CRICKET
CGCA
Moe was faced with a tough ask in round three TDCA action and claimed the scalp of the week with a hard-fought win over defending premier Latrobe.
The Lions won the toss and batted first and appeared to be in trouble at 2/26 after losing openers Nathan Lee and Riley Baldi for 10 and 16, respectively.
Captain Andrew Philip backed up his round two knock of 90 not out against Moe and top-scored with a game-winning 92.
Pat Spiteri was also handy for Moe, with 29 not out while Kane O’Connell made 28 of his side’s 193.
Latrobe was halted early in the run chase after opener Steven Freshwater fell for five but a steadying partnership between Benn Zomer and Mark Lawrence got the Sharks innings back on track.
Zomer holed out on 30 while Hayden Kimpton went on to reach a half-century and top scored with 52, but a bottom order collapse saw the defending premier all out for 151.
Sam Price tore through the Latrobe tail and finished with 4/30 including the early wicket of Freshwater while Ben Maslen was equally damaging with four wickets of his own.
The win comes after Moe knocked off 2016/17 grand finalist Mirboo North in round two and sees it head in to round four with a clean scorecard.
The Lions will face Morwell this weekend while Latrobe will look to bounce back when it hosts Trafalgar at Peter Siddle Oval.
Mirboo North v Morwell
Mirboo North was determined to return to winning form in round three after falling to Moe but the game resulted in a draw.
Openers Saad Qureshi and Hamaiz Mahmood looked rock steady for Mirboo North and put on a partnership of 61 before Mahmood fell victim to Blake Mills on 27.
Qureshi went on to notch a half century and top score with 59 while Rob Phoenix fell just short of the half tonne with 47 not out.
Shane Peters was also valuable for Mirboo North with a knock of 30 while Will Cheatley finished the innings on 23 not out to take his side’s total to 203.
Mark Cukier was the only multiple wicket-taker for Morwell with the scalps of Qureshi and Peters.
Cukier continued his good run of form with the bat, partnering with Rob Webber to put on 65 before holing out on 34.
Mirboo North will take on Jeeralang-Boolarra at home this weekend in round four while Morwell will travel to take on an in-form Moe.
Jeeralang-Boolarra v Trafalgar
Jeeralang-Boolarra withstood a spirited Trafalgar side to claim a clutch round three win at Boolarra Recreation Reserve at the weekend.
The Panthers won the toss and elected to bat and appeared in trouble after losing openers Ben McCormack and Nick Reed for eight and one, respectively.
Mark Rawson was the pick of the batters for Jeeralang-Boolarra, top-scoring with a knock of 51.
Next best was Matthew McGrath with 29 and the hosts were all out for 147.
The Ships started the run chase shakily, losing Brodie Burgess and Nicholas Gurney in succession to find themselves at 2/7.
Marco Higgins came in and steadied things for the Ships, but his top knock of 63 wasn’t enough to help his side over the line as it fell agonisingly short of the win on 143.
Matthew McGrath performed well with the ball for Jeeralang-Boolarra in the victory with 3/24 including two maidens.
Christopher Blake also claimed three wickets and went for 35 runs.
Jeeralang-Boolarra comes up against Mirboo North on the road in round four while Trafalgar is faced with a tough task when it comes up against defending premier Latrobe at Peter Siddle Oval.
