Wesley CBC secures first win

THREE of the top four sides were beaten and the winless Wesley CBC finally broke its luck in a topsy-turvy round of Warrnambool and District Cricket Association.Nestles rocketed to third place with a 50-run win over ladder-leader Allansford while Russells Creek defended 4-230 against fellow finals contender Dennington, with the result earning Creek second spot.Portland Colts kept its dream of back-to-back titles alive with a nail-biting win against West Warrnambool.The reigning champion ended the Panthers' three-game winning streak, surpassing their total of 150 in the last over.Nirranda Knights finds itself edging closer to being the competition's cellar dweller after Wesley CBC gave it a 109-run thrashing.In arguably the biggest upset of the round, Merrivale sent Brierly crashing out of the four.Tigers captain-coach Justin Lynch approached the match as if his side had nothing to lose."They're fighting for a finals spot while we haven't had much luck this year so I just said to go out there, have a go, take a few risks and see what happens," he said.What happened was bad news for Brierly, which has dropped its last three matches.Lynch believed Merrivale was always in control of the game, especially when the Bulls only managed 174."It was such a good batting wicket," the skipper said. "It was an absolute belter."It was probably the best wicket I've played on out of the whole association."They (Brierly) got off to a good start and at one stage I thought we would be chasing 200 plus but we ended up restricting them."After Brierly captain-coach Nathan Murphy (46) was sent back to the shed, the Bulls lost momentum.Their last three dismissals scraped together just 10 runs.Lynch attributed that to Simon Fleming and Jeremy Burgess, who finished the bowling for Merrivale."The young kids that opened the bowling were good too," he said. "Sam Gleeson and Steven Mirtschin have just come into division one in the last few weeks."We're playing a lot of kids to try and fast track them for the next few years."They're doing a great job."Burgess grabbed 3-33 while Fleming took 2-48.Lynch was equally impressed with the Tigers' batting."We started off excellently," he said, referring to opening batsman Richard McKellar's 48."He really set up the game for us."Middleorder batsmen Simon Fleming (71) and Josh Stapleton (50) ensured McKellar's efforts weren't wasted."We have plenty of batting depth but it just hasn't clicked this season until now," Lynch said. The Tigers batted out their overs to finish 4-208.Brierly's Andrew Giblin stayed at the top of the association's bowling table by taking 2-35.The best bowling figures of the round came from Nestles' Brayden Harkness, who grabbed 4-30 to help The Factory get back on track at Reid Oval.It had a decisive win against ladder-leader Allansford, which fell 50 runs short of the home side's total of 214.Captain-coach David Wright was the shining light with the bat for Nestles, smashing 82 while the visitor's best was Scott Henry (51).Allansford's Tim Abraham backed up last week's five-wicket haul by taking 3-18.The previously second-placed Dennington was another top four side to go down courtesy of equal batting contributions from Russells Creek's top order.The Creek's five opening batsmen made more than 30, with Jayaweera Bandara leading the way with an unbeaten 49.Despite Dustin Drew's (49) and Xavier Moloney's (48) efforts, Creek's total of 4-230 always seemed out of the Dog's reach.Creek's John Anderton, a 49-year-old who made his division one debut, was best with the ball for both sides. He took 3-32, with one of those dismissals in his first over.Portland Colts' top-order also shared its runs around but it was the tailend which sealed the deal at Henty Park. It eclipsed West Warrnambool's total of 7-150 in the 50th over.Panther Luke Gannon (3-28) was best with the ball for both sides.Nirranda Knight's posted a dismal 75 in its chase for Wesley's 184 at Walter Oval to hand the home side its first win of the season.Ben Dobson smashed 90 runs for the winners.