Season-saving draw for the Sharks

CRICKET

LVDCL PREMIER A

BY LIAM DURKIN

THE penultimate round of the Latrobe Valley District CricketLeague Premier Aseason was played over the weekend.

ASaturday/Sunday arrangement was scheduled, in what served as aprecursor to what players will be exposed to come finals.

SHE was tough going at George Cain Oval.

Churchill and Moe both found batting conditions treacherous, but in the end, local knowledge won the day.

TheCobras prevailedby39runs on firstinnings, in amatch that saw 20 wickets fall for only 169 runs.

Sensing the need to have 11 eyes seeing how the wicket playedupclose, the Lionselected to bowl after winning the toss.

Cobra openers Matt Harvey and Ric Velardi made acautious approach, while Moe new ball bowlers Clinton Taylor and Royce Colgrave bowled unchanged for 14 overs.

The pairtook the firstfourwickets between them to leave Churchill 4/28.

Wickets continued to fall, and before too long, the home side was 7/43.

Callum Grant turned into Ravi Jadeja, nabbing the key wicket of John Keighran lbw, following up by getting Kian Farnworth in the same fashion.

JoeyWhykes withstood most deliveriesthatcame his way, and was able to scratch out afighting 45 to take the score into triple figures.

SWarr 11.3-7-9-2, JKeighran5-3-7-2, MHarvey

1-0-2-0,C Williams 5-2-4-2 Churchill second innings

BKearns cSavigeb Taylor 3

RVelardi .b Grant 15

MHarvey. bGrant 19

BKelly. .c Phoenix bGrant 19

JKeighran .not out 5

KHolt. not out 5

Extras (nb 1, w0,b2,lb0). .3

Overs. 24

Total. 4/69

Moe bowling: CTaylor12-2-26-1, RBlunt 3-0-17-0, C

Grant 9-1-24-3

Raiders first innings

BBurrows cJBloomfieldb Meenakshi 32

CMills .b Gamage .0

MHiggins bJ Bloomfield 92

LMaynard. not out 132

THutchinson cDuncan bGamage 0

ABurcombe cColtman bBZomer 18

MPerera. not out 0

Extras (nb 2, w1,b3,lb2). .8

Overs. 87

Total. 5/285(dec)

Latrobe bowling: TGamage 22-1-91-2, JBloomfield

16-4-47-1, BZomer 17-5-37-1, SFreshwater 13-3-34-0, AMeenakshi4-1-18-1,ABloomfield 7-0-26-0, MZomer

6-1-20-0, LDuncan 1-0-8-0 Latrobe firstinnings

RChokununga. not out 102

ABloomfield cBurrowsbH McColl 3

JColtman cO McColl bPerera. .0

SFreshwater .b HMcColl 22

BZomer .b Chesire. 12

AMeenakshi .c HigginsbPerera. .5

MZomer not out 1

Extras (nb 1, w2,b2,lb3). .8

Overs. 86.2

Total. ...5/153(dec)

Raidersbowling:H McColl 20-12-22-2,M Perera 24-9-

38-2, MHiggins 11-2-18-0, GChesire19.2-9-29-1, L

Maynard8-1-19-0, BMacFarlane 3-0-13-0,OMcColl 1-0-9-0

Whykes combined with Harry Van Rossum for a 39-run partnership for the eighth wicket, which in the context of the conditions, was probably worth twice as many.

Whykes became Grant’s third wicket, leaving him with figures of 3/17.

Colgrave was the other Moe bowler to strikethree times, and ended with 3/22.

TheCobraswere bowled out in 55.2 overs, meaningthere wasstill plenty of time left in the day.

With the pitch well-worn by now, Churchill had plenty to work with, and they certainly capitalised.

Moe openers RileyBaldiand Noah Kane made adecent start in fairness, getting to 23 before the wicket of Baldi set off adramaticcollapse.

Kurt Holt had both openers in his pocket, which paved the way for Keighran to join the party.

The pair decimated the Lions, who lost 6/9 to be staring down the gun-barrel at stumps.

Returning the next day, the gamewas as good as gone, and at 6/32, Moeonly added 33 runs, to be all out for 65.

Holt was the wrecker, taking 4/29 off 14 overs.

Keighran finished with 2/7 and Chris Williams2/4

Keighran also took two catches, in what possibly told the story of the day, as seven of the 10 wickets to fall were either bowled or lbw.

Churchill batted afurther 24 overs in their second dig, getting to 4/69 before the match was called.

Grant continuedtofind purchase, adding afurther three wickets to his tally.

OKAY, Latrobe clearly doesn’t want to get relegated to the pleb league.

As they say, the right thing to do isn’t always the most popular.

The Sharks certainly went down the unpopular pathonSunday, blocking out foradrawagainst Raiders.

Set 285 to win, Latrobe negotiated the best part of 90 overs to deny Raiders six points.

While the tactic might not have been agreat endorsementfor the game, it was smart play on the Sharks part once they realised their chances of winning were pretty well diminished.

Securing adraw and taking three points meant their season stayed alive for at least for another week -had they lost, it would have been all over.

Playing at Yinnar, the home side recovered from an indifferent start, that saw two of their top three fall for globes.

Ben Burrows dug in for adefiant 34, but it was skipper Liam Maynard that rescued the innings.

In what ended up being aweekend that saw the Liams spend plenty of time at the crease, this one scored afine132 notout

He combined with Mick Higgins, putting on 197 for the fifth wicket.

Higgins fell for 92 toward the end of the day, prompting Maynard to declare.

Latrobe’s bowlers toiled hard. Tyron Gamage had some success, snaring two wickets.

The Sharks suffered two early losses in reply, and then set about defending as much as Sunday as it could.

Steven Freshwaterwas justthe man for the job; he soakedup96balls, as usual big-hitting Zimbabwean Ronnie Chokununga had to contain himself.

Runswere certainly not the issue for Latrobe.

When captain Benn Zomer was dismissed the score was 4/95,but fromaShark perspective,hewas dismissed at the 47.4 over mark.

With40orsooversstill left in the day,Anu Meenakshi set about defending as if his life depended on it.

The left hander showed immense concentration, spending more than 30 overs at the crease.

Unbelievably, he saw off 98 balls and scored five runs.

Yes, five runs off 98 balls.

ForMeenakshi, who has an AGrade tontohis name, this stoic hand might be remembered just as much as that.

The nervous 90smight only last ahandful of balls -needing to bat to save agame can last anywhere up to three hours.

Chokununga meanwhile, was also playing steadily, although he did get the odd boundary away.

The opener ended up batting through the innings, and was not out on 102 when umpire Tony Flinn called time.

Chokununga faced 263 balls and hit 12 fours in his knock.

Raiders could do no more. Harry McColl sent down 20 overs and took 2/22, Madura Perera sent down 24 and took 2/38. MORWELL pretty well finished CATS’ season.

CATS are still mathematically alive, although it is looking like it will take aminor miracle for them to make finals now.

The Tigers decided to bowl first at Keegan St, and ended up shooting CATS out for under 100.

Youngster Connor Seymour did afantastic job with thenew ball,taking the firstthree wickets to fall.

He knocked overleft handerJamie Cochrane, before snaring Josh Moore for athird-ball duck.

Seymour then experienced the great thrill of seeing the back of former first classplayer Cal Stewart caught behind. Seymour drew Stuart forward, but he appeared to be in two-minds about whether or not to play the ball.

From there, Morwell off spinner Ross Whelpdale was able to come into the game.

Whelpdale took 4/30 off 18.4 overs with eight maidens, while the reaming wickets were shared among Brendan Brincat, Blake Mills and Mark Cukier.

With 97 the initial target, Morwell got there with relative ease, losing six wickets on the run home, going at areasonable rate.

The Tigers’ depth has been ahallmark this season. Emphasising this depth was number eight Greg Harvey, who top-scored with58, along with Brincat who made 33 batting at seven.

Captain Jordan Campbell played asteady hand of 44, while Brendan Mason made 26 in his first game as aMorwell AGrader.

The home side compiled 224.

Stewart and Vaughan Penrose took threewickets each for CATS.

CATS then played apretty pointless second innings, seeing off 24 overs for ascore of 0/75.

PREMIER BGRADE -ROUND 18

Centrals 106(DWhite27, LAnders5/26, JHysen 2/30) def by MirbooNorth 4/107 (D Woodall29, CAnders29, MGraeme 26*, DWhite3/25); Moe 3/29 def Newborough 24 (A Johnstone 6/1, BMcCartney2/4);Thorpdale 111 (L Gettings 5/25, TPickering 2/19) def by Morwell 3/133 (R Semmler 50*, KFortuin 33, MPowell2/31); JeeralangBoolarra-bye

PREMIER BGRADE -ROUND 19 Newborough 5/163(cc) (S Wernham 44, JCook 39*, P Shrubb28) def by Morwell 2/168 (S Douglas 50*, GGniel 48*, CGiddens 40), Jeeralang-Boolarrav Thorpdale (no scoresupplied); Moe vMirbooNorth (no scoresupplied); Centrals -bye

BGRADE -ROUND 18

Latrobe 129(DMcDougall 27,J Cooke3/16, JRogers 3/20, MWilliams3/37) def TraralgonWest 110(DCropley 32, RCahill 28*, DGanegodage 3/3, HRajapakse3/22, BWilson 2/19); CATS 7/160 (J Motta 57,M Anthufor 32*, JBellingham 29, KChapman3/34,JChapman 2/27,J Pace 2/37) defTrafalgar 9/159(cc) (C Dastey 59, CParnall 42, BStevenson 4/17,A Wilhelm 2/31, JBellingham2/41); Willow Grove60(SFreeman 3/11, JDunn 2/5,BJones 2/9,BCluderay 2/10) def by Churchill 0/63 (S Dunn 34*); Raiders- bye

BGRADE -ROUND 19

Latrobe 9/72(JBerryman-Lambert4/8)def by Raiders 7/133(cc) (J Daddo 27*, JVarghese 25*, SBandara3/17, M Lawrence 2/41);Trafalgar164 (B Dawson 49,JPace 25, S Forbes 3/15, SFreeman 3/33) def by Churchill 6/187(cc) (R Johnson 54, SFreeman 42*, SForbes37);CATS 8/97(cc) (L Phillips 4/9) def by Traralgon West 118(SVarsaci 31, MWilliams 29, EPass 3/18, JGuy 3/19, JMotta 2/16,C Beaver2/34); Willow Grove-bye

PREMIER CGRADE -ROUND 14 Jeeralang-Boolarra8/103(cc) (T Basarke 2/17) def by Mirboo North 2/114 (P Woodall 70*); Moe 7/121(cc) (C de Vent 59, HEdwards 34, AKumar2/17) def by Morwell 6/155(cc) (A Kays 42*, BWilliams 29, GEdwards 2/22); Centrals 3/167 (K Saunders65, AFoley61) def Yallourn North 6/164(cc) (K Brown72*, NCook 71,CHughes 3/13 LGibbons 2/18); Trafalgar110 (BWClaridge 40, LPass 3/4, LWilson 3/12) def by CATS 7/144(cc) (S Mustoe 54, CBeaver31, BW Claridge3/14, ZLarkin 2/32)

CGRADE -ROUND 14

Rawson 6/152 (J wiseman 84*, MFailla 3/15, NSallee 2/31) def by WillowGrove 5/160 (M Failla 55, CVeenman 35, NSallee 25*); Latrobe 6/152(cc) (S Grover 41, GDuncan 38, RHebbard33*,RPickering 2/15, BBeecher 2/35) def by Thorpdale-Raiders2/158 (J Hecker78*, RPickering 42); Newborough 7/177(JCargill 57,RStanyer 40*, S Wernham 32, HBates 2/14, SRogers2/28) def Traralgon West 7/170 (W Griffiths55*, SKosterman 28, SWernham 2/20, SCooper 2/41)

WOMENS DIVISION -ROUND 13 Newborough 5/65(cc) (J Rainbow26*) def MorwellYellow 4/53 (T Anderson 2/11); Latrobe 3/86(cc) (S Rockliff35*) defMirbooNorth 5/33(SRockliff2/3); Centrals 1/99(cc) def Raiders3/77(cc) (J Whitney33*); Morwell Blackv WillowGrove