By Steve Brown
DAY one of round 10 in the FTGDCA produced a few upsets, with some of the top sides feeling the pressure as finals steadily approach.
With teams fighting for a top-four berth and others desperate to avoid relegation, it makes for some competitive cricket where sides at the bottom of the ladder can mix it with the top teams.
Ladder leader, Upwey Tecoma has been the standout team so far this season, however its visit to play ninth placed Ferntree Gully at the Wally Tew Oval did not go according to plan.
The Tigers batted first and crawled from 9/110 to 127 all out, against the Gully attack of Peter Mannaert (5/40) and Mark Butters (4/51).
Butters is now the season’s leading spearhead with 28 wickets. Only Upwey captain Matt Mulchay showed any fight with 64 and in reply the Blues were 2/37 with Jayden Bradbury unbeaten on 27.
The Upper Gully Kings are on a roll, knocking over Monbulk at Kings Park for only 130.
Blake Walter (55) and off spinner Phil Salter 3/17 were the best performers and at 2/22 at the close of play, the Kings appear to be in the box seat and could be in the four next week.
Knoxfield’s Ben Morris continues to dominate, snaring 6/27 against Johnson Park in the annual Mark Paffett Memorial Shield.
The Sharks were dismissed for only 107 but have Knoxfield 2/24 at stumps. “Paff”, who played at both clubs, was a much loved figure and he would have a dollar each way on the result.
Reigning premiers, Eildon Park (second) played host to Belgrave (sixth) but could only muster 167 with Scott Vozzo (4/49) and Benny Carnell (4/41) doing the damage.
Unfortunately the Magpies undid all their good work with the Kookaburra crashing to 5/37 when play halted.
At Batterham Park, bottom side, The Basin had a form reversal with the bat and smashed 7/304 against Footballers (fourth) who have struggled to bowl sides out in the past two games.
In the Decoite Shield, Rowville produced a whopping 470 against St Johns Tecoma at the hospital ground in a team effort with no individual scoring a century. Aaron Daniel fell agonisingly short on 96.
The highest team score for any grade outside division one is 8/648 by The Basin in Shield 3 against Bluebirds in 1996.
@BT Sport Sub Mail:Results
Knox Tavern Cup:
Monbulk 130 (B. Walter 55, Salter 3/17) v Upper Gully 2/22. The Basin 7/304 v Footballers. Johnson Park 107 (Morris 6/27) v Knoxfield 2/24. Eildon Park 167 (S. Cosstick 34, Vozzo 4/49, Carnell 4/41) v Belgrave 5/37 (Pimm 3/13). Upwey 127 (Mulchay 64, Mannaert 5/40, Butters 4/51) v Ferntree Gully 2/37.
Decoite Shield
Rowville 470 (Blackman 79, Morsello 71, Daniel 96, Wilson 53, Hettasinghe 60, Rogers 53, Barcham 3/53) v St Johns Tecoma. South Belgrave 9/290 v Mountain Gate. Knox Gardens 7/227 (Small 78, Hay 78*, Snyman 4/42) v Lysterfield.
Division 3
Upper Gully 227 (Lord 79, Osbourne 73, Lamers 3/16, Broekhof 3/70) v Monbulk. Belgrave 208 (Wiseman 52, Smith 30, Cutts 4/52, Sutherland 3/7) v Eildon Park. Upwey 9/414 (R. Lizza 184, Jewell 104, Wills 36) v Ferntree Gully. Footballers v The Basin (nsa). Knoxfield v Johnson Park (nsa)
Division 4
Auravale 3/136 (Harmon 72, Healy 47*) v St Johns Tecoma 125 (Clements 31, Webb 3/21, Balfour 3/41). Lysterfield 146 (Morris 31, Doorakkers 3/30) v South Belgrave 1/1. Knox Boronia Churches 198 (Rajapaske 5/48, Tierney 3/21) v Rowville.
Division 5
Ferntree Gully 216 (Reed 59, Brownell 33, DeGraff 3/57) v Johnson Park. Upper Gully 139 (Winters 56, Bailey 31) v Knoxfield 1/19. Lysterfield 148 (Nicolopoulos 32, Remington 3/28, Blanche 3/36) v Eildon Park 0/66.
Division 6
Mountain Gate 388 v Belgrave. Monbulk 239 (Watson 109, Attwood 37, Given 34, McKenzie 3/31) v Eildon Park.
Division 7
Ferntree Gully 216 (Turner 39, Benham 35, Clarkson 3/43) v Upper Gully. Eildon Park 9/209 (Wong 68, Mathers 31, Burns 30, G.Salan 5/40) v Ferntree Gully. Knoxfield 224 (Field 127, Guest 5/57, Davies 4/51) v Rowville 4/132 (Zacky 65, James 4/20). Lysterfield 113 (Papworth 40, Grenda 3/20) v St Johns Tecoma 3/151 (A. Lovell 55*, Chandler 47)
B1 (one day grades)
St Johns Tecoma 241 (Perkins 50*, Collins 44, Lynn 38, Olver 33) d Upwey 74 (Olver 4/28). Lysterfield 1/161 (Hurleston 51*, Cullimore 46*, VanderBurgt 33) d Johnson Park 9/148 (Maloney 37, Doughty 4/38). Knox Boronia Churches 1/74 (Proctor 30, Menke 33) d Rowville 65 (Adams 3/14m Leggo 3/6).
B2
Belgrave 237 (Mcneil 52*, Conduit 45, Hoppner 36) d Monbulk 150 (Hoppner 6/18, Kelly 44). St Johns Tecoma 195 (Hutchison 44, VanHoorn 39, North 5/47) d Eildon Park 72 (Hutchison 4/25).
B3
Lysterfield 8/195 (Neill 47, Godson 38, Buckingham 49) d Johnson Park 145 (Dalton 34*, King 3/9). Upper Gully 4/257 (Knapman 55*, Gifford 50*, Strange 45, Cluckey 34, Murray 31) d Ferntree Gully 145 (Joshi 31, Lazar 3/34, Strange 3/23).
U/17 (1) Healthguard Cup
Eildon Park 8/178 (Dietzel 35) v Mulgrave. Footballers 7/211 (L.McComb 58, R.McComb 53, Brown 49*) v Lysterfield.
U/17 (2)
Ferntree Gully/Bayswater 73 (Carr 4/10) v Knox Gardens 3/33. Eildon Park 6/192 (Blanche 44, Wolff 50, Jayasinghe 3/22) v Mulgrave. Upper Gully 0/36 v Mountain Gate 100 (J. Hamilton 3/3, T.Roleff 3/21).
U/15 (1)
Johnson Park 9/142 (Cox 35) v Knox Gardens. Mulgrave 7/198 v Eildon Park Panthers. Ferntree Gully 2/260 (Lee 50*, Callahan 51*, Sewart 50*) v Eildon Park Wildcats. Upper Gully 88 (Waters 3/11) v Lysterfield 0/29.
U/15 (2)
Knox Gardens 7/211 (Grimston 46, Mancusi 37*, Bakker 31, Sebastian 3/37) v Lysterfield. Eildon Park Cougars 9/206 (Evans 70*, Matharu 53*, Almond 31, Williams 3/28) v Auravale, South Belgrave. Ferntree Gully 103 (Hartog-Burnett 25, McCartney 3/9) v Knoxfield 5/14. Footballers/Rowville 101 (J. Sidhu 36) v The Basin 4/67 (J. Sidhu 4/26).
U/13 (1)
Eildon Park 6/171 (Blanche 25, Hill 27) v Knox Gardens. Rowville 216 (Beer 51*, Solimou 44, Mynott 30*, Bundy 4/21) v Lysterfield.
U/13 (2)
Mulgrave 9/218 (Williams 63*, Jayawardena 3/32) v Eildon Park. Auravale 113 (Dodds 2/5) v Upper Gully.
U/12
Lysterfield 6/189 v Mulgrave. Eildon Park 155 (Pollard 31, DeAlwis 30) v Bayswater. Ferntree Gully (Taffa-Byrne 31, Flintoff 2/11) v Knox Gardens.
