CRICKET
CLV PREMIER A
By LIAM DURKIN
LOCAL cricket returned after the Christmas break at the weekend.
Players battled high winds and smoke from nearby bushfires out on the field.
Round 9 matches of Cricket Latrobe Valley were played as one dayers, as all concerned got back into the swing of things.
Another good innovation saw Centrals and Glengarry play a double header at Apex Park. The day started with Premier B at 9am, before moving into the Premier C twilight match from 3pm.
Premier A returned some very competitive matches – one decided in the last over, and another by one wicket.
Ex Students 9/199 def Churchill 9/194
GOOD teams find away.
Ex Students got up by one wicket against Churchill in a Terry Hunter Oval thriller – but not after one of the most astonishing knocks from a player in a losing cause.
Chasing 195, the Sharks took it to the 48th over, requiring the years of experience from Adam Brady and Michael Stockdale to see them through.
Ryan Ayres had earlier played the innings of his time at the Cobras, making an unbeaten 105.
Such was the magnificence, the next highest score was 24 (any danger boys). He also came in when the score was 2/9, and was out in the middle when it read 4/13.
Ben Kearns and John Keighran provided support down the order, needing to rein in their usually attacking nature to do the team thing and get Ayres on strike.
He single-handedly gave Churchill a decent total, up against an attack led by Jimmy Pryde, who took 4/33.
The total appeared insignificant when the Sharks got to 1/138, thanks to a 101-run second wicket partnership between Daniel Trease and Matt Dyke.
Both men registered half-centuries, before the match took a dramatic turn from the most unlikely of sources.
Cobras top-order bat Ric Velardi was introduced into the attack, and ended up ripping through the middle order, taking up after Matt Harvey dismissed Trease and Dyke with his left arm orthodox.
Velardi snared three consecutive wickets to all of a sudden leave the game precariously placed at 7/174.
A run out thereafter only added to the mayhem, and when Ex Students veteran Andy Matthews was trapped by Cobras equivalent Chris Williams, the Sharks still needed nine to win with one wicket in hand.
Going for broke, the Cobras were denied victory after a no ball was hit to the boundary.
Velardi took 4/28 off his six overs, while Harvey and Williams returned identical figures of 2/21.
Traralgon Imperials 5/197 def Glengarry 6/195
IMPERIALS kept its winning form up.
Glengarry was the team’s latest scalp, after winning by five wickets at Catterick Crescent.
The margin did not reflect the closeness of the game however, as the match was not decided until the last over.
The return of Nat Freitag had immediate affect for the Magpies as far as run-scoring went, with the superstar left hander making an unbeaten 57.
He was however more subdued than usual, striking at 60, likely because of a lengthy layoff following injury.
Frank Marks played in a similar fashion, scoring 62 off 80, taking off from Cam Graham who opened with 31 off 57.
Wickets proved hard to take at Catterick for both sides.
Dilshan Thilakarathne bobbed up with 3/29 for Imperials.
The home side saw double-figure scores from the entire top six, and breathed a sigh of relief when the total was eventually reached.
Lewis Blake top-scored with 65, followed by Thilakarathne (40 not out) and Leighton Shuttleworth (31).
Freitag bowled eight overs, in further encouraging signs for his recovery.
Graham completed a decent all-round game, taking 3/43.
The game will likely provide the competition with a couple of references: that Glengarry is every chance to come home with a wet sail as finals approach, and that Imps might have been lucky to scamper over the line.
Toongabbie 10/197 def Centrals 10/160
TOONGABBIE secured its first win of the Premier A season.
The Rams won by 37 runs against Centrals, meaning the Lions remain as the only winless side in 2025/26.
Batting first at Roger Ries Oval after being sent in, the home team recovered from 3/23 to post 197.
Toongabbie legend Tom Shippen rescued the innings, along with Kyle O’Reilly, putting on 51 for the fourth wicket.
Shippen reached his half-century, while O’Reilly played a busy hand of 35 off 38 balls.
This paved the way for Jason Veneman to come in at eight, although he was certainly not taking the mickey, scoring an unbeaten 30.
Tyron Gamage threatened to capitulate the Rams’ innings after taking two wickets with the new ball.
The Centrals spearhead was the best of the bowlers with 4/39, in a card that saw all six bowlers used take wickets.
Tarkyn Shankland was next best with 2/26.
The Lions looks set for victory at 1/55, yet Toongabbie’s big guns then swung the match.
Skipper Tim Dunn took the decisive wicket of Jaxon Murdoch for 32, before Shippen and Amal Athulathmudali joined in.
Centrals fell in a heap, losing 3/6, the result of which meant the middle to lower order was left with too much to do.
Dunn collected 3/17, Brady Hood 2/18 and Shippen 2/20 off his 10 overs with two maidens.
Morwell 3/168 def Moe 10/165
MORWELL was methodical in its chase against Moe.
The Tigers chased 165 in 38.3 overs at Keegan Street, losing just three wickets in the process.
The visitors had a less than ideal start, with the top four batsmen struggling to get going.
Moe captain Matt Hibbs was forced to rebuild, and made a patient 49 off 95 rocks.
He found a willing ally in youngster Brodyn Blandford, who hung around for a defiant 33 off 70 – sure to give his confidence the world of good against a quality attack.
Morwell’s new ball bowlers Tim Ford and Brendan Brincat got the ball talking, and ended with three wickets each.
Tigers skipper Blair Clymo picked up 2/16 and was then out in the middle as the winning runs were hit.
The Morwell top order did the opposite to Moe, with Kris Fortuin (37), Mark Cukier (50) and Blake Mills (46 off 32) all contributing significantly.
Ben McCartney had some success for the Lions, nabbing 2/22.
A Grade
Traralgon West 6/105 def Rovers 10/104
TRARALGON WEST raised a number of eyebrows after defeating equal top-side Rovers.
Chasing only 104, the Eagles won with four wickets in the shed at Duncan Cameron.
The visitors bowled very well, hardly allowing Rovers to get the run rate moving.
Liam Little made 29 opening the batting, yet most of his teammates returned scores in single figures.
Things were looking dire for Rovers at 5/42, and ultimately, they just had to try and get to triple figures.
Ben Fleming bowled an economical spell of 3/16 off 10, as did Alfie Peck, who took 2/27 off the same amount.
The Eagles got the required runs without too much hassle, at one stage being 2/60.
Kane Scott and Little took a pair of wickets each for Rovers.
Willow Grove 9/181 def Latrobe 10/145
HONESTY is the best policy – even though it can sometimes cost you.
A terrific act of sportsmanship from Latrobe captain Steven Freshwater saw him recall Willow Grove batsman Ben Edebohls at the weekend.
Edebohls had been given out lbw, yet the Sharks skipper, feeling the wrong decision had been made, graciously allowed his opposite number to take his guard again.
Edebohls was on 30 at the time, and went on to score a match-winning 88 not out for the Wolves.
Willow Grove closed at 9/181at Moe Racecourse, and then bowled Latrobe out for 145.
Anthony Wilkes helped Edebohls with 26 at the top of the order up against Rob Webber, who took 2/26.
Sharks youngster Liam Duncan had his coming-of-age moment, taking 5/30 with his off spin. His uncle, Michael Duncan, is best mates with former Australian quick Peter Siddle, who would have surely delighted in hearing about another Latrobe cricketer taking a bag of wickets.
The Latrobe response was in danger early at 2/16, before Rhys Noble (35) got things around parity.
The Sharks however were always a partnership short, and Freshwater (38 not out) was out in the middle when the last wicket fell with the score 145.
Darcy Walsh continued his wicket-taking ways, grabbing 4/32 with his leg breaks. He bowled in tandem with his brother Logan, who took one of the biggest wickets in Gippsland, that of Anthony Bloomfield.
Dylan van der Stoep (2/13) also had a major say in the result, dismissing Webber cheaply.
Raiders 10/254 def CATS 10/124
THAT’S why they recruited him.
A whirlwind innings from Keenan Hughes propelled Raiders to a commanding victory over CATS.
The big-hitting allrounder smoked 115 off just 80 balls after coming in at number seven.
He hit seven sixes and 10 fours, showing absolute disregard for the fact CATS had a former Test bowler in its line-up.
His performance was such that Raiders did not even bat its entire 50 over allotment at John Black Oval, as the visitors registered 254 in 46.3 overs.
Hughes’ innings was made even more special given Raiders were in deep trouble at 5/38.
Hughes and Tom Robertson however got together for one of the more astonishing middle order partnerships imaginable, putting on 180 for the sixth wicket.
Robertson took something of a back seat to the Hughes onslaught, but still made 71 off 91 balls himself.
Equally amazingly, a lot of the CATS bowlers still returned reasonable figures.
Sam Gissara took 4/58, Josh Moore 3/45 and Dane Fawcett 3/47 with two maidens.
With his confidence sky-high, Hughes then took the first two wickets with the new ball, before coming back to walk off with 4/29.
Fittingly, he took the last wicket, that of Callum Stewart, who went down swinging with 34 off 28.
Not to be outdone, Hughes also caught Tinashe Panyangara, the one player on CATS’ team who could have potentially played a similar innings to Hughes.
Other wicket-takers for Raiders were Harvey Rogers-Collen (3/35) and Robertson (2/15).
Gormandale 6/194 def Mirboo North 10/140
GORMANDALE scored a much-needed victory.
The Tigers of Traralgon defeated the Tigers of Mirboo North by four wickets at Stoddart Oval after posting 6/194.
Batting first, Cal Polo and Nick Scammell put on a near-century opening stand to put their side in a promising position.
Polo made 47 and Scammell 38, before Patrick Brooks came in down the order and blasted 40 red off just 23 balls.
Wickets were shared in the Mirboo North camp. Dale Banks (2/20), Darien Matthews (2/25) and Max Woodall (2/45) all chipped in.
Linc Chila played his best innings in the top grade, scoring 54 off 60 deliveries opening the batting.
His effort was in vain however, as the rest of the order struggled to either convert or get started.
Mirboo North was bowled out for 140 in less than 40 overs, thanks to the work of Gormandale bowlers Buddhima Dissanayake (3/31) and Scammell (2/6).
