CRICKET

CRICKET LATROBE VALLEY

By LIAM DURKIN and BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

Premier A Grade

AS they say, it’s not rocket science.

Every team that won in Round 2 of Cricket Latrobe Valley Premier A made more than 200 (or thereabouts) with the stick and took 10 wickets with the ball.

 

Moe def Toongabbie by 141 runs

YES, it is 2024.

The Philip/Phoneix combination wound back the clock for Moe at the weekend, helping the Lions to a 141-run victory over Toongabbie.

Just as they did so often either side of the 2010s, Andrew Philip and Rob Phoenix registered centuries, although this time, they entered the record books as a combination.

The pair put on 198 for the second wicket, equalling the mark set by Albert Tabuteau and Robert Evison for the Lions way back in 1938/39.

Fittingly, if equally eerily, Philip and Phoenix’s partnership happened at Joe Tabuteau Reserve (Moe Racecourse Turf).

Without diving into Ancestry.com, an educated guess would suggest Joe and Albert are related given Tabuteau isn’t a very common surname.

Moe racked up 4/250 from their 50 allotted overs after winning the toss and electing to have a hit.

Opening the batting, Phoenix compiled 102 off 123 balls, while his partner in crime finished unbeaten on 114 from 134.

As the ‘elder’ statesman, Phoenix played a number of brave shots, not least an aerial flick on 95 to take him within one run of three figures.

Philip, as usual, constructed his innings with poise, getting himself set before hardly looking troubled. His list of A Grade centuries just keeps growing, and he could well reach the previously undreamt landmark of 30 before the decade is out.

As ridiculous as it sounds, both knocks were also statement-making in some respects.

For Philip, who has been nursing a sore back in recent years and at times looking a shell of his former self, his latest effort was a timely reminder that class is permanent.

For Phoenix, who has faced criticism in the past for supposedly hiding himself down the order, a ton opening the batting striking at 82 surely puts paid to that.

The twin centuries arguably distracted from the battle between Keenan Hughes and his old club.

Toongabbie had some reprieve late in the Moe innings, with Hughes’ former teammate and left arm orthodox Matt Barry trapping him lbw for one.

Hughes however had the last laugh, as the Lions routed the Rams for just 109, picking up a bonus point for their efforts.

Moe only used four bowlers, all of whom took wickets.

Youngster Jordy Shields grabbed 4/49, including former international captain Gayashan Munasinghe for a globe, after showcasing his commentary skills during the Moe batting innings.

New recruit Laytten Smith and Aaron Johnstone finished with two poles each.

Amal Athulathmudali was the only Toongabbie batsman to make an impression, scoring a brisk 33 off 26 balls.

The Rams might be putting the onus on their bowlers during the week.

Taking absolutely nothing away from two blokes making tons, Toongabbie might as well have wheeled the buffet down from the racing club such was the amount of full tosses and half-trackers they dished up.

In the never-ending debate regarding great players, it can be unfair to place one above the other.

As far as the Lions go however, if you were to label Philip as Moe’s greatest batsman, and Phoenix as Moe’s greatest all-rounder (batting, bowling and captaincy), there would surely be little argument.

 

Glengarry def Ex Students by 161 runs

EX STUDENTS proved they are human.

The most powerful cricket team in Gippsland was reduced to 3/0 in pursuit of Glengarry’s 4/234 at Fred King Oval.

Given that scarcely believable start, the Sharks were soon bundled out for just 73, as Brandon Mayberry ran riot, taking 6/16 after Magpies skipper Nat Freitag did the damage up top, taking the first three wickets to fall.

Up top was where Glengarry set the tone earlier in the day as well, with openers Al Jenkin and Frank Marks putting on more than 170 for the first wicket.

Marks led the way with a superb 108, hitting six fours and one bomb in his 134-ball knock.

Left-hander Jenkin was forced to play second fiddle, but still made 58.

Their efforts propelled the Magpies well past 200, and gave the middle order a licence to hit out.

The shell-shocked Sharks were dealt a quick execution, lasting just 23 overs when it was their turn to bat.

 

Morwell def CATS by 26 runs

SUGAR, ah honey honey.

A strong all-round performance from Morwell veteran Mark ‘Sugar’ Cukier gave the Tigers a win over CATS.

On what was a competitive afternoon of cricket at Keegan Street, the home side successfully defended their total of 5/203, although they had to stave off a sublime individual effort in the process.

CATS import Owen Palmer did as Nathan Buckley did in the 2002 Grand Final, with one of the greatest individual performances in a losing side imaginable.

The opening bat went through five partners before being dismissed.

When he walked back to the pavilion, the score was 152 and he’d scored 107 of them.

Not only that, he saw his fellow opener dismissed first ball of the innings, and when CATS were eventually bowled out, the second highest score after Palmer was extras on 15.

His 107 came off just 83 balls, with five of them clearing the fence.

Morwell fortunately had the attack to take wickets at the other end, with Cukier (4/22) and Tim Ford (3/33) leading the way.

Ford and Cukier had contributed runs before afternoon tea, making 40 not out and 29 respectively.

The Tigers showed hallmarks of a strong side not reliant on one or two players, with Blair Clymo (36), Jordan Campbell (28) and Dylan Day (23 not out) chipping in.

Day has returned home after playing overseas, and the situation was almost perfect for him at the weekend, coming in at seven with the opportunity to tick it over (23 off 25 balls).

Morwell made an interesting move by sending Brendan Brincat out to open the batting, although having someone with his hitting power at the crease while the field is up does make sense in that school of thought.

 

Centrals def Raiders by 88 runs

CENTRALS will feel they belong.

The promoted side pumped Raiders by the best part of 100 runs, bowling the boys from Yinnar out for just 93 chasing 181.

Batting first at Apex Park, the Lions found runs from opener Jake Littleton and captain Tye Hourigan.

Littleton made 53, while Hourigan scored 60 off 85 balls.

Wickets were shared in the Raiders camp, with George Chesire (3/36), Pasan Gunathilake (2/25) and Ben Rivers (2/36) having some joy.

Things looked relatively promising for the visitors in reply, and when captain Liam Maynard departed, the score was 2/47.

However, before you could say “Aidan Vesty was an underrated Gippsland League winger of the early-to-mid 2010s”, Raiders quickly fell apart, and lost their next two wickets without adding to the total.

Hourigan broke the game open with those two wickets, paving the way for the second-changers to wrap things up.

Littleton took 3/24 and Cameron Whitehead 2/16.

Burkeley Macfarlane played another patient hand of 28 off 97 balls.

Centrals might face a nervous month ahead, as Hourigan has been slated as a potential AFL draftee.

If he is taken in November’s draft, it will put an end to his club cricket commitments.

The Express understands Geelong and Melbourne have shown interest in taking him as a mature-age pick.

 

A Grade

FOLLOWING a lacklustre opening weekend of Cricket Latrobe Valley, with the majority of games called off, Round 2 of A Grade play was a welcome return.

Wins at the weekend went the way of Imperials, Churchill, Rovers and Mirboo North.

 

Imperials def Gormandale by 5 wickets

IMPERIALS took it to Gormandale, passing them in the 39th over 5/141 to the Tigers’ 139.

Winning the toss, Gormandale chose to bat first at Catterick Crescent.

Dominic Thompson and Todd Mann produced a clinic in the first five overs for Imps, with no significant damage by the way of the Tigers’ openers Callum Polo and Campbell Peavey.

The turn of the seventh over saw Peavey out off the back of a wonder stroke from Thompson, bringing Nimesh Soyza into the match.

This produced Gormandale’s best partnership for the day, with 51 runs coming between Soyza and Polo until the latter was out lbw.

Soyza continued in stride making 65, with the rest of his teammates not holding up their end of the bargain, going all out with two balls remaining.

Joel Randall took six wickets that included a caught and bowled.

Imperials began to chase and it didn’t start all too well when captain Ryan Morley was caught behind by Gormandale keeper Dylan Keyhoe.

Opener Tom Starkey didn’t last much longer and Brett Chapman was also out in quick succession.

That began the rampage of Anubhav Anubhav, who stood not out with 56 off 77 balls with six fours and a six that led their charge.

Dilshan Thilakarathne (20) and Scott Aitken (25) were solid in the Imps’ final stretch.

 

Traralgon West def by Mirboo North by 3 wickets

MIRBOO NORTH stumbled by Traralgon West, winning by three wickets out at Jack Canavan.

Traralgon West elected to bat, only for Brenton Howe to be dismissed with two runs off his first 13 balls faced.

Fellow opener Hayden Kimpon lasted just short of the 20th over – with three partners coming and going – before being stumped by Chris Anders.

Jack Cooke was the best of the rest in the Eagles’ line-up with 18 runs, with four dribbling across the boundary only to be caught by Dale Banks.

Anton Thomas finished with five wickets and Cameron Schellekens finished with three for Mirboo North as they dismissed Traralgon West in the 35th over.

The Tigers were ready to chase 85, but lost their first four batsmen for just 11 runs.

Linc Chila finally got some decent runs on the board, making 32.

 

Churchill def Latrobe by 9 wickets

CHURCHILL made light work of Latrobe out at Andrews Park West, with the Cobras winning by nine wickets.

Latrobe began batting and it was a slow day to say the least.

Opening batsmen Samuel Wilson made 19 but Latrobe only managed a total of 76.

Steve Warr collected three wickets during the period.

Once it had switched, Churchill made it look easy there on out.

In just 39 balls, the Cobras made it to the target off the back of Ryan Ayres (35 off 14 balls) and Brae Kelly (39 off 21).

Ayres and Kelly combined for eight fours and four sixes during their pursuit.

 

Rovers def Willow Grove by 94 runs

ROVERS blew past Willow Grove by 94 runs at Duncan Cameron.

The Wolves won the toss and decided to test their opponent by bowling first.

Rovers’ opening batsmen Liam Little made 32 before being caught in the 21st over.

Fellow opener Tyler Pearce recorded the first A Grade century of the season, finishing 101 not out.

Ewan Williams (30 off 29) and Darion Duncan (37 off 33) kept their strikerates high as the total went past 200.

Willow Grove had a heap of work to do and it was ultimately too much to bare.

Opener Kyan Mulley finished with 28 and Luke Payton performed best for Willow Grove with 44 off 42 balls, but not many else contributed, and they were eventually all out for 125.

Little collected three wickets across six overs for Rovers.

 

Premier B Grade (Round 2): Ex Students 7/218 (D Churchill 42*, C Potalej 37, R Voss 33*, M Papalie 27, A Norman 4/28) def Churchill 128 (R Johnson 57, R Marks 26, C Potalej 3/27, D Churchill 2/1, M Isles 2/14); Toongabbie 155 (B Grieve 38, M Cooper 27, S Sharma 4/32, K Cordery 2/53) def Traralgon West 51 (T Hood 5/11, M Cooper 4/4); CATS 9/160 (M Anthofer 42, R Hare 25, J Pullen 2/15, N Day 2/20) def Morwell 9/157 (K Fortuin 66, R Semmler 26, R Hare 3/20); Jeeralang-Boolarra 4/126 (K Beckett 48, G Smith 40*, J Calafiore 2/13) def Mirboo North 9/120 (B Aitken 39, B Heath 26, J Brierley 2/8, L Smith 2/21, S Urbanic 2/27, K Beckett 2/28); Glengarry 9/104 (K O’Connell 3/16, M Powell 2/20) def Thorpdale 8/100 (K O’Connell 37, J Sands 3/27, S Bonacci 2/14, S Wright 2/14, A Newton 2/18).

B Grade (Round 2): Raiders 2/60 def Moe 58 (B Finn 33*, J Varghese 5/24, N Sandhu 4/16); Imperials 5/168 (B Sizeland 52, T Bell 42, D Campbell 38*, D McDougall 2/28) def Latrobe 83 (A Moss 4/9, D Loots 4/13, T Donoghue 2/20); Rovers 9/168 (S Boyes 81, B Peavey 3/12, G Swan 2/26, J Scurlock 2/28) def Gormandale 9/166 (D Norton 35, G Swann 34, F White 33, L Woolan 3/28, S Carney 2/16); Centrals 5/111 (H Berry 36, M Failla 2/22, N Wheildon 2/23) def Willow Grove 104 (N Wheildon 32, B Ould 4/9, J Downs 2/12).

Premier C (Round 1): Toongabbie 7/188 (D Andjelkovic 49, W Zalesiak 28, D Canning 2/21, L Rutherford 2/28) def Rovers 61 (D Brain 28, J Hazelman 4/3, J Pearson 4/8); Mirboo North 3/169 (A Scicluna 81*, P Woodall 66) def Centrals 5/168 (A Foley 54, Brodie Howlett 37); Glengarry 6/134 (L Balakrishnan 47, S Saju 30, C Johnson 3/19, M Carstein 2/35) def Morwell 4/132 (C Johnson 58, C Monds 25*, A Hodson 2/4); Ex Students 3/166 (P Hennessy 58, S Thomson 44*, L Fernane 40, D Morris 3/46) def Imperials 6/164 (D Warwick 46, M Twomey 36*, P Dunstan 35, T Kosterman 3/19); Moe def CATS via forfeit.

C Grade (Round 1): Rawson 3/81 (M Williams 36*, J Wiseman 36, S Blines 2/6) def Jeeralang-Boolarra 7/80 (O Brouwer 2/11, M Williams 2/11); Latrobe 8/205 (H McKay 45, G Hebbard 40, K McKay 28, T Webber 2/25, P Mills 2/54) def Raiders 78 (P Mills 38, P Mooney 4/2, B Atkinson 2/11); Churchill 9/256 (C Dekaste 129*, D White 41, S Wernham 25, S Dawson 4/39, M Edebohls 3/32, J Christie 2/34) def Willow Grove 8/70 (R Harrington 3/17), Gormandale – BYE.