CRICKET
CGCA
Moe v Trafalgar
MOE won an absolute nailbiter against Trafalgar after Andrew Philip’s young Lions posted 140 batting first.
The captain top-scored with 48 in the face of a red hot Will Cheatley, who assumed the role of Ships’ go-to man for wickets with 4/31 while Nathan Simpson and Trevor Cox chipped in with two apiece.
Trafalgar then lost round one hero James Blaser early and although Aiden George and Rhys Holdsworth got starts, it was Cheatley to the rescue again for the Ships.
His 53 brought Trafalgar within a whisker of a famous win.
Moe’s Luke Mulqueen had Cheatley caught to cap figures of 5/27 and with his skipper also pitching in with two wickets, the Lions knocked Trafalgar over for 135, five runs shy of the target.
Thorpdale v Latrobe
LATROBE dodged the mightiest of banana-skins against Thorpdale where, after Mark Lawrence (3/14), Chris Johnson (2/6) and Brendan Evans (2/7) dismissed the Blues for just 78, the Sharks slumped to 9/76 after experimenting with their batting card.
Latrobe was grateful to Daniel Siddle who chipped in 28, but it was tailenders Mitch Cowell and Evans who got Latrobe the points with a last wicket stand of 34.
Travis Pickering gave the Sharks a scare with 4/21 and Kayne O’Connell and Josh Hammond both bowled well to finish with two wickets each.
Mirboo North v Yallourn North
ROB Phoenix served a reminder to the rest of the league after last week’s failure that he is still a game-changer, scoring a ton to bring Yallourn North unstuck.
The Mirboo North captain’s unbeaten 104 helped chase down the Bombers’ 7/149 with ease as the Tigers reached 5/234.
Luke Nelson (48) and Patrick Spiteri (45) did their best to get the Bombers to a competitive total while Josh Keyhoe and Tyler Brown both made starts, but found the bowlers too restrictive, particularly Jarrod Speed (3/22) and Liam Smit (1/16) who sent down 10 overs each.
Shane Peters struck 67 in a hundred-run stand with Phoenix as Mirboo North cruised to the points.
Nelson (2/37) was the only bowler to experience much joy.
Morwell v Newborough
AN unbeaten 78 from Mark Cukier helped Morwell to 5/188 against Newborough, while Craig Giddens (39) and Glen Bone (25) both added handy scores to the total.
Robert Blunt was impressive for the Bulldogs with 2/31, while Matt Coutts, Rob Colgrave and Ryan Harvey snared a wicket each.
The total was always going to be too much for Newborough despite the best efforts of John Murray who struck 32.
Bailey Somerville continued behind the stumps and was polished, while Morwell was economical with the ball, captain Davin Charleston the main man with 4/17.
