CRICKET
MELBOURNE COUNTRY WEEK
CENTRAL Gippsland had a Melbourne Country Week to forget, failing to win a game in its division four campaign.
Led by a century from Trafalgar’s Rhys Holdsworth (102) in game one against Shepparton, Central Gippsland made a bright start to the tournament, posting 8/218 from its 50 overs.
Light on for bowling threats, Central Gippsland was punished by a competent Shepparton outfit, which racked up 5/255 from its allotment.
Six bowlers were among the wickets in game two, as Rob Phoenix (2/19) and Holdsworth (2/23) helped restrict Colac to 121, batting first.
In a dramatic chase, Central came up three runs short with one ball remaining when Jed Alexander was the last man dismissed for 10.
Anthony Bloomfield’s 31 at the top of the order helped recover from the early loss of Riyaz Pathan and Blake Mills, before Andrew Philip (18) and Holdsworth (16) made inroads.
From 5/94 Central collapsed to be all out for 118.
The Gippslanders were less competitive in their second encounter with Shepparton in round three, bundled out for 94 in pursuit of 246.
The top four contributed just one run between them, scored by Pathan, as Bloomfield, Patrick Spiteri and Holdsworth all departed for ducks.
After being 3/1 and 4/6, a rearguard fightback from Phoenix (41) and Mills (17) restored some credibility to a forlorn chase.
The side had an early end to its week when its final match against Seymour was abandoned.
