BACCHUS Marsh’s revival in the Gisborne District Cricket Association’s McIntyre Cup gathered speed on Saturday as its star bats posted a mammoth total at Romsey Reserve.
Second-last on the ladder, the Bulls put 9-322 on the board for Romsey to chase this weekend as they sent their second-placed host to all corners of the park.
Scott Wakefield (108) and Kieran Atkin (82) shared a 164-run stand for the second wicket in the dominant partnership, coming together at 1-54 and taking the score to 2-218 when Wakefield fell.
Atkin followed just two runs later at 3-220 in the start of a middle-order collapse of 4-15.
But Peter Lalor (21) and Brenton Payne (17) stopped the rot, steadying the innings and allowing the tail to wag on the way to Bacchus Marsh reaching 80 overs.
Aaron Paterson claimed the last three wickets to finish best of the bowlers with 3-27, while Chris Burkett toiled for 3-76 off 26 overs.
At Rupertswood, ball dominated bat with 17 wickets falling for 160 runs on day one.
Riddell appeared to have made a modest total after being bowled out for 120 only to stun Rupertswood and leave it 7-40 at stumps.
At Woodend, it was the Adam Johnstone show as his 175 led Woodend to 6-315.
At Wallan, Andrew Nicholls made 103 and Justin Colliss 80 as the hosts posted 286 off 80 overs for Sunbury to chase this weekend.
In B grade, St Anthonys lower order made up for a slow start to leave Bacchus Marsh second XI chasing 272 this weekend.
St Anthonys lost regular wickets to be 6-111 batting first, only for Wes Greig (66) and Bobby Keeping (87) to swing the contest.
Keeping and No.11 Rod Oosterhoff (six) shared an 83-run stand for the last wicket.
Bacchus Marsh lost a wicket in the one over before stumps and will resume at 1-4 this weekend.
In C grade, Diggers Rest Bulla Village will chase 228 this weekend after Ashfield’s Jason King (104) led the hosts to 227 all-out from 72 overs.
In WDCA A1 Turf, Melton South is still searching for its first win after a 44-run defeat to Williamstown Colts at the weekend.
The Colts made 6-171 off the back of Hanni Harb’s 107 and Melton South could manage only 127 in reply.
Anthony Yates (26) was the only batsman past 20 for Melton South while Leigh Edwards’ 2-21 made him best of the bowlers.
In A2 Turf, Melton Centrals could not overcome a top-order collapse as it lost by 34 runs to Bellbridge.
In BCA, East Ballarat cleaned up the Darley tail to end any hopes of a close finish to win by 48 runs in first grade.
Darley made a bright start, reaching 1-95 chasing East Ballarat’s 6-246.
But regular wickets slowed momentum in the middle order before a collapse of 5-11 took care of the tail.
