By STEVE BROWN
FTGDCA
UPWEY Tecoma declared itself a finals contender when it defeated third-placed Johnson Park by 27 runs to complete round 10 of the Reeves Shield.
With only three games of the home-and-away series remaining, the Tigers defended 221 and moved into the top four, a game clear of Knox Gardens.
Despite good knocks from Sharks batsmen Ben Stallworthy (51) and David Devenish (45), the outstanding performance in the game came from Upwey Tecoma off-spinner Steve Gannell who tweaked his magic to capture 8/64 and gave the Tigers some belief they can match it with the best.
In the upset of the day, Knoxfield did not give The Basin a sniff as Scott McKenzie and 15-year-old man-of-the-match Mitch Perry bowled the Knights to victory with three wickets apiece.
Chasing 243, the Bears were rolled for just 139, with Perry making his senior debut only a few games ago, now a permanent selection in the Knoxfield Reeves Shield line-up.
For the first time this season, The Basin has dropped to second place while the Knights move to sixth on the table.
Jason Fraser dug in at Monbulk and was unbeaten on 50 when his side defeated Knox Gardens by five wickets in a game that contained five Lomax Medallists.
Resuming at 3/53 in pursuit of 122, it was an early day on the hill as Knox Gardens slipped out of the top four and face The Basin next match.
Upper Gully (122) had bottom side Belgrave on the ropes at 9/97, however, could not deliver the final blow as tailenders Dave Carnie (23 not out) and Michael Litterbach saw the Magpies home in dramatic fashion.
Upper Gully leg-spinner Robbie Birnie continued his great form from Bendigo Country Week with 4/16 but it was all in vain.
In a slow day’s play at Tew Reserve, Ferntree Gully was never a threat, chasing 258 set by Eildon Park, with the Gully’s Shane Richardson posting 50 out of 187.
The win sees the Panthers move to the top of the ladder while the Blues slump to the bottom.
Scores
Reeves Shield
Upwey Tecoma 221 (Evans 80 not out) d Johnson Park 194 (Stallworthy 51, D. Devenish 45, Gannell 8/64).
Eildon Park 9/258 (Baltruschatis 83, Bowyer 5/44) d Ferntree Gully 187 (Richardson 52, Henry 36, Caton-Robertson 3/34).
Knoxfield 243 (Scholfield 57, M. Perry 57) d The Basin 139 (Koster 36 not out, Vozzo 31, Perry 3/33, McKenzie 3/39).
Belgrave 9/126 (Birnie 4/16, Young 3/18) d Upper Gully 122
Monbulk 5/125 (Fraser 50 not out) d Knox Gardens 122 (Small 42, Neal 4/18).
Ladder (round 10) Eildon Park 51, The Basin 48, Johnson Park 39, Upwey Tecoma 39, Knox Gardens 30, Knoxfield 21, Upper Gully 21, Monbulk 21, Belgrave 18, Ferntree Gully 15.
Decoite Shield
South Belgrave 224 (A. Hart 75, Noone 53 not out, Inglis 5/57) d Lysterfield 71 and 3/154 (Brolic 78 not out, D’Rosario 41),
Auravale 167 (K. Sidhu 6/57) d Knox City 53 (McDermott 5/11 including hat trick) and 74 (McDonald 6/34).
Mt Gate 8/346 (Buckland 70, Rozakis 67, Bowden 60 not out, Bunting 56) d St John’s Tecoma 141.
Footballers 7/200 (Hepburn 79, Krishnan 55) d Rowville 9/197.
Ladder (round 10) Mt Gate 61, South Belgrave 49, Auravale 43, Footballers 33, St John’s Tecoma 27, Rowville 21, Lysterfield 12, Knox City 6.
Division 3
Upper Gully 3/181 (Claughton 104 not out, Hart 32) d Belgrave 114.
Upwey Tecoma 348 (Heath 160) d Johnson Park 282 (Rickard 118, Bourke 39, C. Devenish 39, Kennedy 5/51).
Ferntree Gully 9/190 (Cole 62 not out, Wright 52, Brown 5/44, Bronsgeest 3/58) d Eildon Park 183 (Porter 58, Hodgson 4/7).
The Basin 5/114 (Turcinovic 34) d Knoxfield 102 (Freeling 4/17, Lee 3/16).
Knox Gardens 7/330 d Monbulk 130 (Vernon 4/17).
Division 4
Mt Gate 7/377 (Harris 155) d St John’s Tecoma 162 (Terrington 3/29, Wimalaratna 3/34).
Lysterfield 7/300 d South Belgrave 183 (Ray 39, Murphy 34 not out, Kinniburgh 4/41).
Boronia Knox Churches 263 d Auravale 231 (Budge 89 not out, Hoenderdaal 60, Williams 6/80).
Division 5
Ferntree Gully 9/225 (Catalano 69, Sharp 82 not out, Robinson 3/55) d Knox City 221 (Hoggett 134, Handley 36, Glare 5/27).
Upper Gully 5/98 and 7/153 (S. Bailey 50, Scoon 36, Ziza 3/34) d South Belgrave 92 (Roleff 7/35) and 6/154 (Cockerell 69, Roleff 3/40).
Knox Gardens 5/268 (O’Connor 61, Lambrick 45, Flintoff 44 not out, Buljubasic 37 not out) d Eildon Park 252.
Knoxfield 301 d The Basin 214 (Porch 101, McColl 4/43).
Division 6
Belgrave 9/269 (Fig-Smith 87, Chaproniere 72) d Eildon Park 198 (Corcoran 42, Davey 38, Phillips 36, Connolly 4/44, Read 3/55).
Upwey Tecoma 7/215 (D. Waters 100 not out, Lucas 35) d Mt Gate 100 (Cross 5/7) and 91.
Lysterfield 209 d Johnson Park 137 (Carter 4/23).
Knox Boronia Churches 137 (Keane 34, Wan 30 not out, Lindsay 4/29) d Ferntree Gully 104 (L. Graffen 3/14, Russell 4/20, Bullock 33).
Footballers 180 (Graczyk 4/21) d Rowville 175 (Van Eck 34).
Division 7
Knoxfield 8/142 (R. Maibaum 61) d Upper Gully 55 (Liddy 3/23) and 70 (J. Maibaum 5/17).
Upwey Tecoma 225 (Anderson 41, Bell 35, Betka 4/24) d The Basin 242 (Lane 75, Williams 5/27).
Johnson Park 2/254 d Ferntree Gully 252 (Morrison 7/36, Jacobson 76, Black 51).
Monbulk 211 (Howard 45, Lamers 41, Bakker 3/26, Danopoulos 3/30) d Knox Gardens 194 (Stuckey 54, Bakker 39 not out, Howard 3/12).
Lysterfield 9/300 (Morrison 77, Walker 33, Sonsie 32) d Eildon Park 265 (Woodward 100, Janneke 58, Thompson 3/6).
B1
Waverley Wanderers 7/162 (Stillman 50 not out, Ginathunga 35) d Belgrave 123 (Adams 4/18).
South Belgrave 3/121 (Perry 3/15, Karan 51 not out, Fletcher 30 not out) d Knox City 119 (M. White 40, Kidd 3/19).
B2
Knox Boronia Churches 8/210 (Scobie 53 not out, P. DeGraffen 50 not out) d Monbulk 36 (Skilbeck 5/4, DiDonato 3/16).
Rowville 5/200 d Auravale 7/197 (Richards 55 not out, Charman 31).
Waverley Wanderers 6/215 (Jayatikate 52, Stephens 40, Hare 3/12) d Lysterfield 8/112 (M. Burger 3/36).
UNDER 17
Knox Gardens 6/155 (O’Connor 43, Mott 32) d Eildon Park 93 (O’Connor 3/28, Woodcock 3/20).
Ferntree Gully 9/215 (Trevenen 56, Dunkinson 43) d Upper Gully 153 (Meagher 61).
Upwey Tecoma 8/186 (Hunt 100 not out) d Eildon Park 55 (Capon 4/11) and 33 (Hunt 3/2, Vance 3/13).
Knox Rebels 4/209 (Harrison 102 not out, Francis 52) d Monbulk 151 (Cleary 62, Myring 36, Gillard 31, Dewar 4/19, Walter 3/24).
