By STEVE BROWN
FTGDCA
THE penultimate round of the Reeves Shield produced a shock outright victory for the in-form Knoxfield Knights when they defeated Upper Ferntree Gully by an innings and three wickets.
Resuming at 2/58, Knoxfield lost five wickets as they overhauled the Kings’ total of just 131, before declaring and inviting Upper Gully to bat again.
The Kings then declared at 8/147, setting the Knights 140 to win.
They managed to take maximum points, losing seven wickets in a game that could have gone either way.
The win propels Knoxfield into fifth place, with a slim hope of finals action.
Knox Gardens hauled in the 28 runs required against Upwey Tecoma (89) and decided to bat on, making 208, with captain Steve Alderton and Scott McInerney scoring half-centuries.
The Falcons move to fourth on the table while Upwey drop to sixth.
Kyle Snyman, with 75, almost stole the show for Eildon Park against Johnson Park as the Sharks got the chocolates by just 31 runs.
Steve Devenish and Ben Stallworthy both took four wickets to help consolidate their team’s position in the four.
Monbulk resumed at 5/50 against Ferntree Gully (108).
However, the Hawks could not handle Jarrod Bradley with 6/31 and they were toppled for just 86.
Bradley has enjoyed a good year with the ball, taking 32 wickets at 10.
The Basin returned to the winners’ list, as did Jake Best with 35 as the Bears defeated bottom side Belgrave by five wickets.
Spinner Ben Carnell was the pick of the Magpie bowlers with 3/24.
Belgrave must defeat Johnson Park and rely on Upwey Tecoma getting the points over Upper Gully in the final round to avoid relegation to Decoite Shield.
Ladder (provisional), round 12: Eildon Park 57, The Basin 54, Johnson Park 45, Knox Gardens 42, Knoxfield 37, Upwey Tecoma 36, Ferntree Gully 27, Monbulk 27, Upper Gully 21, Belgrave 18.
SCORES
REEVES SHIELD
Ferntree Gully 108 (Powell 5/30) d Monbulk 86 (J. Bradley 6/31).
Knox Gardens 208 (Alderton 57, S. McInerney 53, Gannell 3/41) d Upwey Tecoma 89.
Johnson Park 240 d Eildon Park 209 (Snyman 72, Stallworthy 4/66, Devenish 4/61).
The Basin 5/146 (Best 35, Carnell 3/24) d Belgrave 142.
Knoxfield 5/139 dec (Raab 47 not out) & 7/145 (L. Scanlan 51 not out, J. Scanlan 34, Goodger 3/42) d outright Upper Gully 131 and 8/147 dec (McKenna 35).
DECOITE SHIELD
South Belgrave 6/326 (Sutherland 104 not out, Baker 98) d Auravale 191 (Phillips 64, Colwell 5/69).
Footballers 8/291 (Hepburn 108, Gooneratne 62, Lakshita 64 not out) d St John’s Tecoma 119 (Lakshita 5/33).
Mt Gate 256 (Rozakis 101, Bunting 46, Wheeler 43, Debono 4/53, Guest 3/0) d Rowville 79 and 5/46 (Linder 3/25).
Lysterfield 3/142 (Kulasena 75, Inglis 31 not out) d Knox City 137 (T. Singh 44, Virk 30, Inglis 3/8, Paull 3/27, Kulasena 3/39).
DIVISION 3
The Basin 156 and 5/46 (Read 4/24) d Belgrave 75 (Lee 3/6, Fay 3/36, Wallace 3/11) and 136 (Brockman 61, Lee 5/28).
Ferntree Gully 9/177 dec (Wright 54, Sharp 37, Defina 5/29, Adams 3/52) d Monbulk 95 (Downes 5/44) and 6/115 (Winzenreid 45 not out).
Knox Gardens 9/302 (Marget 151) d Upwey Tecoma 278 (McCarrick 128, Hughes 48, Hawkes 4/26).
Eildon Park 319 d Johnson Park 94 (Brown 5/40).
Knoxfield 7/209 (D. Perry 60, Sundaresh 33, Kodi 32) d Upper Gully 9/88 (Lord 37, Swan 4/25, Evans 3/11).
DIVISION 4
Lysterfield 8/165 (Spencer 3/17) d Knox Boronia Churches 153 (Morris 30, Glenister 3/27).
South Belgrave 7/340 d Auravale 52 (Ziza 7/22) and 66.
Mt Gate 6/123 (Harris 68 not out) d Rowville 120 (Wimalaratna 5/33).
Footballers 4/247 (Marriott 97 not out) d St John’s Tecoma 4/245 (Palandri 116 not out, Betts 57).
