By Steve Brown
SPECTATORS gained full value at Carrington Park in the match between Knoxfield and St John’s Tecoma in the last round of the Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association’s Knox Tavern Cup.
Knoxfield with 179 runs on the board had the Saints at 6/67, however, they managed to scramble to 131 thanks to 15 year old Kyle Grenda.
Striving for full points, the Knights went about setting a target and allowing time to take 10 wickets and struck 94 runs in 11 overs in their second innings before declaring.
This set the scene for St John’s requiring 143 for outright victory from 30 overs and they started well at 3/66 but fell to 5/81, before Grenda got together with skipper Trent Pitts.
Grenda, a tall stylish right-hand middle order batsman took 19 from one over to narrow the gap and it was left to Pitts to straight drive for six to give the Saints a win with seven balls to spare.
Scott McKenzie bowled well in the second innings picking up four wickets, however the Knights will be relegated to Decoite Shield next season.
In another close one, Johnson Park was in pursuit of 294 set by Ferntree Gully and with Dulip Samaraweera (108) and Bryn Gaunt (74) getting the bulk of the runs.
However, it was young Troy Gstrein (42 not out) and Steve Bowen, who added a run a ball from the last four overs, to give the Sharks the game in the final over.
In the final 30 minutes, Ferntree Gully were unable to slow the game down and were under pressure to bowl the required 80 overs within the required time.
In an even competition, Johnson Park is the only team from last season’s finals and will host Rowville at Fairpark in next week’s semi final.
The Eildon Park Panthers move to the top of the ladder and will host Monbulk in the other semi final after an emphatic win over Belgrave.
Chasing 257, the new kids on the block cruised to a five-wicket win against last season’s premiers who will finish 11th.
Monbulk easily defended 329 at home to Upper Gully, who at one stage were 6/190 but fell away at the end for 215.
Adam Reeves remained 65 not out whilst Jay Colee collected 5/51 against his old club and will be one of the favourites to take out the Feaver Medal.
The Basin proved too strong at Upwey, passing the Tigers’ score (166) with four wickets in hand.
Calvin Sheen (65*) and Danny Rundle (52) were the best performers for the Huntsmen.
Athula Samarasekera (66) and Chris Harris led Mountain Gate to an upset win at the expense of topside Rowville, who fell to third place on the ladder.
The Gators reached their target of 176 losing six wickets and capped off a good year for them finishing eighth.
Decoite Shield action next week sees undefeated Lysterfield take on Auravale at Lakesfield Reserve and Footballers play host again to South Belgrave after a stunning win by South chasing the ‘Ballers’ 302.
LADDERS (provisional)
Knox Tavern Cup: Eildon Park 48, Johnson Park 48, Rowville 45, Monbulk 42, Ferntree Gully 33, St John’s Tecoma 33, The Basin 33, Mountain Gate 33, Upper Gully 27, Upwey 21, Belgrave 21, Knoxfield 16.
Decoite Shield: Lysterfield 67, Footballers 58, South Belgrave 53, Auravale 52, Upwey 39, Knox Gardens 33, Knoxfield 33, The Basin 27, Eildon Park 22, Knox 21, Ferntree Gully 18, Johnson Park 3.
SCORES
Knox Tavern Cup: Mountain Gate 8/204 (Samarasekera 66) d Rowville 176
The Basin 292 (Sheen 65*, Rundle 52, Luckman 48, Underhill 33, Hales 4/93, Wilson 3/62) d Upwey 166.
Johnson Park 6/299 (Samaraweera 108, Gaunt 74, Gstrein 42*) d Ferntree Gully 7/294.
St John’s Tecoma 131 (Marchetti 4/50, Grenda 37) and 6/144 (Pitts 40*, Grenda 27, McKenzie 4/59) d Knoxfield 179 and 5/94decl.
Eildon Park 5/264 (Trotter 30, Morris 87, S. Cosstick 61*, Dowling 34*, Newey 3/74) d Belgrave 257 (Levell 54, Carnell 44, Newey 68, C. Cosstick 3/58, Powell 4/77).
Monbulk 329 d Upper Gully 9/215 (J. Colee 5/51, Reeves 65*).
Decoite Shield: Upwey 2/235 (Evans 119*, Gannell 67) d The Basin 232.
Ferntree Gully 7/421 (Bradbury 133, Cross 53, Joseph 67, Hall 33, Devenish 3/38, Simm 3/67) d Johnson Park 63 (Anstey 5/27).
Knox Gardens 427 (Bailey 72, Butcher 62, Gregory 110*, Thorp 63) d Knoxfield 79 (Wild 6/32) and 7/202 (Scanlan 68, Balfour 37).
Auravale 239 d Eildon Park 130.
South Belgrave 5/305 (Hart 73, Trinnick 79, White 57*, Maxwell 56*) d Footballers 8/302.
Lysterfield 7/387 d Knox 86.
Division 3: Lysterfield 9/253 lost to Footballers 273 (Pruysers 123, Gale 51, Johns 35, T. Binks 5/41).
Belgrave 2/185 (Godbee-Lingard 95, Wood 57*) d Knox Gardens 180 (Reid 30, Vanlith 56, Wulz 6/44).
Division 4: Upwey 179 lost to Lysterfield 5/257 (Chivers 80*, S. Walsh 41, Manning 36).
The Basin 227 (Lee 88, Newton 34, Gill 31) d South Belgrave 162 (Heylow 33, Atkinson 32, Winters 3/49, Aaltonen 3/31).
St John’s Tecoma 4/477 (Manning 171, Timmers 114, J. Rowe 114*) d Ferntree Gully 134.
Division 5: Knoxfield 4/175 (Brown 49, Faulkner 34, Round 43*) d Mountain Gate 57 (A. Larcombe 7/21).
Belgrave 229 (Wulz 54, Argoon 40, Connolly 43, Reid 3/48) d Johnson Park 111 (Wright 33, Juzva 6/37) and 1/46.
Division 6: Knox Gardens 223 lost to Eildon Park 231 (Parker 114*, D’Rosario 30, Lines 3/45, Thomas 3/27).
Lysterfield 276 lost to The Basin 2/281 (Lee 58, Reiner 76*, Pittman 119).
Belgrave 7/186 (McNamara 63, Glazner 33*) d Ferntree Gully 130, (Drane 34).
Division 7: Johnson Park 285 d Mountain Gate 157 (Burridge 59, Rattle 5/54).
Knoxfield 456 d Footballers 7/375 (Davis 93, Gunde 58, Wright 58, M. Clements 45*, Anglin 42, D. Clements 30).
St John’s Tecoma 187 and 4/96 d Bayswater 46 (Lucas 6/18) and 236 (Hodger 55, Meddings 61, Clark 44, Heyward 3/12).
Under 17/1: Mulgrave 180 d Johnson Park 177 (S. Devenish 47, D. Carmen 33, M. Crozier 2/36, K. Rajamanthri 2/43).
Knoxfield 6/279 (Boxell 69, Wilson 43, Hillyer 81) d The Basin 207 (Turcinovic 69, McDonald 43, Laughlin 3/8, Evans 3/13).
Upwey 4/206 (Wood 50, Hewitt 65) d Bayswater 125 and 6/70 (Waters 4/26).
Under 17/2: Upper FTG 8/201 (Z. Zaloumis 53*, C. Hart 32) d The Basin/Mountain Gate 198 (M. Dobson 44, J. Young 30*, P. Nixon 3/12, B. Roleff 3/24).
Lysterfield 240 (Ricardo 67, Peatling 49, Lavale 65, Arnell 2/24) d Rowville 145 (Schout 76, Lowe 3/15, Spark 3/41).
Under 15/1: Mulgrave 5/256 (L. Mason 53*, H. Crozier 54*, J. Williams 51*) d Bayswater 9/127 (Phillips 50*, Jackson 31).
Lysterfield 6/199 (Moore 50*, Barratt 55, Whiteman 3/26) d Upwey 9/193 (Brown 44, Whiteman 43, McElroy 4/29).
Under 15/2: Mulgrave 180 d Eildon Park 153 (M. Casey 53, J. Gaskin 29, A. Pagliaro 3/4, T. Petronik 2/11).
Eildon Park Wildcats 4/210 (Wadlow51*, Szabo 51*, Mathyer 54*, Walsh 2/38) d Mountain Gate 7/168 (T. Smith 50*, O’Brien 43, M. Smith 18, Adams 3/28).
Lysterfield 8/155 (Noll 52*) d Upper FTG 154 (Schimlech 42, Palmer 4/14).
Upwey 150 and 1/40 (Fraser 54*) d Belgrave 114.
The Basin 172 d Upwey 8/98 (Watson 31, Scott 22, Chircop 4/6).
Under 13/1: Eildon Park 9/182 (S. Harper 55*, T. Gladman 2/14, A. Hollingworth 3/22) d Mulgrave 9/135 (T. Gladman 59*, S. Griffin 3/20, J. Dietzel 2/8).
Monbulk 2/239 (Carr 53*, Keegan 42*, Emmett 40*, Craigie 35) d Lysterfield 3/190 (Inglis 43*, Ricardo 41*, Macgregor 22*).
Upwey 191 (Brown 38, Barnard 46*) d Ferntree Gully 139 (Chambers 3/23, Barnanrd 2/11).
Under 13/2: Mulgrave 6/167 d South Belgrave 82 (N. Scarlett 16*, K. Patil 3/6).
Upper FTG 186 (Carter 30*, Spencer 30*, Godfrey 32*) d The Basin 132.
Upper FTG 4/182 (Cleaveland 32*, Harrison 30*) d Eildon Park 8/141 (Harrison 3/11).
Upwey 5/233 d Lysterfield (Marshall 31*, Smith 23, Wallace 22, Lester 3/21, Fraser 1/24, Cross 1/14).
