A brilliant century from Altona’s Aaron Maynard was the only thing standing in the way of Melton in Victorian Sub-District cricket on Saturday.
With Altona batting first at Frank Kirk Oval, Maynard smashed 123 before being run out late in the day.
But he was the only batsman to get away from Melton, with the Lions’ bowlers coming out on top in all other contests.
PICTURE GALLERY: Melton v Altona VSDCA
The next-highest scorer for the A’s was Joshua Young, who made 24 as Altona reached 9-205 in its 80 overs.
Nathan Allen and Steve Buhagiar shared the spoils for Melton, each taking three wickets.
Opening bowler James Wheelahan was also impressive, finishing with figures of 1-31.
In the Ballarat Cricket Association, Darley is chasing 160 for a win against Napoleons/Sebastopol.
Despite not being able to find 10 wickets at Darley Park on Saturday, the Lions’ bowling attack did the next best thing by slowing Napoleons/Sebastopol’s run rate.
Brian Wheelahan was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2-24 from his 14 overs.
Equally impressive was captain Matthew Cape, who finished with 1-18 from his 11 overs.
When play resumes this week, it will be the second time in two matches that Darley will be forced to try to chase down a score to secure a win.
The Lions were set 226 for victory against Golden Point in round one and came up 24 runs short.
There will be no worries for the Darley third XI, which has already secured the points against Napoleons/Sebastopol.
The Lions rolled Napoleons/Sebastopol for just 68 and then chased down the target in 34.3 overs.
In Gisborne District Cricket Association, a last-wicket stand of 20 by Riddell cost Bacchus Marsh victory on Saturday.
Batting first, the Bulls were bowled out for 138 in the final over of their innings in the one-day fixture.
While the total may have looked a little thin on paper, constant wickets during the Riddell innings ensured the Bulls remained in the hunt.
With Riddell’s innings at 7-121 and the match in the balance, a Bacchus Marsh double strike handed them the advantage as Riddell slumped to 9-122.
But they didn’t reckon on the last-wicket combination of Stephen Roche (13 not out) and Scott Fuller (7 not out) who weren’t about to give up the battle as they ground out the required runs.
Riddell finished at 9-142.
