Perera puts Imps to the sword

By Sam Watson

• A Grade, Division 1

LEONGATHA Town’s Sahan Perera has done it again, blasting an unbeaten 127 to steer the Scorpions to an eight-wicket victory against cross town rivals, the Leongatha Imperials.

The Imperials batted first on Leongatha Recreation Reserve and opener Dimithri Perera 31 was in good touch.

But it was captain Jack Ginnane 88 and Sumudu Sameera 53* who really punished Town’s bowlers, putting on a 93-run partnership and leading the Imps to a total of 7/201.

Ron Abeysinghe’s four wickets were able to stem a bit of the Imps’ flow and Town would’ve backed in their dominant batting line up to chase their rivals’ big total.

Pandukabhaya Jayasinghe 33 started well, but his partner Perera really took control of the game, blasting fours left, right and centre.

Ron Abeysinghe 21 also chimed in for some valuable runs in the back end, but it was Perera inflicting most of the damage and when he reached 127*,

Town passed their opponents total just two wickets down and with over four overs remaining.

Nerrena score second win against Invy

AFTER going winless in their first seven games Nerrena has scored back-to-back victories, this time knocking off Inverloch.

The visiting Nerrena were sent in by Inverloch at Thompson Reserve and if it weren’t for late innings scores from Ryan Clark 49 and Jarrod Hoy 29* they would’ve struggled to get to their total of 9/167.

Now with ball in hand Nerrena captain Mitch Clark was determined to defend their total and he took it upon himself to dismiss the first three batters.

After Clark’s dominant spell that saw him finish with figures of 3/14, another Nerrena veteran took control of the game.

Tim Wightman dismissed four of the next five batters, getting figures of 4/13 off eight and restricting Inverloch to 8/134 after 40 overs.

Eli Cousins 30 was the Stingrays’ highest run scorer batting up number 10, but they ultimately fell 33 runs short.

Cougars clear OMK

KOONWARRA L/RSL has moved into the top four of the A1 division, beating OMK by five wickets on Saturday.

OMK won the toss and chose to put the pads on at the Koonwarra Recreation Reserve and after two early wickets fell, thanks to Koonwarra captain Ben

Perry, Ethan 33, and Jacob Lamers 58* did their best to rescue the innings.

After their solid knocks, Noel Creed 23 added some valuable runs, but it only saw them reach 6/148.

OMK were able to snag two early wickets in Koonwarra’s innings, but Col McPhee’s 24 then Ben Perry’s unbeaten 68 gave the Cougars the upper hand.

Sam Sperling added a quick and unbeaten 20 runs at the end of the innings and Koonwarra were five-wicket victors in the 38th over.

Sharks come back against Club

PHILLIP Island are showing the signs of a champion side, finding ways to win even when everything isn’t going their way and they did exactly that against Wonthaggi Club on Saturday.

The Sharks batted first on their home deck, but Shiran Rathnayake 52 and Daniel Mock 25 were the only two members of the side who contributed decent scores.

With some tail enders reaching double figures the Sharks reached 8/149, but Club would’ve felt they were in the box seat to upset their opponents.

Coach Ryan Thomas worked his way to 20 before being run out, then Alex Geyer 42 was seeing them well, but he was also run out.

Veteran Gavin Britt 21 looked dangerous in the middle order but Phillip Island soon sorted him out, and the tail couldn’t wag one bit.
Club were restricted to 9/123 off their 40 overs, falling 26 runs short of the ladder leaders.