Luke Robinson smashed his second century of the season to help Plenty Valley open the new year with victory against Kew in the Victorian Sub-district Cricket Association’s north-east competition.
After a poor start to the innings with Sean Ayres and Harjinder Singh Chahal falling cheaply, Robinson and Stephen Tsonas combined to pile on 95.
Once Tsonas fell for 39, Robinson continued on with Daniel Heatley to push the Bats towards 200.
Robinson fell for 115, which included 10 fours and five sixes, with the Bats eventually making 5-248 off their 45 overs.
Kew started well and was cruising at 3-118. Enter Daniel Heatley, who had bowled only three overs this season before Saturday’s match. Now, he took five of the next six wickets, restricting Kew to 9-216.
Justin Jaensch chipped in with two wickets.
The win, along with a loss for Oakleigh, returned the Bats to the top of the ladder after eight rounds.
In the Diamond Valley Cricket Association’s Barclay Shield, Epping’s bowlers were on song against Bundoora.
Bundoora managed just 69, Hamish Schumacher top-scoring with 18.
Billy McKeown was the main destroyer for Epping, taking 4-15 off eight overs.
Epping also struggled, to 113, which it achieved with just one over remaining.
Opener Nathaniel Biggs top-scored with 29 on a low-scoring day.
Elsewhere, Old Paradians-St Francis experienced a few nervous tics in their chase against Macleod.
Macleod could manage just 106 in its innings, with only Richard Johnson making any impact with the bat.
Udhara Hewa Wellalage did the damage with the ball, taking 5-12 off 7.1 overs, which included five maidens
The Wolves were in trouble at 3-19 and managed to get to 8-93. Number six Shaun Barker (15 not out) and number 10 Gavin Teague (11 not out) got them over the line, the Wolves finishing on 8-108.
In other results, Diamond Creek defeated Riverside; Research Eltham Collegians were too good for Lower Plenty; and North Eltham Wanderers beat Rosanna.
