BUCKLEY Ridges got off to a perfect start in its Dandenong District Cricket Association turf2 encounter against Maranatha Methodist with opening batsmen Chris Batchelor and Richard Hope putting on 254 for the first wicket on Saturday.
Batchelor (158) and Hope (100) batted masterfully to anchor a strong first innings total of 334, before Maranatha steadied and responded with the bat to be 0-49 at stumps.
Maranatha's Jeffrey Thom was the best of the bowlers with 5-63.
Narre North's Dean Rice stood tall in the B-grade game against Parkfield, top-scoring with 134 in his side's total of 9-329. He was ably supported by captain and opening batsman Peter Hunter (78).
Norai Farozkhan and Luke Wanless took three wickets each for Parkfield and Farozkhan also chipped in with a run out.
The turf-1 game between Doveton and Keysborough at Robinson Reserve was a low-scoring affair, with bowlers on both sides dominating play.
Doveton's Matthew Hutchinson took an outstanding 7-47 from 17 overs to restrict Keysborough to 88.
Keysborough struck back with Andrew Staude taking 5-45 and Jacob Hennigan 3-27 to roll Doveton for just 86.
No batsman scored more than 30, with Trent Ward making it to 29 before getting out lbw.
Silverton is poised to take the points in the D-grade match against St Brigids/St Louis after strong performances with both bat and ball.
Silverton's Matthew Coad bowled an efficient 3-44 from 17 overs, before Aaron Gration came on to take an amazing 5-15 off just six overs.
Gration dismissed the last five St Brigids/St Louis batsmen to close out the innings with 157 on the board.
Silverton responded through opener Chris Michaels (87no) and was 3-121 at stumps.
Narre Warren put in a strong performance to take first innings points against Hallam Kalora Park in the C-grade fixture at Frog Hollow Reserve.
Narre Warren's Chris Visser tore through the Hallam Kalora Park top order, dismissing the first four batsmen and recording terrific figures of 5-15 off 11 overs.
Chasing down the modest total of 88, Narre Warren openers James Van Dam (70) and Laurent Campbell (28) guided their side to a strong 0-109 at the close of play.
In The Journal's senior match of the week, Adam Lello was the pick of the bowlers in the E-grade fixture between Springvale South and Coomoora at Wachter Reserve, taking 6-29 to keep Springvale South to 133.
Ashley Godfrey top-scored for Springvale South with 37 - 26 of which came in boundaries - while skipper Neville Sketcher chipped in with 20.
The game is far from over with Coomoora on 4-55 at stumps, thanks largely to a tidy spell of bowling from Sketcher, who took 3-17 off 11 overs.
In The Journal's Junior Match of the Week, Springvale South had several contributors with the bat to score 132 against Noble Park in the under 15-2 clash.
Brijesh Kulkani was patient for his 14 from 41 balls while Scott Chamberlain (16) and Nicholas Kemp (21) kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Palingu Lokupathirage was the best of the bowlers with 3-2 off three overs for Noble Park, while Mitchell Forsyth took 2-8 off three overs.
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