CRICKET
CRICKET LATROBE VALLEY
By LIAM DURKIN
Premier A Grade
GET a few today did ya?
Runs flowed over the weekend in Cricket Latrobe Valley Premier A, which completed Round 13 across Saturday and Sunday.
Four games and four tons meant players returned to their sheds local heroes, and were showered with free drinks or fines for not giving anyone else a go depending on club rules.
Heading into the final round, there is still yet to be some jostling of positions on the ladder.
While the top four looks relatively set, a few games in the last round could yet carry ramifications.
Most specially, fourth-placed Moe takes on fifth-placed CATS in the last round.
The Lions do hold a seven point buffer, meaning CATS have no option but to try and win outright without losing on first innings.
At the other end of the table, there is just as much intrigue surrounding the relegation battle.
For this season and this season only, the bottom two teams will be relegated, to allow eight teams in both divisions.
Churchill and Mirboo North are currently the bottom two sides, both on 19 points, however, Toongabbie and even Morwell aren’t far behind.
The Rams are only one point shy of the Cobras and Mirboo North, while the Tigers of Morwell are three points ahead of Toongabbie.
Morwell plays Churchill this round, with avoiding relegation rather than winning a premiership, as was the case 12 months ago, now their main focus.
Granted the chances of Morwell getting relegated are slim to none, it remains an intriguing watch nonetheless.
As it stands, Glengarry should beat Toongabbie and third-placed Raiders should do likewise to Mirboo North, meaning if Morwell does the same to Churchill, it will be the Rams and Mirboo North heading down the grade for 2024/25.
But then again, this has got Mirboo North miracle written all over it.
Glengarry v Morwell
ARE Glengarry the best team in it?
While the Magpies are more than 10 points off Ex Students from top spot, there is plenty to suggest the Magpies will take some beating come finals time.
And after someone makes a double ton against a more than handy attack, there may well be reason to believe.
A mighty innings of 210 not out from Frank Marks took Glengarry to an imposing total of 5/377 declared against Morwell.
Opening the batting, Marks batted through the entire innings at Keegan Street, before time was up and he had no choice but to walk off.
It is said records are made to be broken, but this effort from Marks will surely take some beating in the decades to follow in Cricket Latrobe Valley.
Somewhat ironically, the highest score for some years might have been made in the very first year of the new league.
Adding to the irony, Marks’ Glengarry teammate and skipper Nat Freitag made 226 for Centrals in the first season of the Latrobe Valley District Cricket League in 2018/19.
While technically the statistics from all pre-runner associations (Traralgon District, Central Gippsland etc) are combined into CLV, to have two double tons made in the first season of ‘new’ leagues would be a rarity.
Marks’ effort came at a decent click as well. He faced 252 balls, hitting 14 fours and four sixes.
A few others were able to join in the fun, with Chris Dunn making 59, Freitag 42 and Ben Marks 26 not out.
Freitag and Marks put on 92 for the second wicket, while 127 was combined for the fifth between Marks and Dunn.
Morwell tried eight bowlers to try and find a breakthrough. Brendan Brincat found two, and Tim Ford bowled well in the circumstances, taking 1/84 off 29 gruelling overs.
Marks went to bed on Saturday night on 190 not out, and was able to get the magical 10 runs the following morning.
From there, the Magpies set about their work with the ball.
Morwell was starring down the barrel at 2/13, and even at 4/57, before Ford and Brendan Brincat were able to stabilise the innings somewhat.
Ford played a stoic hand of 52 off 103 balls, working alongside Brincat who scored an uncharacteristic 42 off 78 rocks.
The Tigers’ effort to make more than 200 would usually see them win most games, however, given the onslaught of the previous day, it was nowhere near enough.
In fact, Marks outscored the entire Morwell team.
As if batting for 90 overs wasn’t enough, Marks bowled 23 overs and took 2/58.
Cam Graham and Max Merton did most of the damage with the ball, taking 3/28 and 3/34 respectively.
CATS v Ex Students
JACKSON McMahon enjoyed his day out for Ex Students.
The middle order bat peeled off a classy, unbeaten century, helping the Sharks to victory over CATS.
Coming in at number five, the right hander batted for most of the innings, walking off with 154 red to his name at John Black Oval.
The visitor’s found themselves in a spot of bother early in the piece, and were 2/6 thanks to the work of wilily veteran Paul McGill.
McMahon came to the rescue however, and set about seeing the Sharks to a solid total.
They were able to do so, after he combined with good mate Mitch Membrey for a 140-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Membrey made 52 coming in at seven, continuing the good work of Matt Dyke, who made 41 opening the batting.
Dyke negotiated a tough first session, and was forced to play within himself until the situation settled.
His 41 came off 118 balls, but he and McMahon were able to put on 81 for the fourth wicket.
When the Sharks’ time was eventually up, they had 6/306 on the board.
McGill gave little away in his 14 overs, picking up 3/37, while Tinashe Panyangara asked plenty of questions, taking 3/44 off 19.
CATS were beyond disappointing with the bat, and were cleaned up for a paltry 94 in just 38.1 overs.
The top order collapsed to be 3/16, and they lost their last six wickets for just 19 runs.
Only Callum Stewart with 29 was able to make an impression.
As usual, the Sharks hunted with the ball, and saw wickets shared by familiar faces.
Lee Stockdale did his average no harm with 5/8, while Mitch Harris (2/3) and Jimmy Pryde (2/19) were also industrious.
Ex Students batted again, having a quick 12 over tonk and declaring with 37 and a lead of 249 on the board.
With 30 or so overs to get 10 wickets, the Sharks had to contend with only taking two, as CATS shut up shop.
Raiders v Toongabbie
RAIDERS won a high scoring game against Toongabbie.
The match at Yinnar was high scoring mainly to the work of Raiders captain Liam Maynard, who played arguably the best innings of his career.
The Raiders glue took his side well out of the danger zone, and to a commanding total of 8/282 – of which he made 147.
After being challenged to have a hit, Raiders appeared on a crash course after sinking to 3/19.
Maynard joined youngster Ben Burrows in the middle, and the pair got to work resurrecting the innings.
With Burrows playing diligently, holding up one end, Maynard was able to play himself in.
Seventeen-year-old Burrows showed great maturity, and saw off 154 balls, most of which came from express quick Keenan Hughes, to eventually make 60.
His 166-run partnership with Maynard allowed Raiders to get past 200, from which time Maynard kept batting until falling as the score went past 250.
Hughes bent his back for 26 overs, which yielded figures of 3/88, while Toongabbie veteran Jason Veneman took 3/39.
In an almost carbon copy of what had happened the previous day, the Rams lost three quick wickets to start their innings, before Veneman and Sean Pickles were able to get things back on track.
The pair however didn’t have the same output as Burrows and Maynard, with Veneman falling just as the partnership was about to reach 100.
Veneman had played well for his 37, and Pickles very nearly became the man for Toongabbie, falling just 19 runs short of his century, with his 81 coming at a healthy rate of 117 balls.
Some further runs down the order from Hughes (28) pushed the total toward 250, before the Rams lost their last pole with 230 on the board.
Wickets were shared in the Raiders camp.
George Chesire led the way with three, and was backed-up by Barney Webber (2/14), Maynard (2/34) and Harri McColl (2/40).
Churchill v Mirboo North
IN a possible battle for relegation, Churchill won their challenge against Mirboo North.
The Cobras got the win they craved, but a total performance reversal innings to innings saw the Tigers become a different team.
Before that, Mirboo North was bowled out for 81 chasing 265.
The Tigers elected to bowl first at Andrews Park, and stayed in the game until Kurt Holt arrived.
The Churchill enigma came in at number nine and proceeded to whack an unbeaten 81 off just 91 balls, taking Churchill from 7/124 to 9/265 declared.
He and Ross Parker demoralised Mirboo North with a 105-run partnership for the eighth wicket, with Parker making 77 himself before being the second-last man dismissed.
Mirboo North threw the ball to nine bowlers trying to put an end to the innings, but could only find multiples from Will Lawrey, and an unlikely source in Brett Pedlow, who took 2/43 off 12 overs.
Pedlow then went out to open the batting, and battled injury to limp to 26 off 85 balls.
Unfortunately for Mirboo North, most of the rest of the card failed to reach double figures, as Holt ran riot, bowling three and trapping another in front.
In what has been a trying couple of weeks for Mirboo North, the Tigers were clearly up against it.
Favourite son and club great Shane ‘Choco’ Peters came out of retirement to help the team, while fellow veteran Matt Snell played on Day 1.
Churchill left-arm quick Ryan Harvey did a similar job to Holt, taking three of the first five wickets to fall on his way to figures of 3/17, while John Keighran nabbed 2/14.
With a lead of 184, the Cobras went for the kill.
Whatever happened between the innings break clearly worked for the Tigers, who ended up blasting the ball around in a 31-over slog.
Will Cheatley peeled off an unbeaten 43 off 40 balls, sending two of them over the fence, the same amount as Pedlow.
Pedlow provided the highlight of the game, opening the batting and making an beaten century off just 91 balls.
Along with his two sixes, he hit 14 fours, as he and Cheatley put on 91 before the game came to an end with Mirboo North on 3/184 – the exact deficit.
The principal at Trafalgar High School, anyone marking Pedlow’s innings would have surely given it a high distinction.
With many of his students playing for the local Trafalgar Cricket Club also making runs in recent weeks, there could be some serious one-upmanship going on in the school yard.
A principal versus students match on the new Traf High cricket oval might be one way to settle it.
MOE had the bye.
A Grade
LOW scores from the previous week allowed teams to set up potential outrights as Round 13 was completed in Cricket Latrobe Valley A Grade.
A couple of results have left the season alive for a few teams trying to get the last remaining place in finals.
While Rovers, Centrals and Gormandale are safe, Imperials, Willow Grove and Traralgon West will head into the final round this weekend with some anxiety.
Rovers are scheduled to play Centrals, a match of little consequence as neither can move out of the top two and forego a home semi-final, while Gormandale has the bye.
The Tigers have come good since Christmas, and might just be hitting their straps at the right time of year.
For Imperials, Willow Grove and Traralgon West however, three can’t go into one, and the fight to gain the last spot in finals will come down to the next two weekends.
Imperials are probably the most dangerous team of the three, and there could be some sighs of relief from those already in finals if Imps happen to miss out.
Traralgon West, who had the bye last round, needs a lot to go right in order to make finals.
The Eagles must defeat Latrobe outright, and in doing so, take 10 points to leapfrog Imps and Willow Grove.
In the case of Willow Grove, there is a huge success story in the works, for a team that is only in its second season of A Grade, to now be on the verge of potentially playing finals.
This coming after most (probably even the Wolves themselves) had put a line through any such chance of playing finals in season 2023/24.
Among the successes of the new Cricket Latrobe Valley league, perhaps the greatest indication bringing the two leagues together was a good idea from the start will be seen in the next fortnight.
After all, it’s what people wanted to see all along – teams fighting it out for finals places all the way to the last round.
Latrobe v Willow Grove
IT just had to come down to this didn’t it.
Willow Grove can make finals, but needs to beat Imperials at Moe Racecourse in the final round.
The Wolves will reach a surely undreamt of finals campaign if they can manage to roll Imps on Racecourse Turf.
While the fixture might say Willow Groves versus Imperials, in the eyes of some people, it will say something else.
In something that honestly couldn’t have been scripted, fast bowler Todd Mann will roll out for Imperials – the same Mann that departed the Wolves just before Christmas as playing-coach.
When the two parted ways a few months ago, no one in their right mind would have thought they would be playing each other for a spot in finals, but alas, here we are.
Willow Grove finds itself in this position after a commanding victory against Latrobe.
The Wolves secured first innings points on Day 1, and went in to knock up 328.
Luke Payton continued from the 149 he’d made the previous week, and was eventually dismissed for an imperious 160 off just 139 rocks.
The big hitter smashed more sixes than fours, sending 10 over the cones at Peter Siddle Oval.
Liam Cumiskey did his best to impersonate the import, but could only ‘chop’ one maximum over the rope in his 36 off 43 balls.
The Sharks were put out of their misery and given the chance to bat again.
Youngsters Riley and Liam Duncan each took three wickets for Latrobe, continuing a strong family legacy for the club.
The Sharks batted for 50 overs in their second innings, and managed a decent total of 170.
As usual, it was left to Anthony Bloomfield to do most of the scoring, and the veteran showed he still has it despite his mid-50s age bracket, making 88 off 120 balls.
Ronnie Chokununga provided some fireworks at the top, torching 27 off 23 balls with two sixes.
Wickets came from a somewhat unlikely source in Nathan Weatherhead.
The man with a surname commentators would love took 6/52 off 18.4 overs, making it 10 for the match.
The medium pacer has been cleaning up in lower grades in recent years, with his teasing pace and accuracy leading to bulk wickets.
He was supported by young gun Dylan van der Stoep, who took 2/36.
Rovers v Gormandale
GORMANDALE fired off a big warning shot.
The Tigers defeated top side Rovers outright in their last game before finals.
Having already won on first innings, the visiting Tigers returned to Duncan Cameron with intentions of taking maximum points.
In a low scoring game for an outright, Gormandale recovered from a disastrous position in their second dig, going from 2/2 to scratch out 107.
Dylan Keyhoe played one of his better innings, making an innings, and probably match-saving, 67 off 91 balls.
The left hander came in at four, and looked the only batsmen able to hit off the square, smacking eight fours and two sixes, more than everyone else combined.
Despite some good bowling from Simon Duff, who took 4/24, Stefan Sbaglia (3/30) and Lachlan Patterson (2/41), the home side was unable to get the 146 it needed for a reverse.
Rovers only lasted 34 overs in their second innings, and were routed for 102.
Patterson played a typically brash knock of 32 off 39 balls, pumping three sixes in the process, before becoming one of Yohan Soyza’s six wickets.
Soyza saw the Tigers to an outright, taking 6/30 off 13 overs, while fellow spinner Nat Campbell grabbed 2/38.
The reintroduction of leg spinner Campbell into the team has been identified as a key reason Gormandale has not lost a game since Christmas.
Campbell Peavey also took two wickets, in what was a good bowling performance from the Tigers, who will now surely have a couple of sides worried as finals approach.
Imperials v Centrals
WHO would have thought you’d win outright after making 75 in your first dig.
That is exactly what Centrals did however, taking maximum points against Imperials.
Having been cleaned up cheaply on Day 1 at Apex Park, the home side returned serve, bowling a hapless Imps out for 51 in reply.
Come Day 2, the Lions found it to be a different game, and managed to score 177 in their second innings.
Skipper Tye Hourigan top-scored with 50, while a few others chipped in with handy 20s – Reghard Hefer the main player with 29.
Todd Mann added to his collection of wickets, taking 4/51 off 26.5 back-breaking overs, while Joel Randall took 3/42 and Dilshan Thilakarathne 2/26.
Leading by more than 200, Centrals were able to get the 10 points they craved, bowling Imps out for 162 second time around.
The visitor’s tried their best to take the game by reverse, but were bowled out in less than 40 overs as a result.
Only Ryan Morley and James Skingle with scores of 59 and 47 were able to get going, as Lion’s veteran Marc Fenech made life difficult, taking yet another five wicket haul.
Tyron Gamage and Hefer also took two wickets each.
TRARALGON WEST had the bye.
