CRICKET
CLV
LIAM DURKIN
WOULDN’T mind playing some cricket.
Wet weather again caused an abandonment in Cricket Latrobe Valley, with no on field action for the second week in a row.
Round 7 matches in Premier A and A Grade were called off Saturday morning, as persistent rain left grounds unplayable.
Frustratingly, weather conditions had been fine during the week, only to take a turn for the worst come Saturday.
Adding to the frustration has been the fact hardly any cricket has been played in the newly formed league.
Of the six completed rounds in Premier A, three have been washed out, while the grand total of ‘lost days’ sits at around five out of 10 for most teams.
Moe has arguably suffered the most, playing only four full days of cricket so far this season due to how the fixture has fallen. The Lions had a bye in Round 3 following two washed out rounds, and have had next to no play in the last three weeks (17 overs on Saturday, November 25 their only grace).
Glengarry sat out two weeks of Round 5 when it was their turn to have the bye, and have only played one day in the month since.
Talk about wasted Saturday’s.
Toongabbie has not played for three weeks, while Raiders will come back in the New Year having not played for six weeks.
Raiders are in the middle of a two-week bye before Christmas, and missed the second day of Round 6 with another wash out, and will then have the league-wide three weeks off over the festive season.
To make matters worse, they then have to face Glengarry first game back.
Fancy bowling to Nat Freitag when you haven’t played for six weeks.
That being said, the lack of on field action has made it difficult to predict results, as there is simply no form to judge.
Of all the anomalies to come out of the wet weather affecting local cricket, perhaps the most remarkable comes from Trafalgar cricketer Cooper Burgess.
Burgess has been overseas for four weeks, but will play this Saturday in the Warragul District Cricket Association having not missed a single game the entire time he was away.
With Premier A scheduled as two-day matches last round, conditions will now revert to limited overs for the last round before Christmas.
A Grade was a clean wipe out at the weekend as one dayers were fixtured, meaning a completely new round will be played this Saturday.
Fixtures:
Premier A: Toongabbie vs Ex Students (at Roger Reis Oval), CATS vs Churchill (John Black Oval), Mirboo North vs Morwell (Mirboo North Turf), Glengarry vs Moe (Fred King Oval), Raiders – BYE.
A Grade: Rovers vs Traralgon West (at Duncan Cameron), Latrobe vs Imperials (Peter Siddle Oval), Gormandale vs Willow Grove (Stoddart Oval), Centrals – BYE.
Wet weekend stops representative cricket
GCL
WET weather that saw regular Saturday club cricket called off also led into Sunday.
The Gippsland Cricket League match between Latrobe Valley and Sale-Maffra was abandoned.
The Round 4 senior men’s game was scheduled to be held at Ted Summerton Reserve, Moe, but conditions were still unplayable on Sunday morning.
Latrobe Valley was to be without regular skipper Nathan Freitag. Imperials batsman Ryan Morley was named his replacement.
Moe cricketer Riley Baldi was named for his first senior GCL game, joining regulars Liam Maynard and Al Jenkin.
Gippsland Cricket League ‘Legend’ and Willow Grove coach Todd Mann was selected to play his first game of the representative season.
Mann was elevated to legend status in 2016 after achieving his fourth All Gippsland cap.
All Gippsland caps (colloquially known as ‘black caps’) are awarded to players chosen in the All Gippsland XI following each GCL season.
THE game between Leongatha and Warragul went ahead.
The match was transferred from turf at Korumburra Recreation Reserve to an astro pitch in town due to soggy conditions.
The visitors elected to bat first and compiled 162.
Captain Cam McPhan top-scored with 39, while Yashan Samarasinghe and Greg Munro contributed scores of 30 and 29 respectively.
Scoring was difficult on an outfield that, understandably, hadn’t had much chance to be trimmed.
McPhan, Samarasinghe and Munro reflected this, all striking around 50.
The lower order batted with McPhan, who was the last batsman dismissed.
The Wild Dogs tried to hit out to accelerate the scoring as the innings wore on, which led to a flurry of late wickets.
Jake Cochrane cashed in, taking the last five wickets to finish with figures of 5/15 off 5.2 overs.
Ethan Lamers was also effective, taking 3/30 off 10.
Leongatha had little to no issue chasing the required total, getting home with more than 10 overs in the bank.
Lamers proved key, smashing 72 off 80 balls against the new ball.
He hit 10 boundaries, including five sixes during his innings, which received good support from Koby Brann.
Brann played more within himself, working the ball around to make 41 not out off 73 balls.
The pair put on 88 for the second wicket to put Leongatha in the box seat.
Nick Fairbank picked up two wickets for Warragul, nabbing 2/15.
Warragul threw the ball around looking for an answer, using nine bowlers.
BAIRNSDALE had the bye.
Senior GCL is now done for 2023, and will return after Christmas on Sunday, January 14.
SHIELDSY!
An inspired bowling performance from Jordan Shields led Latrobe Valley to victory over Bairnsdale in the under 18s.
Travelling to Meerlieu, a full game was completed in the area usually considered the driest of all Gippsland competing regions.
Latrobe Valley decided to bat first at the toss, and put together a score of 134.
A few players helped the side along, making it to double figures. Hayden Stockdale top-scored with 23 from number nine, after Jacob Bloomfield (21) and Liam Cumiskey (20) got a few away earlier.
Wickets were shared in the Bairnsdale camp. Jack Hodson took 3/18 and Tajwyn Corden 2/18.
The response was undone by Shields, who blew the home side off the park, taking 5/25 off 10 overs with two maidens.
Bairnsdale appeared in a strong enough position at 1/47, before Shields took the next three wickets, triggering a middle order collapse of 3/9.
Bairnsdale failed to recover from there, and were bowled out for 88 inside 33 overs.
Jacob Dunn joined the party, taking crazy figures of 3/1 off 4.5 overs.
LEONGATHA, Sale-Maffra and Warragul had the bye in Round 3, and will play a series of twenty20s this Sunday.
WOMEN’S GCL did not go ahead, with Leongatha forfeiting to Latrobe Valley.
The Round 5 game was scheduled to be held at Toongabbie.
Sale-Maffra had the bye, and will return in the New Year.
SALE-MAFFRA defeated Latrobe Valley in the Under 13 Junior Development League.
The Sharks won a low-scoring game in Round 3, getting up by 18 runs at Maryvale No 2 Oval.
Batting first, the visitors closed at 4/89 from their allotted 40 overs.
Jack Morris showed good application, seeing off 105 balls to score 34.
Latrobe Valley didn’t have an individual innings of similar substance, and were bowled out for 71.
Kaiden Morrison and Chance Lidrea were leading lights with the ball, taking 2/6 and 2/11 for the winners.