CRICKET
CRICKET LATROBE VALLEY
By LIAM DURKIN and BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
Premier A Grade
LITTLE to no surprises came out of the last day of the Cricket Latrobe Valley Premier A regular season.
The top four remained as is, with Glengarry, Ex Students, Morwell and Centrals rounding out the top four after Round 14.
Despite Premier A results going largely as expected, there was still some talking points across the league.
Morwell stacked its Premier C side in order to avoid relegation, a move that worked but saw its Premier B team skittled for just 30.
The move very nearly backfired, with the Tigers only winning the Premier C match by one wicket.
Conversely, Morwell’s Premier B opponent last round, Thorpdale, had to win to guarantee itself a finals berth. The Blues took full toll of a Tiger team that reportedly had three players who had never even played cricket before (and appeared as ‘fill in’ on PlayHQ).
Thorpdale ended up finishing third on the Premier B home-and-away ladder, while Jeeralang-Boolarra claimed the minor premiership.
Both clubs currently only field lower grade sides, but are understood to be exploring an A Grade future.
A quick tour of the Thorpdale Recreation Reserve facility reveals there is enough infrastructure to warrant a potential A Grade.
The ground (which is actually on private property) is in very good condition and features pop-up sprinklers, as well as modern nets and an ideal elevated position behind the bowler’s arm for live streaming,
Looking around nearby towns, there are certainly A Grade clubs with much worse facilities.
Staying with Premier B, Glengarry batsman Paul Henry topped the aggregate with a staggering return of 1072 runs.
Henry will lead the Magpies into finals this Saturday, and although it appears unlikely, could yet be required for the higher grade if someone goes down.
Curveball selections and mystery illnesses are not uncommon this time of year, nor are Thursday night dummy spits.
Hope everyone has paid their subs.
With senior finals only a matter of days away, players on the fringe would be well advised to keep training.
Premiers have also been named in some CLV junior grades.
A full wrap of junior winners will feature once all grand finals are complete.
Moe drew with Ex Students
HE did tell the biggest newspaper in the state his favourite two shots were the leave and forward defence after all.
A 212-ball vigil that yielded 48 runs from Andrew Philip saw Moe finish its season with a draw against Ex Students.
The Lions batted out Day 2 at Ted Summerton Reserve, finishing on 5/168, well short of the required 294.
The home side needed to win outright heading into the match to be any chance of playing finals, but after results from Day 1 all but ended that hope, Moe entered Day 2 with little to gain, except potentially giving the Sharks a taste of their own medicine.
Ex Students had (somewhat controversially) blocked out for a draw against Moe in the semi-final last season, on the way to eventually winning the premiership. While that draw led to greater things, the latest one between the two sides was effectively defeat for the Lions, who missed finals for the first time since 2018/19.
Philip remained not out, while Laytten Smith made 35 and Keenan Hughes had to reign himself in with an unbeaten 29 off 69 balls.
That Philip won the league batting aggregate and Hughes the bowling might beg a few questions as to what the rest of the Lions line-up managed to achieve.
In fairness, changes were constant this season (notably the opening batting combinations), while a few players were reportedly on a hiding to nothing.
Adam Brady took 2/25 for the Sharks.
Morwell def Raiders
MORWELL missed a home final by one point.
The Tigers couldn’t shake Raiders outright, taking nine wickets across two innings at Keegan Street.
Resuming at 3/48, the visitors were dismissed for 160 after Morwell declared seven down for 284.
As has been the case for most of the season, Raiders had a number of player get to double figures before failing to go on.
Todd Dixon hit form on the eve of finals, snaring 5/50, backing up the work of Tim Ford who took 3/33.
Ford has been one of the finds of the season, and will be in line for the league medal – a staggering thought considering he was just going to play in the lower grades up at Rawson this season, before being sighted by now Morwell teammate and arguably Rawson’s greatest cricketer, Brendan Brincat.
Morwell enforced the follow on, but Raiders did enough to see out 18 overs and be 2/63.
George Cheshire finished his season with 33 not out, while Ben Rivers made 25.
Centrals def Toongabbie
THE Lions needed just 18 runs to win on first innings when play resumed, and got there with minimal fuss at Apex Park.
The match then became all about Tye Hourigan pursuing a ton, but unfortunately the Centrals skipper fell just nine runs short.
His team was bowled out for 189, and with enough time left in the day, Toongabbie was injected again.
The Rams got to 4/93 after 37 overs when play was stopped.
Gayashan Munasinghe had 40 not out on the board, to go with figures of 3/35 in Centrals’ first dig. Other wicket takers earlier in the piece were Amal Athulathmudali (3/37) and Sean Ryan (2/16).
Tyron Gamage took 2/27 in Toongabbies’s second innings.
The semi-final between Centrals and Glengarry offers some intriguing subplots, with former Centrals player Nat Freitag now captaining the Magpies.
Former Test quick Nuwan Pradeep could return for Centrals from the International Masters League with Sri Lanka alongside cricket royalty Kumar Sangakkara (who would take a place as the wicket-keeper batter in this writer’s all time XI).
Pradeep played in the win against Australia on February 28, coming up against the likes of Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh and Ben Hilfenhaus.
Glengarry def CATS
GLENGARRY got batting practice in.
The Magpies resumed at 2/93 and went past CATS’ total of 164 before continuing on.
Those to benefit from time in the middle were Freitag (89), Ben Marks (48), Frank Marks (46), Sam Marks (34), Cam Graham (31 not out) and Al Jenkin (25).
Considering those names, if Paul Henry was to play in the ones, he would probably bat seven or eight and waste plenty of Saturdays.
CATS skipper Jamie Cochrane (who has fought the good fight this season) took 3/65. Tinashe Panyangara chipped in with 2/65.
Does Tinashe steam in off 20 paces in A Grade next season?
A Grade
THE table is set and Cricket Latrobe Valley A Grade finals have arrived.
Top-placed Churchill will host Latrobe in one of the semi-finals, with the Sharks eying off an upset for the ages.
In their previous two meetings, the Cobras haven’t found much trouble getting to their mark (barely anyone has given them a real challenge in what has been a dominant season) winning by an average of nearly 10 wickets.
Second-seeded Imperials host crosstown rival Rovers in the other semi.
Both sides featured in an entertaining battle in Round 3, where Imperials got across the line with just over three overs to spare and followed it up with another victory in Round 6.
Both finals are two-dayers across this Saturday and Sunday.
Imperials def Mirboo North
IMPERIALS pipped Mirboo North in Day 2 after trailing by just six runs at stumps the week before.
At Catterick Crescent, Imperials captain Ryan Morley extended to 45 while further support was shown across the board.
Anubhav Anubhav (38), James Skingle (36) and Brett Chapman (27) were the other standouts as Imperials declared on 9/242, and given other results, ended the Tigers finals chances.
Latrobe def Rovers
BY their return to the field on Day 2, nothing was stopping the Sharks from moving forward in their surprise finals run.
Latrobe defeated Rovers by 62 runs at Peter Siddle Oval (Maryvale) thus giving them a last second placement in the top four.
The father-son combo of Anthony and Jacob Bloomfield combined for 62 across their stand to see the side over the line.
Cameron Freshwater (30) and Steven Hanning (23) added runs also.
Churchill def Gormandale
PANIC in Andrews Park West.
Not from the home side however, as Churchill decimated a Gormandale team that would be looking forward to the offseason following a tumultuous last few weeks after two players were rubbed out indefinitely.
The Cobras won by 269 runs, tallying 351 in total and looking tiptop ahead of their finals run.
Churchill added just 22 runs on Day 2, but stood strong in defence getting rid of the Tigers with little to show for themselves.
Nimesh Soyza added 26 and Patrick Brooks 16 for Gormandale, who were all out for just 82.
Churchill’s Jacob Dunn took 3/7, John Keighran 2/0 and Stephen Warr 2/10.
Willow Grove def Traralgon West
SOMEONE had to win it.
After Willow Grove finished on 201 at Jack Canavan, Traralgon West would be asking a lot with just four players in their back pocket needing to add just shy of 150 runs on Day 2.
The Eagles would not be able to make up that much despite the best efforts of Josh Monacella, who compiled 62 on the final day of the home-and-away season, supported by Jack Cooke (20) as they succumbed by 47 runs.
Darcy Walsh took 3/38 just a week on from his double hat-trick in Willow Grove’s junior semi-final against Ex Students.
Premier B Grade (Round 18): Jeeralang-Boolarra 5/222 (T Laaks 56, J Brierley 51*, H Hewawasam 36*, T Duncan 2/36, P Henry 2/36) def Glengarry 209 (P Henry 112, D Cochrane 31, L Smith 3/31, H Hewawasam 2/53); Ex Students 2/137 (A Jaensch 67*, H Canny 32, L Panwar 25*) def Traralgon West 9/135 (L Phillips 60, L Panwar 2/12, D Churchill 2/21, J Zappulla 2/26, M Bentley 2/31); Mirboo North 3/247 (W Cheatley 152*, C Schellekens 30, S Peters 28, B Marks 2/39) def Churchill 151 (S Forbes 39, A Norman 38, R Colgrave 3/13, T Basarke 2/26); CATS 197 (B Foster 67*, J Motta 38, C Wilkerson 25, N Farley 4/44, B Cooper 3/35) def Toongabbie 187 (G McIllroy 55, J Love 52, V Penrose 3/36, B Foster 2/14, J Motta 2/34); Thorpdale 1/31 def Morwell 30 (M Powell 3/1, S Pickering 3/6).
B Grade (Round 21): Centrals 7/265 (D Rode 109, J Downs 41, B Ould 35, C White 2/38, B Fulham 2/40) def Gormandale 117 (G Swan 66, J Donovan 3/24, B Ould 2/3, T Shankland 2/11, C Perera 2/32); Raiders 4/105 (J Berryman-Lambert 3/13, N Sandhu 3/19, T Singh 2/9, Z Quinsey-Munro 2/23) def Latrobe 101 (A Joshy 32*, H Rai 29, J Hayes 3/38); Imperials 151 (R Williams 44, I Brown 3/17, A Van Zuyden 3/29, W Coad 2/14) def Rovers 139 (B Donoghue 28, C Schmidt 26, L Bermingham 3/23, H Dunstan 2/8, L Hegarty 2/29); Willow Grove 6/233 (J Coombs 58, L Cumiskey 57, W Darcy 49, M Whitney 2/55) def Moe 232 (M Whitney 65, M Johnstone 54*, A Savige 30, J Coombs 7/34).
Premier C Grade (Round 17): Moe 7/100 (C Veenman 28, J Pearson 3/25, D Veale 2/22) def Toongabbie 96 (D Elms 26, B McCartney 3/18, N Keltie 2/2, R Whitney 2/29); Ex Students 3/116 (J Robertson 47*, S Thomson 32*, K Collins 2/16) def Mirboo North 9/115 (J Corbin 29, L Bastin 5/30, D Millington 2/6); Morwell 9/162 (C Johnson 49, S Esler 39, P Dunstan 3/27, J Shankland 2/6, D Morris 2/35) def Imperials 159 (R Martin 72, S Esler 3/27, B Rilen 2/29); Glengarry 5/236 (J Ponnattu John 52*, G Mowat 51*, J Rouse 51, T Miller-Mowat 32*, L Rutherford 2/30) def Rovers 112 (D Brain 28, S Bonacci 3/26); Centrals – BYE.
C Grade (Round 17): Jeeralang-Boolarra 4/176 (A Baker 60*, S Blines 51, N Spark 30*) def Gormandale 5/173 (S Gamble 80*, B Peavey 48); Churchill 8/220 (C Dekaste 71*, W Mohammed 34, S Tobin 31, S Wernham 25, A Heatherington 3/35, D Mcdougall 2/62) def Latrobe 9/219 (D Mcdougall 104, B Atkinson 52, R Lawson Pepper 26, B Jones 3/11, C Dekaste 3/37, S Tobin 2/43); Raiders 6/166 (B Beecher 68, J Webber 30, I Lawrence 3/23, L Sykes 2/22) def Imperials 86 (L Sykes 30, John Daddo 3/18, J Webber 2/13, F Mahoney 2/16); Rawson 4/88 (L Watson 27, J Wiseman 26) def Willow Grove 87 (T Cotter 27, B Brouwer 2/6, M Williams 2/8, M Metcalfe 2/13, J Cargill 2/14); Traralgon West – BYE.
Women’s Championship (SF): Ex Students 0/74 (J Langstaff 30*, E Robertson 16*, D Godenzi 15*) def Raiders 1/73 (J Witney 30*, D King 21*); Willow Grove 4/77 (J Christie 31*, H Ferguson 30*, K Collins 2/7, A Dean 2/18) def Mirboo North 5/59 (K Collins 20, A Davey 2/4, C Christie 2/8).
Women’s Premier (SF): Raiders 4/95 (Z Quinsey-Munro 37*) def Latrobe 7/40 (Z Quinsey-Munro 3/13, Z Hustwayte 2/12); Willow Grove 6/104 (M Donoghue 44*, A Hodson 2/21) def Imperials 2/101 (R Reid 32*, K Morley 30*, A Hodson 17*).
Under 14s (SF): Ex Students 2/149 (C Adams 48, L Mackay 39*, J Hazelman 29, T Churchill 20*) def Mirboo North 9/140 (J Calafiore 55*, O McCarthy 24, A Panwar 2/2, J Wilkie 2/11); Centrals 2/186 (E Dissanayake 51*, N Gamage 47, J Poursanidis 36*) def Jeeralang-Boolarra 7/182 (C Stanton 51*, R O’Brien 49, O O’Brien 21*, K Morrison 2/23, A Hurley 2/29).
