Kate Withers
CRICKET
LVDCL
A GRADE
Latrobe have sealed their first win of the LVDCL season with a hard-fought, five-run victory over Traralgon West at Peter Siddle Oval on Saturday.
The Sharks won the toss and went into bat, and after the loss of fellow opener Zach Smith for three, Justin Vajler stood firm with number three Benn Zomer to take the side to 44 before the skipper was taken for 12.
Steven Freshwater came in and added 20 for Latrobe, but it was Vajler’s knock of 55 – the best for the day – that took the Sharks to 5/113 after 20 overs.
Ben Edebohls, Hiran Rajapakse and Luke Phillips finished with the wickets for Traralgon West.
Captain-coach Tim Fitch and Nilantha Thillekarathna got the chase underway for the Eagles, and when Fitch was dismissed by Tyron Gamage for eight, Edebohls came in to steady and take his side to 45 before falling to Nathan Nikodemski for 19.
Alex Djukanovic was serviceable for West and chipped in 23 to give his side a sniff of its first A grade win in years only to fall in in the last over.
Hayden Kimpton finished with 2/20 for Latrobe in the win, while Tyron Gamage and Nikodemski finished with one each.
Yallourn North v Trafalgar
Trafalgar have chased down Yallourn North with two balls remaining to take the points in thrilling fashion at George Cain Oval on Saturday.
After winning the toss, Yallourn North went into bat put Toby Murphy and Latrobe recruit Matt Brewer on the case.
Brewer was bowled by Daniel Heathcote for two, but Murphy went on to make 27.
International recruit Curtis Howell was trapped LBW for eight and captain Dean O’Brien fell victim to Rhys Holdsworth, but a steadying 25 not out from Daniel Martini at number nine helped the Rock post 9/121 at end of overs.
Holdsworth made his presence felt in his return for Trafalgar and finished with a damaging 4/15 and Jack Hurst nabbed 2/31.
A stunning middle-order stand from Callum McCarthy (35) and Cooper Burgess (44) salvaged the Ships’ innings after the first three wickets fell for 20 runs, and it was Heathcote who scored the winning runs for Trafalgar in the final over.
Centrals v Jeeralang-Boolarra
An unbeaten 41 from Ethan Foley has helped Centrals open their 2018/19 season in style with a win over Jeeralang-Boolarra.
Centrals were sent into bat and rose to the occasion after losing the wicket of opener Chris Dunn for two, as Rob Wilkie went on to make 26 and consolidate the innings.
It was Foley and captain Dylan Freitag (25 not out) who stood until the end for Centrals and hit their way to a healthy 4/146 after 20 overs.
Dillon Leys, Stanley Urbanic, Ryan Laukens and Adam Parker all took one wicket each for Jeeralang-Boolarra.
The Panthers looked like they were in the box seat early in the run chase, and were at 1/94 with Nick Duncan and Mark Rawson at the crease before Duncan was caught on 29.
His dismissal started a collapse as seven wickets fell for 31 runs and Jeeralang-Boolarra finished at 9/127 at end of overs.
Tye Hourigan did the most damage for Centrals with ball in hand and finished with three wickets.
