BENTLEIGH Uniting recovered from the brink of disaster to finish with a creditable 197 against East Sandringham
BENTLEIGH Uniting again recovered from the brink of disaster to finish with a creditable 197 against East Sandringham in their CMCA Longmuir Shield match on Saturday.
East were on top early, gathering wickets regularly as Jaime "Jaffer" Saleem stifled the naturally aggressive Uniting batsmen.
When they lost three wickets for three runs to fall to 7-80 it seemed like East Sandy would be chasing a modest total but again the Bentleigh team found a man of the hour.
Jason McConville, starved of opportunity and runs this season, played a sensible but dashing knock to resurrect the innings, adding 102 with Damian Britt (34) before being the last man out in the final over of the day for a brilliant 73.
Saleem (3-36 off 21 overs) and Mitch Strachan (3-27) were the pick of the bowlers.
Brighton Union got even contributions from its line-up as it reached 182 against Elwood.
Opener Stuart Bell (44) had set the innings in motion but when he was third out with the score at 85 it precipitated a mini-collapse as Union crashed to 6-91.
It was left to Antony Stojko (34) and Michael Cove (36no) to repair the damage in the face of some fine spin bowling from Woods skipper Bobby Chawla (5-26) and wicket machine Rob De Haan (4-80).
The Beach Boys must win this penultimate-round contest to keep their hopes of March action alive.
West Bentleigh and Le Page Park are sitting in the last two spots on the Longmuir Shield table but that didn't prevent them from supplying an interesting tete' a tete'.
Le Page will have nowhere to run to if they don't open their season win column this round while West Bentleigh will be in the gun if they can't reverse the day one position they find themselves in.
Following a delayed start West Bentleigh was soon in trouble at 2-4 but still prepared to play in cavalier fashion as it tried to find a solution to the batting woes which have plagued it all season.
The tactic of free flowing strokeplay also failed as wickets fell one after the other to see it all out for just 94. Pacemen Oshan De Silva (4-29) and Justin Greer (3-41) did the bulk of the damage.
The Panthers got away to a solid start reaching 33 without loss and were able to overtake West's tally with only four wickets lost.
But a late slump where they lost four more wickets in the space of just 15 runs had the Sky Blues back in the contest with a chance of turning around their fortunes as the Panthers struggled to 8-111 by the close. Stacey Brown (6-45) bowled a masterful spell in the closing overs.
In the pivotal contest between Mackie and Carnegie South, the Redbacks took first turn at the crease and began brightly with Rudi Schleiger in good touch.
Useful stands with a series of partners took his team to 3-140 when he was eventually removed for a patient 63.
Gehan Pereira had added 60 with Schleiger but now took over the main role and a rapid fire 33 from Scott Handley was useful support for the dazzling Sri Lankan.
He held firm despite the Spiders losing three wickets without a run added when the score slid from 5-201 to 8-201. Pereira finished with 55 hard-earned runs while Mackie's pacemen shared the wickets.
Whichever team takes out this contest will confirm a finals spot while the loser will likely put itself in a sudden-death situation in the final round.
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