CRICKET
CLV
By LIAM DURKIN
Glengarry 6-d/151 & 0/54 def Centrals 10/42 & 10/162
GLENGARRY jumped into third on the Cricket Latrobe Valley Premier A ladder after the completion of Round 12.
The Magpies, looking like a possible finals miss only a fortnight ago, catapulted a few rungs after defeating Centrals outright.
Centrals had already lost on first innings heading into Day 2 at the weekend, and were 1/32 on resumption.
The Lions redeemed its first innings of 42 with 162 second time round.
Skipper Tye Hourigan played well for 86, yet most others fell victim to Cam Graham, who took 5/31 on his home deck.
Glengarry needed only 54 runs to take all 10 points, and got them in 11 second innings overs.
Graham completed a solid day’s work with 27 not out off 31 balls.
The Magpie match reports may have been entertaining back at the sheds, after one batsman suffered a classic meltdown in Premier B upon being triggered by a teammate.
Churchill 9/251 def Moe 10/247
GOOD players are always good.
A sublime century from Ben Kearns saw Churchill to victory over Moe.
Chasing 248, the Cobras survived a late scare to win by one wicket.
The home side was 9/244, yet Kearns batted through to finish unbeaten on 118.
While he hasn’t played as much in recent seasons, his effort was another class act from what could well be the best sporting family in Gippsland.
Fellow Churchill stalwart John Keighran also had a big say in the result, scoring a brisk 58 off 70 balls.
Keighran, who by his own admission is “getting too old for this”, has well and truly earnt the right to now come in and bat at number seven.
Moe will be disappointed not to close, especially after having Churchill 5/53.
By all reports however the Lions didn’t bowl overly well, reflecting a possible poor start to the day with the bat.
Moe batted on into Day 2, but lasted only four overs.
Matt Hibbs was dismissed for 62, and the last three wickets fell for just three runs.
As tends to happen, that can have a deflating effect on the team once it comes time to field.
Hibbs (4/47) and Royce Colgrave (2/59) ended with multiple scalps.
Moe players still had a good story to bring back to the rooms, after its Premier C won a thriller by two runs against Ex Students.
Speaking from experience, any Moe win against Traralgon is memorable regardless of what grade.
Morwell 10/207 def Traralgon Imperials 10/109
MORWELL had 100 runs too many.
The Tigers left Catterick Crescent content with first innings points.
The visitors shot Imperials out for just 109 in 37.4 overs.
Just 33 overs were completed on Day 2, yet Morwell was happy to shake hands and have an early beer.
Imperials’ innings fell apart once Ryan Morley was dismissed with the score on 50.
He made 39, while fellow Imps veteran Brett Chapman made 35 not out, watching wickets fall from the other end.
Tim Ford returned insane figures of 8/50 to single-handedly drive Morwell to victory.
His effort was the best-ever bowling for a Morwell player against Imperials (trick stat).
How lucky you can get at times.
Ford arrived at Morwell a few seasons ago simply as a mate of Brendan Brincat’s.
Morwell is now top of the table, and looking to have a healthy squad to choose from at the right time of year.
Their depth is so strong that genuine A Graders Dylan Day, Lachlan Day and Joel Mason played B Grade at the weekend.
Mason has made runs against Ex Students in the ones this season, while Day took a seven-fa against a Glengarry team that played in the Premier A grand final last season.
With this in mind, it is often pointless to debate how good the standard of a particular grade is, because you never quite know who is going to front up.
Toongabbie 10/99 & 5/154 def Ex Students 5-d/310
TOONGABBIE blocked out to avoid an outright.
The Rams started the day 1/31 chasing 310 against Ex Students, but were bowled out for just 99.
The Sharks enforced the follow-on, and saw the visitors get to 5/154 second time around.
By then the damage had already been done, thanks mainly to Jimmy Pryde taking crazy figures of 7/9.
His spin partner Lee Stockdale chipped in with 2/17.
Only Amal Athulathmudali and Rob Wheildon made contributions for Toongabbie.
Athulathmudali perhaps showed where his desire was at, getting to 34 off just 20 rocks.
Wheildon meanwhile displayed what playing for the club means, seeing off 115 balls, and then 120 in the second dig.
Athulathmudali made it 100 runs for the day, smacking 83 off 75 balls.
Stockdale took 3/29 in the second innings.
A Grade
Traralgon West 10/51 & 10/161 def Raiders 10/107 & 10/44
POOR Razor must be having a heart attack.
Raiders lost reverse outright to Traralgon West, in what ended up being a complete reversal of form inside seven days.
Truthfully, the team from Yinnar did well to lose reverse.
The Eagles started the day at 4/43, still 13 runs shy of making the home side bat again in A Grade.
A half-century to Hayden Kimpton (adding 21 runs to his overnight score), and scores of 35 and 31 to Josh Monacella and Alfie Peck took Traralgon West to 161.
With half the day still to go, Raiders were set 105 to take all 10 points.
Little more than 20 overs later however, they’d been shot out for 44.
Peck ran riot with 5/19, while Connor Hughes took 4/20.
Perhaps most damming for Raiders – nine batsmen were either bowled or lbw.
The win was arguably Traralgon West’s most memorable since doing a similar job on CATS earlier this decade.
The result could destabilise Raiders meanwhile, and further reinforce the message that Keenan Hughes can’t do it all himself.
CATS 10/161 def Mirboo North 10/138 & 4/145
WHAT a time to step up.
Josh Bellingham made a name for himself, after peeling off 67 batting at 10 for CATS against Mirboo North.
He partnered with Ben Hagley in a 113-run partnership for the ninth wicket, rescuing CATS and completely demoralising the Tigers.
There is honestly nothing worse than a nagging lower order partnership (still have nightmares of Roger Henry coming in at eight that time). CATS started Day 2 in all sorts at 8/48 chasing 138 at John Black Oval.
Bellingham however showed incredible poise, to get through amid the most severe amount of pressure imaginable, knowing that one mistake could have led to defeat for his team.
Hagley was 31 not out overnight, and got to 55 after the match was won.
The Tigers batted again to try and manufacture something, but ended at 4/145 after 48 overs.
Ben Heath scored 63 not out and George Fairbairn 28 red.
Zach Hollis (4/10) and Frankie Ingram (2/61) were unable to add to their Day 1 wicket tallies for Mirboo North.
Latrobe 10/216 def Rovers 10/180
BORING cricket is a good tactic at this level.
Latrobe defeated Rovers by 36 runs at Duncan Cameron.
Defending 216, made after 80 overs on Day 1, the Sharks kept Rovers to 180 off the same amount.
Jacob Bloomfield (3/24), Rhys Noble (3/53) and Rob Webber (2/18) ensured the screws were tightened, as Rovers lost wickets at semi-regular intervals.
Rovers veteran Simon Duff kept the Sharks nervous with 40 batting at number nine, yet his dismissal by Ed Hopper (2/12) sparked a sigh of relief from the visitors.
The home side was 8/126, before a 50 run partnership kept the game alive.
James Hayter also scored 40 for Rovers.
Willow Grove 8-d/247 def Gormandale 10/64 & 4/137
GORMANDALE was another team forced to block out.
The Tigers were destroyed on first innings, but put up a good fight second time around against Willow Grove.
Taking to Moe Racecourse Turf, the Wolves picked up from 3/104, and declared with 247 on the board.
Luke Payton made a run-a-ball 79, while Dylan van der Stoep struck at the same rate in his 34 not out. Buddhima Dissanayake got one for the mantlepiece, taking 5/95. Yohan Soyza snared 2/70 off 29 economical overs.
Soyza then scored 85, batting for a period with Cal Polo, who went through the innings with 36 red.
