MIRBOO North jumped from fifth to top spot on the EnergyAustralia Yallourn Cup ladder after thrashing Latrobe by 166 runs on Saturday at Peter Siddle Oval.
For the third time this season the Tigers passed the 300 mark, highlighting the improvement and consistency in their batting lineup.
Shane Peters narrowly missed another century with a well compiled 93 and Brett Pedlow made 85 at seven.
Damien Turner (65) and Ben Heath (50) resumed the day at 1/47 chasing Latrobe’s 190 and took the score to 104 before Heath was trapped in front by Anthony Bloomfield.
Passing Latrobe’s modest score on a good batting wicket, Peters and Pedlow made the most of it by adding 120 for the sixth wicket.
Bloomfield was the best of the Sharks bowling attack claiming 3/42 off 17, and part time bowler Aaron Farley chipped in with 2/21 from six at the finish.
Kaushik Aphale gave nothing away conceding 19 runs from 16 tight overs.
Yallourn North v Newborough Bulldogs
Newborough Bulldogs showed great resilience to deprive Yallourn North outright points in a good tussle.
Resuming at 0/16, the Bulldogs made 167 in their second dig and after 25 overs the Bombers were 6-126.
Luke Nelson followed up his good first innings of 66 with 53 in the second as the Bombers chased 170 for victory.
Morwell v Moe
Morwell dropped to third when Moe defeated it by 153 runs, but the beaten side fared better in their second innings to be 5/155 at stumps.
Resuming at 2/24, Craig Giddens (36) and Mark Cukier (16) took the score to 62 before Matt Clarke had both caught within a run of each other.
At that stage Clarke had 3/10 off eight overs and did not bowl again for the match, leaving him one short of his 900th senior wicket.
After being dismissed for 123, Andrew Philip asked Morwell to bat again.
Keeper Jesse Giardina did well to make 31 the first time around and followed up with 27 in Morwell’s second dig.
Morwell was shaky at 3/39 but Cukier (40), Blake Mills (26) and Brendan Brincat (39*) showed some resistance to safeguard an outright defeat.
Rob Phoenix, 3/77 off 13, and Chris Johnson, 2/23 off 11, were Moe’s wicket takers in the second innings.
Second Grade
Dylan Lee smashed 111 off 38 balls to lead Rawson to a massive 169 run win over Morwell in second grade. Chasing Morwell’s 203, Rawson’s batsmen smashed 17 sixes, Lee contributing nine, in a powerhouse display.
Paul George (89) and Chad Williamson (60) helped themselves to a healthy score as Rawson finished with 372 for the loss of six wickets at 8.26 runs per over.
Trafalgar, making a late dash for the finals, upset Jeeralang Boolarra Panthers by 58 runs with Cohen Lee making 70 and James Blaser 39.
Craig Blackberry was Panthers’ top scorer with 83 and Craig Nielson took 6/23 for the Ships.
Mirboo North declared after bundling St Vincents for 100 and then sent the Saints back in to have them 7-102. Sean Morritt took 4/36 for the Saints.
Latrobe narrowly missed an outright over Hazelwood North.
Batting first the Razorbacks were all out for 120 with Dave Morrison top scoring with 43.
Pat Farrant (5/40) and Anthony De Leonardis (4/35) were the wreckers.
After scoring 224 off 32 overs with Ian Kennedy 48 and Kris Wells 51, Latrobe declared leaving 24 overs for outright victory.
John Hayes (4/29), Pat Farrant (1/17) and Glen Steele (2/3) bowled well for the Sharks. Thorpdale scored an upset five run win over Moe and bundled the Lions out of the top six.
Veteran Harvey Poole made 47 for the Blues and Frank Manducci took 5/121.
Pat Robinson was the major contributor for the Lions with an unbeaten 86 before he ran out of partners.
Yallourn North was too strong for Willow Grove winning by 93 runs.
Hayden Brown, Darren Wilkie and Ricky Martin shared the 10 wickets between them.
Third Grade
LADDER leaders Latrobe powered their way to a 137 run win over Jeeralang Boolarra Panthers with Dean Burridge retiring hurt after making 104.
In reply to the Panthers 128, the Sharks flayed the bowling to score 2/265 after 31.4 overs with Shane Vallance not out on 74 and Michael Zomer making 58.
St Vincents had a win over Newborough Bulldogs with David Izzard (29) and Wayne Arnold (25) the main run getters for the Saints.
Nathan Jenkins and Brett Dowdell restricted the Bulldogs to 85.
Moe Blues took 26 overs to chase down Morwell’s 168 with seven wickets in hand.
Mark Micallef made 57 and took 3/30 off seven for the Lions while Mark Smith made 67 for the Tigers.
St Vincents kept their finals hopes alive with a 29 run win over Newborough Bulldogs.
Nathan Jenkins (4/14) and Brett Dowdell (3/15) restricted the Bulldogs to 85 and the Saints passed the score with six wickets down.
Moe and Mirboo North won on forfeit over Thorpdale and Willow Grove respectively.
