Knights to the fore

By Steve Brown
AFTER a couple of bad losses in the Knox Tavern Cup, the Knoxfield Knights are back in the game with a gutsy win over the in-form Upwey side to complete the FTGDCA round 5.
The Knights have struggled with the loss of injured star all rounder Ben Morris, however, the Tigers could not defend 223 at Carrington Park.
Bryce Notman (64) together with a half century from Jayson Scanlan helped build the foundation for a nine-run victory, which puts them in the middle of the ladder.
St Johns Tecoma let one slip chasing Belgrave’s 225 after being nicely placed at 6/180 with Jason Newman (60) adding to his four wickets last week, but Nick Bole-Brown (5/48) well supported by Simon Hill sent the Saints crashing, losing their last five wickets for only eight runs and all out for 188.
Johnson Park’s Dulip Samaraweera is fast approaching 500 runs for the season after being unbeaten on 141 at stumps against Upper Gully (225).
Given a life on 15, the Feaver Medallist combined with newly selected Victorian Country opener Bryn Gaunt (105) to steal the game from the Kings with 10 overs to spare. The Upper Gully bowlers performed better than the final score of 3/280 suggests.
Last season’s runners up, Lysterfield (200) finally opened their account at Mountain Gate’s expense in another week of surprises in an evenly balanced Division 1. Solid performer Matt Dempsey (4/43) led from the front to knock over the Gators at HV Jones Reserve for 176.
Premiers, Rowville tasted defeat once again, on this occasion to Ferntree Gully by three wickets.
The Hawks total of 177 was never going to be enough and now find last season’s grand final teams is at the bottom of the ladder.
In the final game, the Eildon Park Panthers (327) were well in control for most of the game dismissing The Basin for 156, the lowest score of the day.
In the Decoite Shield, the top two sides were defeated with Ferntree Gully’s Dean Glare bowling in the right areas to win the game against leaders Monbulk.
The Gully were defending 191 at Dobson Park and did not take their first wicket until 93 runs were on the board ahead of a Monbulk collapse of 5/12 bringing Jason Fraser to the crease.
When Fraser was dismissed for seven the Blues could sense victory and the game went right down to the wire ending with a run-out and a win by just two runs.
South Belgrave showed that they are finals material when they successfully pursued 178 at home to the second-placed Footballers, with the experienced Travis Fedley steering South to a great win by 13 runs.
Upwey defeated Knoxfield outright on the back of good bowling spells of Shane Cross (6/20 and 3/18) and Michael Coles (5/18) in the second innings.