ANOTHER weekend of Victoria Premier Cricket Premier Men’s Firsts has wrapped, with plenty of impressive performances around the competition. In this series, we put the spotlight on one individual performance that may have caught the eye of teammates, opponents and fans alike. With plenty to choose from each week, it is worth mentioning that there will be some unlucky players that miss out on a weekly basis.

In Round 12, that status belongs to star Geelong batsman Hayden Butterworth, who was once again at his damaging best with bat in hand. Against Prahran, Butterworth was clinical at the crease, controlling the tempo of the innings with his composed and masterful technique. He managed to get his side to a respectable total thanks to his 117-run effort, but unfortunately this was not enough as his team ended up falling to their opponents.

This round’s Player of the Week award goes to Casey-South Melbourne bowler Ruwantha Kellepotha, who was extremely damaging in his side’s win over Kingston Hawthorn at Casey Fields on Saturday afternoon. Remarkably, he dismissed the first five players of the opposing batting order, in what was a truly exceptional performance with ball in hand.

The Kingston Hawthorn batting order got off to a decent start in their innings, with the opening partnership making their way to 35 runs in no time at all. Kellepotha was able to get the first breakthrough, forcing batsman Ramneet Dhindsa to poorly play his shot, which was soon caught. Kingston Hawthorn’s next batsman did not last long either, with Thaveesh Attanayake bowled by a ripping Kellepotha delivery.

This kicked off a remarkable run for the Casey-South Melbourne bowler, who went 4/6 in this time after ripping through the next part of the Kingston Hawthorn lineup. Two of these were clean bowled, while another was an unplayable delivery that was given out via LBW. In the end, Kellepotha finished with figures of 5/25 from his 10-over stint, in what was an exceptionally damaging spell as he guided his side to a big win, as they chased down the required total.