THIS past weekend saw Round 4 of the Under 17s Dowling Shield take place across a number of grounds on Sunday. After some serious rain over the days leading in, the sun was able to break through for another nine games for Victoria’s best young male cricketers. The overall scoring came down a bit, with the pitches more suited to bowlers given the amount of rainfall the Melbourne area had seen in days prior. This saw some seriously good spells from some of the competition’s best bowlers, with the Camberwell Magpies shining in this area as they shot to the top of the standings in their pool.

Northcote (123) def. by Camberwell Magpies (5/190)

The round opened with a terrific bowling performance from the Camberwell Magpies as they defeated Northcote to the tune of 67 runs at Bill Lawry Oval on Sunday. The Magpies posted a respectable score, but it was certainly seen as achievable for most sides around the league, but it was their performance with ball in hand that ended up driving them to victory.

The home side won the toss and decided to send their opponents out to bat first, given the condition of the pitch. The Magpies were able to deliver a more-than-serviceable performance at the crease, thanks to a strong number of performers. While the top individual run-scorer was Henry Lasscock with just 44 runs, it was an all-around outing from their batting lineup, with five players scoring 19 or more runs. Soon, it was time that proved the biggest enemy as they began to run out of overs remaining. By the time the 50th over concluded, the Magpies had set a total of 190 runs, which was at the border of defendable for Camberwell and achievable for Northcote.

Northcote headed to the crease with a considerable amount of work ahead of them, but they had shown the ability to post a big total in recent weeks, so it was set up to be an interesting innings. However, they did not anticipate the bowling power of the Magpies to be at such a high level. Northcote simply could not play the ball on a number of occasions, with Camberwell’s bowling attack in full swing. Patrick Forrest proved to be the biggest problem for the Northcote batting order, taking four wickets and conceding just four runs from his five overs in what ended as a remarkable spell. He had some strong help from Zac Fraser, who took three wickets himself in a ruthless display. In the end, the Camberwell bowlers were able to dismantle one of the competition’s most damaging batting lineups, and hand the Dragons their first loss of the season.

Around the grounds…

Around the grounds now, Casey-South Melbourne were able to hold off a strong finish from Prahran to claim a seven-run victory at Casey Fields on Sunday. The victors headed out to bat first after winning the toss and posted a strong score of 285, thanks to a 143-run outing from in-form batsman Atharv Deshpande. Prahran looked a red-hot chance of chasing this score down, but fell just short of pulling off a remarkable victory.

Moving to Central Reserve North for the next clash, Richmond was able to chase down the required run total to defeat Fitzroy Doncaster on Sunday. The visitors won the coin toss and opted to bat first for a score of 176 from 50 overs. Richmond was able to reach this score in just 33 runs, recording its second win of the season.

On a low-scoring weekend, St Kilda was able to produce one of the biggest scores of the season as it took down the Greenvale Kangaroos by 174 runs at Greenvale Reserve on Sunday. After winning the toss and choosing to head out to bat first, the visitors set a whopping total of 354 runs from their 50 overs (with some help from Harry Dixon‘s 154-run knock). This proved too much for the Kangaroos, who were bowled out before they could make a true dent in the margin.

Footscray has kept its winning streak rolling, taking down Geelong at Mervyn G Hughes Oval on Sunday afternoon. Geelong headed out to the crease first and were not able to perform as well as they would have liked, scoring just 157 runs. The total was soon chased down by Footscray, who was able to score 160 runs from just 22 overs, leaving fans to wonder what they would hit with the full 50 overs.

In a low-scoring clash, Dandenong emerged victorious in its clash against Frankston Peninsula at AH Butler Oval on Sunday. Dandenong headed out to the crease first, and could only score a very achievable total of 116 before being bowled out. However, it produced some strong work with ball in hand as they dismissed the entire opposition batting order for just 101 runs.

Carlton claimed a blowout win to celebrate Round 4 in style, as it took down Melbourne University to the tune of the 125 runs at University Main Oval on Sunday. Carlton took to the crease first and posted a strong total of 210 from their 300 balls faced. Melbourne University then suffered one of the biggest batting collapses of the season, only able to conjure 85 runs as the Carlton bowlers ripped through their lineup.

The penultimate game of the season saw Ringwood jump to the top of the standings in their pool with a win over Kingston Hawthorn at Walter Galt Reserve on Sunday. Heading out to bat first, Ringwood posted a strong total of 259 runs with some strong individual outings in their batting order. Kingston Hawthorn faced a tough task chasing down such a big total, and could only muster up 203 runs before being dismissed.

The final match of Round 4 saw Essendon claim their second win of the season as they defeated Melbourne at Windy Hill on Sunday. Melbourne batted in the first innings and posted a reasonable total of 231 runs, thanks to a number of impressive contributors. However, this was not enough as Essendon’s top order drove them to a successful run chase after 43 overs.