ferntree Gully 7/94 d Knox Boronia Churches 93 (Parker 5/14).
Eildon Park Panthers 7/128 d The Basin 3/52.
Upper Gully 5/225 d Auravale 9/221 (McIlvride 52, O’Brien 47, Lambert 40).
Lysterfield 1/67 (Hunt 36) d Monbulk 8/62 (Singh 4/7).
Belgrave 4/116 (McPherson 52, Gupta 55) d Rowville 9/111 (McPherson 4/34).
Under 17
Ferntree Gully 4/120 (Salan 38, Callaghan 48) d Lysterfield 4/95 (Downes 30).
Johnson Park 3/128 (Cox 52, Rambaldo 36) d Eildon Park 8/101 (Saultry 3/21).
Knox Gardens 5/117 (Flintoff 53, Pandopolous 34, Manuk 3/28) d Knoxfield 6/115 (Gerloff 50, Kotamaraju 3/11).
Upper Gully 5/131 (Meagher 48) d South Belgrave 3/124 (Williams 38, Hudson 30).
Under 15 (one)
Knoxfield 2/84 (Smyth 26, Perry 25) d Knox Gardens 7/77.
Eildon Park 6/79 d Rowville 6/73.
Ferntree Gully 3/92 (Trevenen 27) d Lysterfield 9/88 (Faljoun 3/11, Stephenson 3/12).
Johnson Park 5/128 (Robertson 26, Saultry 25) d Upwey 6/84 (Robertson 3/15).
Under 15 (two)
The Basin 3/126 (Edwards 25, Edwards 26, Dobson 25) d Upper Gully 4/99 (Harman 25, Bailey 25).
Monbulk 6/84 d Lysterfield 6/55.
U/13
Eildon Park 4/91 (Tibbals 17, Corcoran 18) d Johnson Park 6/42.
The Basin 5/94 (Neve 16, Forbes 15, Brown 16) d Rowville 2/80.
Monbulk 2/112 (Bradbury 16, Hill 21, Noonan 17, Richardson 18) d Knoxfield 4/57 (Anderson 16, Howe 15).
Upper Gully 5/86 (Bailey 15, Riley 16) d South Belgrave/Auravale 5/38.
Under 12
Knox Gardens 3/70 d Upwey 3/45.
Lysterfield 106 (Edwards 15, Phipps 15, Taylor 16, Whilhurgh 15) d Johnson Park 55 (Brown 15).
Ferntree Gully 7/64 d Monbulk 8/53.
Knox Gardens 1/97 d Upper Gully 32.
