Sunny days in the middle

By Keith Thompson
SUNNY skies greeted valley cricketers on Saturday, causing many of them to reach hastily for the sunscreen.
The DJ Strachan Shield competition saw some interesting cricket as visitors Warburton-Millgrove faced Hoddles Creek.
Warburton batted first and Brad Winzer was the top scorer with 48. Brenton Derix headed Hoddles Creek’s bowling attack with 4/36 and later backed it up with 78.
Damien Egan was gallant with 2/47 but Hoddles Creek came away with a good win.
At Mount Evelyn, the home side reached 4/217 with Luke Jones 81 not out and Steve Kogelman 52. Woori Yallock made 6/185 in reply with Mick Dwyer scoring 41.
Jon Dalton took 3/41 and the ever-reliable Chris Anderson had 2/37 in a confidence-boosting result for Mount Evelyn
Coldstream hosted Wandin and made 145. Chris Dobson led the batting with 62 while the Wandin bowling was spearheaded by the two openers in Jackson Wright with 5/18 and Simon Young 4/22.
Wandin notched up 4/146 in reply as Gary Frankovic made an undefeated 74. Liam Doughty 2/35 and M Kinkaid 1/6 did their part for the home side in the losing effort.
At Queens Park, home side Healesville batted first but struggled with the Seville pace attack of Amerasinghe, Tilney and Walker with the latter snaring 5/17. Healesville was all out for 60, a target Seville easily overhauled as it closed its innings on 7/99 after only half the overs available to them.
Silvan hosted Yarra Junction and made 7/183. Luke Painter batted well for his 43 while Clint Sharman made 39.
Yarra Junction managed only 9/154 in reply with the Lever brothers combining for 87 of their team’s total. Shaun Walliker took 3/32 and Matt Stark 3/41 for the victorious Silvan side.
In the RA Finger Trophy competition, Paul Broussard made a century for Woori Yallock in its 7/221. His 112 was ably supported by Jordan Williams’ 34. Ian Hawkey took 3/50 for a Mount Evelyn side that manage only 139 with the bat.
Woori’s Luke Martin took 5/14 while Steele made 55 for Mount Evelyn.
Seville’s 6/172 saw it comfortably defeat Healesville’s 77. Scott Rackham made 41, Roger Oates 40 and Alex Bell 38 for Seville while Richard Maile scored 35 in Healesville’s losing effort.
Yarra Junction was all out for 82, with Ed Buckley scoring 28, but lost to a Silvan side that reached 84 with the loss of only two wickets.
Ryan Sleeman took 4/17 and Chris Pahi 3/17 for Silvan while Ryan Sleeman was gallant for Junction with 35 not out.
Next weekend sees the start of round 6, which, if all goes well, will be the first one-day match of the season.
Many of the players are looking forward to it and, based on the lack of batting so far, there should be plenty of opportunity for outright results.