THE Under-17 Dowling Shield resumed on Tuesday, with plenty of matches taking place around the Metropolitan Melbourne area. The day marked the second round of the competition, with plenty of sides making the climb to top spot in this time. Across the three pools of teams, there were some massive scores posted for the second round in a row, with Australia’s premier young male cricketers taking the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities in front of plenty of interested on-lookers. Producing the biggest total of the round, Richmond were able to get themselves on the winners’ list with a big triumph yesterday afternoon.

Richmond (8/274) def. Melbourne University (9/200)

In their first win of the 2022 season, Richmond delivered a powerful performance when they took on Melbourne University at Central Reserve North on Tuesday afternoon. The two Pool B sides went head-to-head in what was the second outing of the season for the two sides.

Richmond won the toss and opted to bat given the condition of the pitch, a move that paid off big time. The Richmond openers in Ethan de Vries and Fabian Di Domenico got off to a promising start, but were both dismissed around the 20-run margin, and the nerves of Richmond coaches and fans began to rise. However, they found themselves a hero in Jack Iverson, who was not only a calming presence at the crease, but also able to hit the scoreboard in a big way. He formed a formidable partnership with teammate and skipper Max Parker, as the two saved their side from producing a batting collapse. They combined to drive their team to a respectable score with some handy work at the crease, taking their team from 2/61 to 3/208 when Parker was finally dismissed. Iverson carried the side for as long as he could, before eventually being caught on a whopping score of 114. Unfortunately, the remaining six batsmen combined for just 16 runs, but the duo of Iverson and Parker carried their team to a big score of 274.

Melbourne University could not match this at the crease, with Ali Khan‘s 45 run effort the strongest of the innings. The rest of the batting order was dismissed with ease, with eight players unable to score more than 17 runs in a decently sized collapse. They finished on just 200 runs, with Richmond bowler Bayden Dowsett ruthless with ball in hand, taking three wickets and conceding just 30 runs in his 10-over stint. This was the second sub-par score set by Melbourne University from the first two rounds of the season, so this is an area that must be addressed in the coming days if they are to claim their maiden win of the year.

Around the grounds:

Around the grounds now, Northcote were terrific in their five-wicket victory over Carlton at Princes Park on Tuesday. Northcote won the toss and sent the home side out to bat first, confident in their ability to cause some damage with both bat and ball in hand. They were able to do exactly this, with Carlton’s score of 141 chased down by Northcote in just 33 overs, thanks to 92-run outing.

Moving to Greaves Reserve, Dandenong were unable to hold off an impressive Kingston Hawthorn performance when the two sides went head-to-head on Tuesday morning. The home side won the toss and batted first, but could only muster up a score of 167 runs from their 50 overs. Kingston Hawthorn then headed to the crease and were driven to victory by a consistent performance from their top order.

In a low-scoring affair, Fitzroy Doncaster were able to hold on to claim the win over the Camberwell Magpies at Schramms Reserve on Tuesday afternoon. The victors could only post a total of 140 (which is quite low compared to some matches this round), but the strongest factor of their game came with ball in hand. They bowled out the Magpies for a score of just 112 runs, dismissing their entire batting order in just 45 overs.

Geelong have continued their red-hot start to the year, this time taking down Melbourne by 82 runs at Beaumaris Secondary College on Tuesday. Geelong won the toss and headed out to the crease for a bat, and produced a score of 267 runs thanks to a second consecutive ton from Oliver Peake, who has been terrific to start the season. Melbourne simply lacked the scoring power to match this as they were only able to produce 185 runs before their 10th wicket fell.

Essendon produced a terrific performance as they took down the Greenvale Kangaroos to the tune of eight wickets at Greenvale Reserve. The home side opted to bat first after winning the toss, but could not turn this into anything meaningful, with 180 runs coming from their 50-over stint at the crease. Essendon then delivered a fantastic showing at the crease, chasing this score down in just 33 overs, thanks to their top-three batsmen all scoring at least 46 runs.

Prahran fell painfully short of chasing down the required score and fell to Ringwood when the two teams locked horns at Toorak Park on Tuesday afternoon. Ringwood won the coin toss and batted first to muster up a score of 254, which is considered very defendable in most cases. However, Prahran delivered an impressive performance with bat in hand, but fell just nine runs short of producing a fantastic run chase.

In a match packed with big individual performances, Frankston Peninsula emerged victorious in their clash with Casey-South Melbourne at Casey Fields. The home side won the toss and opted to bat, a move which looked to pay off when they posted a total of 264, thanks to a pair of tons from Atharv Deshpande (101 not out) and Ashwin Mehta (112). However, Frankston Peninsula were still able to chase this down in just 42 overs in a remarkable display.

The final match of the round saw Footscray claim top spot in their Pool standings by taking down St Kilda at Harry Trott Oval on Tuesday afternoon. St Kilda won the toss and batted first, but could only conjure 186 runs from their time at the crease. Footscray wasted no time in chasing this total down, reaching the required score in just 42 overs as they continue their strong form of late.