TOM HAYES
CRICKET
LVDCL By TOM HAYES EVERY grade across the Latrobe Valley and District Cricket League was finalised over the weekend, as premierships were collected by teams across the Premier B, B Grade, Premier C, and C Grade on Saturday, in a series of one-dayers. Morwell thumped Thorpdale in the Premier B Grand Final, winning by a whopping 145 runs. The tone was set in the first innings, as Morwell steadily grew their total. Glenn Gniel top-scored for the Tigers with 51 from 59 deliveries, before he was bowled by Shannon Pickering. Robert Semmler, Luke Gettings and Shane Gniel all managed handy contributions, scoring 23, 27 and 27 respectively. After 45 overs had concluded, Morwell sat at 9/192. Thorpdale had a dreary response, as only one player managed a double-figure score. Kayne O’Connell opened and top-scored with 18, as he watched five wickets fall before his dismissal. Four player scored ducks, as Thorpdale were well and truly dominated, all out for 47 in the 30th over. Glenn Gniel was the most prolific bowler with 4/5, Travis Pickering claimed 3/13 and Callum Bailey snagged two scalps. Morwell were joined by their Premier A Grade side as premiers, when they won the flag the following day. In a good display, 10 of Morwell’s premiership team played juniors at the club. Gniel won player of the match. CHURCHILL took out the B Grade flag, chasing Latrobe’s total of 116. Latrobe had two batsmen score over 20, while the rest evidently struggled at the crease. Despite the low-scoring nature of the innings, Latrobe did well enough to play out the innings before they could get bowled out. In response, Churchill didn’t get off to the best of starts, sitting at 2/27 at one point, then 3/41 before Toby Spark and Ijaz Ahmed collaborated in the middle. Spark scored 40 and Ahmed reached 38 not out, balancing the scale a touch to their side. Latrobe gathered two quick wickets when Spark was run out and Phil van Rossum was dismissed for a golden duck, giving them a glimpse of hope. But Churchill simply had too much time up their sleeve and knocked the final runs around to reach premiership glory by four wickets. CATS took charge in the Premier C Grade Grand Final against Mirboo North by winning the tossing and choosing to bat. Brody Stevenson top-scored with 51, while the other batsmen helped with scores in the teens and twenties. At the time of Stevenson’s departure, CATS were 5/137, they lost another wicket but gained another 29 runs before the innings came to a close. Thomas Basarke took 3/17 from just three overs in an impressive display of bowling for Mirboo North. Wickets fell far too consistently for Mirboo North for them to even build a partnership and launch an attack. At an early stage of their innings, they were 3/12, in desperate trouble. Damien Turner and Paul Woodall took the ease off the batting line-up, as they slowly ticked runs over, but once Woodall was dismissed, they trickled through the side again. They went from 4/63 to 7/86, losing three wickets for just 23 runs. A small fight-back was installed by the tail, but nothing was able to stop the CATS bowling attack from reaching premiership glory. In the 37th over, CATS eventually bowled out Mirboo North for 132, to win the Grand Final by 34 runs. THE C Grade Grand Final saw a run chase completed with five overs to spare, when Newborough defeated Traralgon West. Traralgon West elected to bat and were immediately in trouble, losing three wickets for 27 runs. The ship was steadied by Greg Stephens and Matt Rogers, who scored 56 and 41 runs respectively. When Stephens was eventually run out, the scoreboard read 4/95, and soon after trickled to 5/111. The two Stephen’s; Cooke and Rogers collectively took the score to 6/170, before Rogers was dismissed with the last ball of the innings for 25. In return, Newborough strongly contested Traralgon West’s score as they charged for the flag. Andrew Young was bowled by Stephens for 29 and the score was a healthy 1/44, then Robert Hussey and Shaune Wernham both made high scores of 47 and 60 respectively, before Wernham’s dismissal last into the piece. At the time of his walk back to the sheds, the score read 2/143, and the final runs were ticked over by Hussey and Justin Cook – who claimed three wickets in the first innings. Newborough got home in the 35th over to win by eight wickets, and were presented with the premiership cup. If photos are anything to go by, the Newborough Pub was rocking on Saturday night.
