Dinesh Daminda produced one of his most devastating outings with the ball for Hoppers Crossing in a three-wicket win over Brighton in their sub-district one-day game at Hogans Road Reserve on Saturday.
Daminda had the ball zipping off the deck and swinging both ways en route to 5-35 off his maximum nine overs.
“He made the absolute most of everything that was in the wicket,” Kennedy said. “It was a little bit overcast, so he swung it around nicely. It was swinging both ways – perfect execution.”
Incredibly, he was swinging it so far that two of his deliveries went for four wides down leg side.
It was a small price for Hoppers Crossing to pay for the trouble Daminda caused Brighton.
But he was not the only Cat to cause headaches for the visitors.
Young gun Brett Smith bowled 33 dot balls before conceding a run and finished with a tight 0-12 off nine.
Kennedy bowled four maidens at the start of his spell for 1-14 off nine, while Trent Said returned 1-23 off nine with three maidens.
The three change bowlers combined to bowl 27 overs for the concession of just 49 runs.
The Cats knew it was going to be their day on the back of a bizarre run out.
Smith fielded a ball at mid-on hit by Brighton’s Ben Clements and routinely threw it back to the wicketkeeper Justin Goegan.
But the non-striking runner Achala Siriwardhane thought the ball had gone beyond Smith and turned to make a second run, only for Goegan to whip off the bails and inflict a run out.
At that stage, Brighton was 4-11 and staring down the barrel.
It reached 8-118, a score the Cats powered to with 26 balls to spare after a telling knock of 44 from Duleeka Thisakuttige.
Hoppers Crossing, seventh on the ladder, has a chance to break into the top six when it travels to sixth-placed Malvern for a two-day game starting on Saturday.
Werribee was downed by Altona by six wickets in a one-dayer at Chirnside Park.
The Tigers reached a competitive 4-174 off 45 overs, Shaun Dean starring again with 64 not out to take his season average to 240. It was all to no avail as A’s top order batsmen Aaron Maynard (65) and Adam Brown (57 not out) guided the visitors to victory with 15 balls to spare.
Werribee starts a two-day clash with bottom-of-the-ladder Brighton on Saturday.
