CRICKET – COUNTRY WEEK – PETER FLAHAVIN, CRAIG YOUNG AND LIAM DURKIN
LATROBE Valley narrowly missed the Gippsland Cricket League Under 15 Junior Country Week final.
The tournament, hosted by Warragul District Cricket Association during the first week of January, returned a very even competition.
Sale-Maffra took the title, and with it, the Graeme Anderson Shield, named after the Heyfield legend who has devoted a lifetime of service to junior cricket in Gippsland.
Anderson is the father of Australian comedian Will Anderson, who himself was schoolmates with popular cricket commentator Mark Howard, who grew up in Tyers.
The Sharks overpowered Leongatha District by five wickets in the final at Western Park.
Latrobe Valley proved their worth by defeating Sale-Maffra during the preliminary rounds, but had finished the competition fourth of five teams.
Such a finish was a bitter pill to swallow, as the side actually won the same number of preliminary games as Leongatha and Sale-Maffra.
Wet weather virtually sealed Latrobe Valley’s fate, who were the only side to not have a ‘no result’. This meant every other team played less games, thus making their path to the final slightly easier.
That been said, several performances from the carnival deserve mentioning, in particular, the effort of the Latrobe Valley captain Jacob Dunn, who took with 5/16 against Bairnsdale to finish with 11 wickets for the week-long tournament.
Dunn also took a devastating 4/8 in the seeding final. Other top performances included Sale-Maffra’s Patrick Horan, who complied 116 runs at an average of 38, and Mitchell Robinson who was named player of the final for his outstanding performance with 2/22 from 10 overs and 50 runs as an opener.
Latrobe Valley’s Dylan van der Stoep was awarded the Murray Frew Perpetual Trophy for his all-round performance with seven wickets and 71 runs for the carnival.
Frew was a prominent Bairnsdale cricketer and is a life member of the Bairnsdale Cricket Association.
The final was played at Western Park, and saw Leongatha bat first upon winning the toss.
After a steady opening stand, Leongatha’s middle order struggled against the spin partnership of Blake Rowley, who took 3/13, and Robinson (2/22) to be 5/32.
The Sale-Maffra bowling attack was superbly supported by the ball magnet, Patrick Horan, who clutched five catches in the Leongatha innings.
A great fightback by Leongatha followed, led by Drew Fusinato who finished on 17 before being caught in spectacular fashion by Oliver Sullivan in the deep off the bowling of Thomas Young.
Louis Read finished unbeaten on 27 and featured in three bottom order partnerships of 20 or more runs which resulted in Leongatha ending on 121 off 49.5 overs, a decent effort after being 6/40.
Sale-Maffra’s Beau Cottrell added two more wickets to his carnival tally to finish with six wickets, while William Braden and Xavier Hurley chipped in with one wicket apiece.
In reply, the Sharks opened the batting with Robinson and Horan, and their partnership got to 18 runs from the first 6 overs before a low diving catch saw the back of Horan.
Rowley dug deep in the middle order, scoring eight off 50 balls before being dismissed – caught and bowled by Cooper Newman (2/22) who had a fantastic week.
Macauley Pendergast found himself short of his ground to be out for five before Beau Cotrell was lbw for 13 to Read.
Requiring just 14 runs at the final drinks break, Thomas Young (seven not out) and Xavier Hurley (11 not out) steered the team home with 31 balls to spare.
