Plenty came out on top of the battle of the two top sides against Old Paradians/St Francis in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association’s Barclay Shield.
Both teams entered the match with three wins from the opening three rounds and it was Old Paradians/St Francis which got the first chance with the bat in the two-day clash.
It was a case of getting starts and not going on with them for Old Paradians/St Francis, and the team was all out for 159.
Steven Luff top-scored with 41.
Luke Rosbrook was the best of the bowlers for Plenty with 4-49.
In reply, Plenty did it with ease as John Green anchored the innings with 88 as they reached 5-222.
Shaun Barker took three wickets for Old Paradians/St Francis.
The result leaves Plenty as the only undefeated team.
Riverside jumped to second on the ladder with its victory over Bundoora.
Electing to bat, Bundoora’s innings never got going with no player making it past 20.
Wickets fell frequently and Bundoora was all out for 71.
Jason Kaminski top scored with 16.
The victory was never in doubt for Riverside which made the runs with three wickets down and ended its innings at 4-166 declared.
In its second innings, Bundoora made 3-164 with opener Adam Sing falling one run short of a century.
Epping went down to Macleod as its total of 181 wasn’t enough.
Five Epping players passed 20 in its innings, but no one could score more than 31.
Macleod chased down the total with four wickets spare.
Blake Dobbin and John Lever took two wickets each for Epping.
Bundoora United also suffered defeat at the hands of Rosanna.
After setting Rosanna 184 for victory, United struggled to get early wickets.
But United weren’t done for and once they grabbed 3-8 they required three wickets, while Rosanna needed 35 runs.
Wickets with 10 runs needed to win and then five runs, gave United hope but in the end Rosanna got the runs with one wicket remaining.
In the Money Shield, a 150 not out to David Worthington set up Lalor Stars’ first innings victory over North Eltham Wanderers.
After bowling the Wanderers out for 64, the Stars declared at 3-240 to try and get an outright win.
In their second innings, the Wanderers lost 4-52, but their middle order steadied to hold the Stars out and they finished with 7-202.
Mernda had an easy win over Montmorency.
Justin Stewart scored a 90 not out for Mernda to set up its total of 8-170.
Stewart then turned his attention to bowling and he took four wickets as Mernda bowled Montmorency out for 101.
Mill Park managed to avoid an outright defeat against Banyule.
After making only 67 in its first innings, Mill Park bowled out Banyule for 159.
In its second innings, Mill Park made 8-133.
