LIAM DURKIN
CRICKET
GCL
By LIAM DURKIN
REPRESENTATIVE cricket commenced last Sunday.
The Gippsland Cricket League got its first look at the new Cricket Latrobe Valley, taking to the GCL field for the first time.
Cricket Latrobe Valley started their inaugural senior men’s campaign with victory, defeating Leongatha District with relative ease.
In theory, given Cricket Latrobe Valley has been created by merging two former associations into one (Latrobe Valley District Cricket League and Traralgon District Cricket Association), and the fact TDCA won the GCL senior premiership last season, Cricket Latrobe Valley should be set for a strong campaign.
Not to mention Cricket Latrobe Valley is able to draw from close to 20 clubs, compared to other associations in Gippsland who have nowhere near that luxury.
In the Round 1 clash, Leongatha elected to bowl first upon winning the toss at Apex Park, Traralgon.
Honours were relatively even early, as the home side got the score to 50 for the loss of two wickets.
Leongatha gained momentum during the middle stages, and had Latrobe Valley 5/84. However, some good work from Ewan Williams and Blair Clymo took the score into the 130’s, before Clymo batted with the lower order to move the total along a little further.
Williams made 24 and Clymo an innings high 47 in a total of 175.
Leongatha’s Jack Ginnane showed he certainly wasn’t still in party-mode from Leongatha’s Gippsland League football premiership, taking 4/28 off eight overs.
Jarrod Hoy also chipped in with two wickets, while Joel Brann and Ethan Lamers were very economical, going for less than three in their 10 and seven over stints respectively.
Williams took confidence from his batting and proceeded to take the first two wickets of the Leongatha innings, reducing the visitor’s to 2/18.
A rescue mission from Koby Brann and Ginnane saw Leongatha reach 3/77, but the dismissal of Brann triggered a middle order collapse from which Leongatha never recovered.
Matt Dyke whipped the bails off to see Brann stumped for 29, and when Ginnane was bowled by Tye Hourigan for the same amount, it was the second in a run of four successive wickets for the medium pacer.
Hourigan ended with figures of 4/17 off eight overs, his second decent haul in recent GCL matches, to go with the five-fa he collected against Warragul last season.
Matt Barry took the winning wicket, bowling Tim Wightman to see Leongatha all out for 101.
An all round bowling effort saw no Latrobe Valley bowler go for more than two runs per over. Williams bowled exceptionally well with the new ball, taking 2/9 off four overs.
TRADITIONAL powerhouse Sale-Maffra started their season on a positive note.
The Sharks defeated Bairnsdale in a relatively competitive game out in the Briagolong bush.
The home side, certainly not short on experience, decided to have a hit after winning the toss.
Things got off to a horrific start as Zac Hurley lasted all but one ball, but big hitter Anthony Scott and Steve Spoljaric took control soon after.
The SMCA were certainly glad to have Scott in the side, now eligible to play as his home club Yarram District moved from being affiliated with Latrobe Valley to Sale-Maffra in the offseason.
The opener clubbed 48 from 41 balls, sending three of those balls over the rope.
Spoljaric was more circumspect, scoring 28 off 65.
Unfortunately, the day didn’t belong to anyone from Collegians Cricket Club, as Charlie Morrison joined Hurley back in the sheds with a globe next to his name and a combined total of three balls faced between the pair.
Bairnsdale was able to get back in the game thanks to the work of Adam O’Brien, who took four of the first five wickets to fall. Sale-Maffra slumped to 5/101, but the lower order was able to bat with skipper Jack Tatterson to stretch out a total of 165.
Tatterson scored 45, and battled against O’Brien who was clearly the pick of the bowlers, returning astonishing figures of 4/17 off nine overs with two maidens.
Nich Adenorff did the often understated hard job of cleaning up the tail, and took 4/30 off seven.
In reply, Bairnsdale looked on track at 3/85, but as they have so often done in GCL matches, Sale-Maffra’s spinners could not be denied.
Slow bowlers Jack Rietschel, Jake Wynd and captain Dylan Bolton took wickets two to seven, to see Bairnsdale all out for 124 in just under 50 overs.
Botlon took the key wicket of Frank Mostert for 45, and from that point at 4/85, the visitor’s lost their last six wickets for 39 runs.
Bairnsdale captain Ryan Halford chipped in with 25, but given it was off 94 balls, it perhaps just demonstrated how tricky the Sharks spinners were to deal with.
Rietschel took 3/12 off 10 overs with five maidens and Wynd 2/16 off five, while Tatterson took the last two wickets.
Warragul had the bye.
IN the Under 18s, Leongatha was far too strong for Warragul.
Leongatha won by six wickets after bowling the Wild Dogs out for 90 at Drouin Recreation Reserve.
Only Jack Walsh with 26 offered much resistance for Warragul, as Aydan Williams proved deadly for Leongatha, taking 4/10.
Matthew Dakin and Tyson Harris were also useful, taking a pair of wickets each.
Leongatha had little to no trouble chasing the total, getting home in less than 30 overs.
Walsh had some joy in the game individually, adding two wickets to his batting effort.
Sale-Maffra defeated Bairnsdale by 20 runs.
Batting first at Stephenson Park, Sale, the Sharks recovered after slumping to 3/33.
A half-century from Charlie Morris got the side out of trouble, and allowed them to post 151.
Zac O’Keefe hit good areas consistently for Bairnsdale and cleaned up the tail, along with taking the last wicket of Morris for 52.
O’Keefe got one for the mantlepiece, taking 5/13 off eight overs with three maidens.
Sale-Maffra then returned fire, and managed to run through the Bairnsdale middle order on their way to victory.
The visitor’s looked in with a show at 2/51, but suffered two collapses and were eventually bowled out for 131.
Bairnsdale lost 3/12 in the middle order, and then 3/0 at the tail end.
Sale-Maffra captain Zane Waixel nabbed three wickets, as did Jayden Taylor, who hardly put a foot wrong with 3/20 off nine overs.
Latrobe Valley had the bye.
WOMEN’S GCL begins this Sunday, with a round of Twenty20 matches at Catterick Crescent, Traralgon.
Latrobe Valley, Sale-Maffra and Leongatha will take part, playing each other in a round robin format.
