STAFF WRITERS
CRICKET
TDCA
IT IS down to five clubs vying for a top four spot in the TDCA as Yarram & District made a statement while Ex Students and Glengarry flexed their muscle in Round 13.
Rovers v Yarram & District
YARRAM & District have made a big statement announcing that they aren’t done yet and should not be underestimated as they make a late charge for a finals spot.
In a one-sided affair on Saturday, Yarram won the toss and as they usually choose to do sent the opposition in to bat which proved to pay dividends as Rovers were quickly in trouble at 3/15.
Rovers have been getting out of trouble this season when in this situation mainly due to their skipper Dougal Williams getting in and getting to work, but an injury has kept Williams out of the team and unfortunately for Rovers they lacked that fighting spirit that he provides and quickly went from 3/15 to 6/44 and their innings was looking dire.
This was due largely to Kelly Griffiths who has been able to use the momentum of his man of the match performance in last season’s B Grade grand final to quickly become a top new ball bowler for the Pelicans.
After Griffiths rattled the top order it was Ant Scott who then picked apart Rovers middle, claiming the only Rovers batsmen to show some fight in Tyler Pearce and Tyler Reynolds who both tried their best to stabilise the innings.
It wasn’t long until it was all over for Rovers, dismissed for 81 in the 35th over with only Pearce getting a good start, top scoring with 22.
Yarram & District bowlers were clinical, not only bowling very economically and not giving away extras but being able to take wickets in clumps and applying pressure throughout the entire innings.
Griffiths was superb ending up with match figures of 4/18 from 8.4 overs while Scott took
3/10 off five overs.
Rovers needed a miracle and may have thought they had a sniff when Pelicans opener Matthew Garland was out for a duck with the score on four.
It wasn’t to be though as Pelicans captain Scott joined Brett Pedlow in the middle and went about dispatching the Rovers bowlers who were missing both Dougal Williams and Simon Duff who are their top wicket takers.
Pedlow showed his class making 33 not out from just 27 balls, but it was Scott who returned to his earlier season form as he blasted an unbeaten 43 from just 26 balls which included nine boundaries.
For Rovers, they have a chance to finish on a high next week as they face Toongabbie who are coming off the bye, but for Yarram & District whose percentage has jumped massively from this round’s victory, may only need a bonus point against Glengarry next weekend as long as Ex Students beat Gormandale convincingly to get into the finals for the first time.
Gormandale v Glengarry
AN Alistair Jenkin masterclass was something to behold at Stoddart Oval as Glengarry took down a Gormandale team coming off four wins in a row.
Winning the toss and batting first the Magpies lost Frank Marks early but quickly rebounded
with Jenkin and Nat Freitag putting on 37 for the second wicket before Luke Henderson had
Freitag caught behind.
This brought Sam Marks to the crease who together with Jenkin batted beautifully as they took their time to build a very good partnership of 142 before Marks was out to Adam Brady for 49.
Gormandale didn’t help themselves as some fielding errors cost them dearly but Jenkin made
the most of his opportunities and continued to score steadily, finally raising his bat for a well
made hundred, eventually being dismissed for 122 from just 150 balls.
As far as one day hundreds go it was one for the purists as he thought through the innings incredibly well and never allowed himself to be bogged down. Glengarry lost a couple more wickets before their 50 overs came to a close, ending up 5/222.
Needing big runs against the new ball it was panic stations early for Gormandale as Nat Campbell was dismissed on the first ball of the innings and then Matt Hibbs followed the next
over and the Tigers were 2/3.
Chris Lehner and Campbell Peavey set about rebuilding the innings and managed a 40 run
partnership before Peavey departed.
James Jacobsen, Dylan Freitag and Adam Brady all came and went and Gormandale were in
dire need of someone to stop the wickets from falling.
Luckily for Gormandale, Lehner was set at the other end while the carnage continued up the other, raising his bat for a half-century in the process.
A partnership with Luke Henderson of 38 got the score over a hundred but the damage had been done with the Tigers all out for 117 with Lehner the only batsman to stand tall making a well compiled 75 from 101 balls.
Hamish Busk returned the best figures for Glengarry as he claimed 3/16, but the day belonged to Jenkin, who on top of making a superb hundred also took 2/31 from 10 overs.
Glengarry continue to power on into the finals while Gormandale are getting hit with injuries
which is slowing up their momentum.
With Yarram breathing down the Tigers neck its crucial that they get the win next week to guarantee a finals berth.
Ex Students v Imperials
EX Students have put a full stop on Imperials season, beating them by eight wickets in Imps
last match for the season due to the bye being next week for the Devils.
Imperials batted first, but as Ex Students do they got breakthroughs with the new ball early as Ryan Morley was dismissed for just four.
Shaun Boyes and Brad Sizeland went soon after and it looked like trouble was brewing for the boys in red and blue.
Help came in the form of Tuan Abdeen and Ross Williams who made 37 and 20 respectively, taking the total up to 100 before the Sharks circled the tail and quickly had Imperials all out for 115 from 46 overs.
Lee Stockdale was the best bowler for Ex Students as he took 4/27 from 10 overs while Andy Matthews claimed 2/18 with the new ball, bringing up his 400th club wicket in the process.
Ex Students then went out aiming to claim the bonus point and chased down Imps total in the 24th over.
Stockdale made 21 and Matt Dyke got 12, both being dismissed by Ross Williams.
It was Matt Robertson (46 not out) and Jimmy Pryde (25 not out) who guided the team home in a convincing win.
Ex Students now take on Gormandale in the last round of the season while Imperials will eagerly wait to see if Williams holds on to top spot of the bowling aggregate next week in a season which has been brilliant by the veteran.
TOONGABBIE had the bye.
