Anti-climax in last round

CRICKET

LVDCL AGRADE

BY LIAM DURKIN

THERE was still time for one more surprise in the finalround of the Latrobe Valley District Cricket League AGrade home-and-away season.

Even though the top four was locked in before the round started, it was reasonably expected there would be some changes to the final make-up.

Positions two to four were up for grabs. Mirboo North, in fourth, would have gone to third with an outright victory, but were denied by adetermined Willow Grove.

The winnerofthe match betweenTraralgon West and Trafalgarmeanwhile, secured second position and choice of venue for the semi-final.

However, in something of an anti-climax, the top four ended up being exactly the same as it was at the start of the day.

Centrals had an unassailable lead on top, and took the minor premiership by 15 points, helped in short way by three outright victories.

The Ships finished second on 53 points, followed by the Eagles (47 points) and Tigers (44).

WELL doneWillow Grove, that took some heart.

The Wolves lost the match, but won no shortage of admirers against Mirboo North.

Heading into Day 2facing what looked to be an inevitable outright defeat, Willow Grove dug in, stoically seeing out 56 overs in the second innings to end their season.

The day began with the Tigers needing only 14 runs to win on first innings.

The home sideachieved just that inside seven overs, and then set about building alead.

Zach Hollis addedtohis Day 1score of 59, making an innings-high 88.

His knock came at agood click, off 105 balls. Runs further down the order came from Jesse Van Rooye, who made abusy 41 off 44, highlighted by two balls clearing the fence.

Brett Pedlow alsochipped in with 33 off 29, batting all the way down at number eight.

Mirboo North declared with 227 on the board after 54 overs.

In reality, they declared after 29 overs on Day 2 with alead of 115.

The chase for an outright was on there and then -the Tigers had 57 overs to take 10 wickets. With very little to play for other than pride, the Wolves flipped the order around.

Theodds of an outrightdefeatnarrowed when they sank to 3/17 inside the first10overs, however the Wolves dug in for the next 20 overs, atimein which just two wickets fell.

Such defensive play meant runs became anonissue for either side. As far as Willow Grove was concerned, overs were key, and for Mirboo North, it was wickets.

Josh Coombs and Adam James were resolute in defence, each seeing offmore than 60 balls Their resistance was broken,firstly when Coombs departedwiththe scoreon37, beforethe Tigers took 3/2.

At that stage, the score was 7/64 after 31 overs. The odds seemingly all withMirboo North, who needed just three wickets in 24 overs.

However, the flipped-around order meant usual opener Brody Hams and skipper Pete Grima batted at eight and nine respectively.

Now only facing an older ball, the pair were able to settle in for the long haul.

While points might have already been going to the home side, as far as Hams and Grima were concerned, batting out theday wasjustasgood as awin

It is not oftensomeone willget amention for making five off 82 balls, but in the case of Hams, he deserves one for his application.

While most, if not all players in Willow Grove's position would have mentally checked-out on the season and had thoughts only on beers when the score was 7/64, Hams and Grima would have been well withintheir rights to swing at everything.

Instead, they stayed in.

Maybe they batted to protect the rest of the order, maybethey batted to prove apoint, or maybe they batted with one eye turned to next season. Whatever the motivation, they batted theirway to stumps, closing at 7/114.

Grima remained unbeaten on 40 off 66 balls, and Hams' 88-minute epic ensured the Wolves took some small mercy out of the match.

For aclub looking to build on its first season in AGrade,every win, no matter how small, can only help in the long run.

Will Lawrey ended with figures of 3/17 and Jed Alexander took 2/11.

Earlier in the day, Willow Grove bowler David Bremner nabbed 4/64, while Coombs took 2/32.

Clubleaders Coombs and Hams would have been pleased withthe fight shown in the second innings, at atimewhen it would have been veryeasy to just roll over and fold.

Having now got ataste forAGrade cricket, there will be no surprises for Willow Grove should they go again in the top flight.

It is understood the Wolves already have the wheels in motion for next season, with some prominent names linked to the club.

TRAFALGAR and Traralgon West said 'see you next week boys' after their game.

The Ships took the saying 'slow and steady wins the race' to new levels on Saturday, going at just a click over one an over for the best part of 84 overs to reel in the required total of 170.

Picking up afterfacing two oversonDay 1at

Jack Canavan,returning batsmen Liam White and Liam Durkin set about settling in for the day.

The left handers saw off well over 100 balls each, and put on 77 for the first wicket.

The crawling run rate meant the Eagles were able to scoot through their overs, and by tea, had already bowled 55.

Although wickets weren't falling, the ultradefensive mindset threatened to shootTrafalgar in the foot, especially afterthe visitors misinterpreted the rules governing playing conditions.

Initially thinking they had until 5.30pm to bat, the Ships were correctly informed time was not a factor,and the overs on Day 2simply had to match what was played on Day 1.

So, the equation was 78 runs to win off 30 overs after tea.

Rhys Holdsworth made his intentions clear, hitting amaximum firstballafter the break, on his way to afairly effortless 37 off 46 balls.

White was patient as ever, with the book saying he made 48.

The remaining batsmen all reached double figures, helping the side overthe line in what ended up being agame filled with asense of anti-climax.