STAFF WRITERS
CRICKET
TDCA
PLAY looked as if it would not be possible at all last weekend in the Traralgon District Cricket Association, but while some had their doubts the clubs and curators got to work with only one match for the first week of finals not being able to have a ball bowled.
A Grade
EX Students hosted Glengarry in the qualifying final at the Traralgon Recreation Reserve.
With the way the A Grade finals structure is this season the winner of this match would got through to the grand final and await to see who they would play with the preliminary final scheduled for next week – so the stakes were huge.
As expected, rain delayed the start of the match but when the weather started to clear it allowed the umpires to recalculate the time left in the day and the match was turned in to a 20-over-a-side game.
When the toss went up Ex Students was able to be on the right side of the coin and chose to bat on a very good wicket.
Lee Stockdale opened the batting alongside Matt Dyke and the pair got to work putting on 32 for the first wicket before Dyke was out for eight.
Matt Robertson (10) and James Pryde (1) then came and went and the Sharks were looking shaky due to some good bowling by the Glengarry bowlers. Stockdale was cruising through and when Mitchell Harris joined him in the middle the in-form duo were able to put on another 24 runs before Stockdale was dismissed three runs short of 50 from 44 balls.
Stockdale’s wicket passed on the responsibility of making a big score to Harris who hit a fine 40 from 33 balls, being the last wicket out of the innings with Rick Battista falling before him for 10 as Ex Students ended up making 6/123 after 20 which would be a good score but not an unbeatable one by any stretch.
Glengarry’s bowlers shared the wickets with five bowlers taking one wicket each with Al Jenkin and Frank Marks combining for a run out to take the sixth.
Glengarry got off to a disastrous start with Frank Marks run out for a duck without facing a ball.
In-form bat Jenkin followed soon after, falling to some good captaincy from Stockdale which would have set up an awkward conversation in the rooms where Marks hadn’t left yet.
This meant Nat Freitag and Sam Marks would have to get to work which they did until Sam Marks was out for 23 with the score on 50.
Hamish Busk was next out for four but the big wicket came in the shape of Freitag when the score was on 89 with Freitag being stumped by some handy glove work from Matt Dyke off the bowling of Michael Warne ending up on 44 from 41 balls.
The game looked over but Ben Marks and Nick Grainger took the score agonizingly close with Ben Marks making 23 not out from 19 balls while Grainger made 13 not out after facing only four balls.
Glengarry finished 6/120 from their 20 overs, falling four runs short of victory and a guaranteed grand final spot. Lee Stockdale capped off a great game claiming 2/20 while Andy Matthews took two wickets for just 11 runs in a fine display of quick bowling.
THE elimination final between Toongabbie and Yarram & District just wasn’t to be as the weather didn’t allow for a single ball to be bowled.
After earning a finals spot due to the weather it was somewhat ironic that the Pelicans then cruelly missed out on taking part in their first A Grade final due to weather as well.
Toongabbie now go through to the preliminary final this weekend against Glengarry.
B Grade
FIRST placed Yarram and District took on fourth placed Gormandale at Catterick Crescent while second placed Rovers too on third placed Ex Students at Duncan Cameron Park.
In the first semi-final, Yarram won the toss with the match being reduced to 30 overs per side, sending the Tigers in on a good Catterick Crescent wicket.
It looked to be a masterstroke as Gormandale crumbled to 4/17 in quick time as Peter Griffiths was taking wickets for fun with the new ball.
John Northey and Gamble then dug in taking the score to 41 before Gamble was out caught.
The middle to lower order got to work and with Northey holding up one end Gormandale was able to scratch and fight their way to 96 from their 30 overs, Northey ending up making a well-made 40 while Scott Gamble and John Scurlock both made 13 themselves.
For the Pelicans, Griffiths was great up top taking 4/15 while Ash Taylor closed out the innings with 4/12 himself.
Chasing 96 in 30 overs should have been an easy task for the top team and after an opening stand of 25 between Michael Lush and Matthew Garland the foundation was in place for a good win, but the Tigers bowlers kept it tight and although they weren’t able to get early wickets the runs just weren’t being scored.
At 1/43 the Pelicans lost their second wicket but then things turned bad as they started to lose wickets quickly while still needing a run-a-ball.
When Jack Collins came to the crease the momentum had swung in Gormandale’s favour but fighting fire-with-fire the young gun played his shots and got Yarram back into the box seat.
The pressure was on and something special needed to happen for the Tigers to get the win. Enter Gavin Swan who spun a web and with the help of some questionable shots gave himself the task of bowling the last over with Yarram needing seven for victory.
Early dots intensified the pressure but when Collins had to run back for a second on the fourth ball of the over a Tom Gafa rocket from the boundary had him out for 25 and Yarram falling short by just three runs to be all out for 94 in absolute scenes.
Swan was the hero of the day ending up with 3/19 with two run outs also coming while he was bowling, such was the pressure he created.
Ethan Jarvis bowled very well also claiming 2/16 with the Gormandale fielder having a good day taking three run outs for the innings.
Before this season Gormandale B Grade hadn’t played finals for 15 years, winning only one match the previous season.
Yarram will be wondering where it went wrong but will be looking forward to playing on turf regularly next season on their home ground.
AT Duncan Cameron Park, Rovers sent Ex Students in and struck the first ball of the match with Rob Voss making a ruby duck.
It didn’t get much better for the Sharks as other opener and in form bat Adam Jaensch got out LBW to the bowling of Harry Rai for three.
Daniel Trease steadied the ship but wickets fell at the other end fairly consistently.
Soon after Trease raised his bat for a half century he was dismissed for 52 with the score on 98 and unfortunately for Ex Students the tail didn’t wag as they lost their next three wickets for seven runs, finishing on 104.
Steve Carney was in hot form with the new ball taking 2/6 from his seven overs, but Stefan Sbaglia was the stand out taking 4/12 in a fine effort.
The stage was set and Rovers would have been nervous as the Sharks bowling line up is formidable.
Nerves would have been raised when Alex Rathbone was removed for a duck and Liam Little went shortly after for 10.
Rai followed next for just seven with the score on 38 and the Sharks full of confidence, but it was the wiser head of Shannon Grass and the hard hitting Sbaglia who guided the Rovers team home as Grass made a superb 45 not out from 86 balls while Sbaglia smashed the Sharks bowlers around ending up not out on 39 from just 35 balls.
This will be Rovers first grand final appearance as a club since the 2006/07 season when their C Grade team lost and it will be their first B Grade grand final appearance since winning it in 1992/93.
For the Sharks, it’s the first time they won’t feature in the B Grade grand final for 10 years which is an astonishing achievement.
Rovers now take on Gormandale at Roger Ries Oval which should be a very hard fought contest.
C Grade
THE two semi-finals weren’t all that close, but certainly set up what should be a good grand final.
First placed Ex Students took on fourth placed Toongabbie while over the hill second placed Yarram & District hosted third placed and reigning premier Imperials.
Ex Students got first use of the brand new synthetic pitch at Village Green and didn’t they enjoy the small ground.
Steven Thomson (90) and Paul Richards put on a massive 211 for the first wicket which is also a new first wicket partnership record for the club in C Grade. Amazingly it was Richards who was the first wicket to fall after amassing a huge 134.
It certainly set the tone for the game as the Sharks built on this score and went on to make 5/303 from 36 overs.
Toongabbie was never in the hunt and once Michael Bentley got into his spell claiming 3/17 it was all over bar the shouting with Lucas Richards claiming the last three wickets of the match, finishing with 3/18 himself.
This now sets Ex Students up for their first C Grade premiership since 2017/18 after losing the last three while Toongabbie will be able to barrack for their A Grade in their preliminary final.
YARRAM batted first at Tarraville and lost Josh Dunkley early who may have been a bit tired after racking up 32 disposals in his practice match for Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
Imps took it up to the Pelicans early but couldn’t get wickets late which allowed Yarram to make a good score of 5/164 with Andrew Dunkley top scoring on 55 not out.
Imperials never really got going in the chase, mainly due to some good bowling from the Pelicans.
Josh Jennings did all he could top scoring with 28 but wickets fell too often for Imperials who ended up being all out for 99.
Welles Jenkins was superb for Yarram taking 3/12 from seven overs while three other bowlers claimed two each in a good display.
Imperials season as a club is now finished while all hopes of silverware for Yarram rests on their C Grade team next week.
The grand final should be a high scoring affair on the small Village Green Oval at Toongabbie and the atmosphere will no doubt be electric as both Ex Students and Yarram & District will be incredibly well supported on the day.
Only one of Rams and Pies will be left standing
By TYRON BRAMWELL
A Grade preliminary final – Toongabbie vs Glengarry
A GRADE action this week sees Toongabbie take on last year’s premier Glengarry in a preliminary final.
The winner will play Ex Students the following weekend for the flag.
Toongabbie had its elimination final against Yarram and District washed out, meaning the Rams progressed as the higher ranked side.
The Pelicans were left heart broken, as they definitely had the team and potential to knock over Toongabbie, in which would have been a cracking match to watch.
Glengarry on the other hand, went down to Ex Students in the qualifying final, losing by just three runs in what was a reduced match played as a Twenty20.
Three of the top five scoring TDCA players are from Glengarry: Al Jenkin, Nat Freitag and Frank Marks, which between them have scored over 1100 runs for the season.
However, something that Glengarry are not as confident in is their lower order batting.
From seven to 11 they have had only a handful of knocks all season, as their top order has done all the work.
If Toongabbie can get through the Magpies much-vaunted top order, they will be in with a fighting chance.
Someone who can do this is young gun Matt Barry, who has been on fire this season with his left arm orthodox bowling, which has had many teams in all-sorts, as well as left arm quick Keenan Hughes.
One to watch: Matt Barry spinning a web against Glengarry.
Prediction: Glengarry are favourites to win this game, however Toongabbie could cause a major upset.
B Grade grand final – Rovers vs Gormandale
THIS is going to be the biggest game of the weekend.
Gormandale caused a massive upset last week, knocking off Yarram in the semi-final.
After being bowled out for just 96, Gormandale replied and bowled out Yarram for 94.
The Tigers’ John Northey is in good form coming into finals, knocking up 40 runs in the semi-final, and Gavin Swan and Ethan Jarvis with ball in hand will be feeling good, after a great spell of bowling on the weekend.
Gormandale are going to need to post a lot better score than 96 if they want to have a chance of beating the in-form, ruthless team of Rovers, who do not give up at anything.
This is Rovers’ first B grade grand final appearance in just under 30 years, which is a huge deal for the club, after everything they have been through in the last few years.
They will be feeling confident after not having lost a game since Round 8, which coincidently was against Gormandale where they went down by five runs. However, Rovers this season has shown they can chase down any score without losing too many wickets.
Rovers also have a second-to-none bowling attack in Harry Rai, Steve Carney, Ricky Martin, Gregg Bramwell and Isaac Brown.
These five bowlers alone are more than capable of bowling out Gormandale for an extremely low score.
Carney is always able to take the opening wickets and bag a handful, followed by Martin and extremely smart off-spinner Bramwell having played first-class cricket back in South Africa.
As well as captain Brett Van Berkel, who has played a high level of cricket in England, when these two heads combine, they create not only two brilliant players, but two of the most knowledgeable cricketers with the most experience.
Gormandale are not going to go down without a fight and will give it everything they have to beat Rovers.
One to watch: Gregg Bramwell thrives under pressure and loves the fight, and he is going to give every ounce of energy he has into this game.
Prediction: Rovers are favourites but they will also have in the back of their head that they lost to Gormandale the last time they played them.
C Grade grand final – Ex Students vs Yarram and District
LAST time these two teams played each other, Yarram came out victorious by three wickets, however previous to this, Ex Students beat Yarram by 51 runs, so this game could go either way.
Ex Students had a great win in the semi-finals, with an opening partnership of 211, as Paul Richards made 134 and Steven Thompson made 90.
Both these batsmen will be coming into the grand final in sensational form, which is exactly what you want.
Yarram’s Andrew Dunkley and Justin Staley are coming into finals with some batting form, notching up 55 and 32 in their semi-final against Imperials.
Yarram has an all-round bowling attack, with four of their seven bowlers taking at least two wickets each last week which shows how strong their attack is.
Ex Students pair Michael Bentley and Lucas Richards are in good form coming into finals, both taking three wickets last round, as well as Mick Isles and Trevor Kosterman both picking up wickets.
They too have an all-round bowling attack capable of ripping through teams.
With the amount of finals experience Ex Students has had, they will be up for the challenge, and will know how to keep their head and not get overwhelmed by the pressure of finals.
One to watch: Paul Richards with bat in hand.
Prediction: Ex Students will prove too strong and take home the flag.
