CRICKET
CLV A GRADE
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
RAIDERS players perhaps broke out their best Joe Cocker, now that they’re up where they belong.
In garnering immediate promotion a year on from being dropped, the team from Yinnar made sure to grab the Cricket Latrobe Valley A Grade premiership on its way out after defeating Rovers at Toongabbie Recreation Reserve.
Day 1 of the Grand Final forced players to wait more than two hours after the designated start time of 11am due to light morning rain, ensuring that when teams arrived onto the field for the contest, the energy was bursting at the seams.
Once it was game time, Raiders won the toss and sought to monitor the wicket, electing to bowl.
Rovers openers Liam Little and Tyler Pearce were faced against Keenan Hughes and Will Robertson.
Pressure was assuredly at a high to begin, and just as the Traralgon batsmen began to get themselves moving ever so slowly five overs in, a colossal, quick-time error occurred for Rovers.
A square cut from Little forced the Raiders slips on the move, and as Little pushed for two runs, a split second hesitation gave the fielders time to get back to wicketkeeper Tom Griffiths, forcing a run out.
While that was one down already, it was still early days – but the Raiders continued to work sharply.
Simon Duff and James Hayter were sent almost instantly, with Robertson delivering a well-timed edge to the former and then Hughes belting the ball into the pads leg before against the latter.
Within the first nine overs, Rovers supporters and players alike had to be wondering what was going on as they sat 3/8 after just 30 minutes of play.
It appeared as though vice skipper Ewan Williams began to right the ship for Rovers at second drop.
Williams attempted to break the tide by sending across the first boundary of the match, managing a few cheers from the crowd and easing some of the mounting tension on his side.
His partner, the lonesome opener Pearce, continued to keep it safe, especially when facing the rampaging Hughes, who entered the Grand Final with an astonishing 62 wickets to his name.
Pearce eventually succumbed to the Raiders tall via a fine edge, pushing Rovers to 4/23.
Williams continued to be the only one to truly take it to Hughes and Robertson, securing additional fours when on strike.
It seemed as though, singlehandedly, he was quieting the Raiders, who were lively from the moment they stepped onto the field and remained just as chirpy as they earned four early scalps.
In another troublesome turn for Rovers, Williams attempted a sweep shot that went horribly awry and was caught just before the drinks break.
Navdeep Singh and Will Coad were then undone soon after at the hands of Robertson and Hughes respectively, and the atmosphere was sucked out of Roger Reis Oval, as Rovers already looked ahead to a reverse outright attempt if they could hold up with the ball in hand.
Darion Duncan added some spice with a cracking hit that sent the ball over the fence, only for two balls later to be dismissed as Harri McColl smashed the wicket in half.
Rovers finished the innings all out with just 47 runs to their name, as all three Raiders bowlers achieved multiple wickets, through Hughes (4/14 and seven maidens), Robertson (3/22), and McColl (2/8).
The Raiders innings didn’t start all too well, as Williams quickly sent opener George Cheshire packing.
While Griffiths was also exited early, the likes of Michael Higgins and captain Liam Maynard truly moved the needle for Raiders.
Higgins tallied 31 runs off 60 balls in his opening stand, but an unbroken half-century from Maynard lit a spark that was weirdly needed for his side, despite being put in a commanding position following their fielding effort.
No other teammate made more than 17 (coming from Hughes), as Raiders made 140 all out just before midday on Day 2.
Due to the late start on Saturday, the following day’s play began earlier, offering a chance for Raiders to celebrate in the blistering sun in the wee hours of the afternoon if they could repeat their bowling effort from Day 1.
Given that Rovers entered its second innings needing to set up a reverse outright, it would be assumed that they’d go down swinging.
The team from Traralgon never got going however, as Hughes and Robertson again ripped the heart out of Rovers in quick succession.
McColl caught Ewan Williams trying to drive Hughes at the end of the 11th over, which was followed by Robertson blitzing Hayter for just eight and then smashing the wickets the very next ball to remove Duncan, thrusting himself on to a hat-trick.
Duff (who took 7/41 off 30 overs) was able to handle the next ball from Robertson to move off strike, but soon after he was trapped absolutely plumb from Hughes, meaning the result was almost written in stone.
One final wicket from Robertson when he bowled Coad saw Rovers admit defeat and the two teams shook hands.
The score by that stage was 7/75 off 17.1 overs, giving Raiders a win on first innings.
Given how the match ended, along with Raiders being in control seemingly from the moment it began on Day 1, celebrations were relatively subdued, bar the blurting out of the club song inside the rooms.
Cricket Latrobe Valley Umpires Association President and gameday umpire Leon Langstaff noted that the decision for man of the match was difficult, before announcing Robertson as the deserved recipient for his seven wickets across two innings. He took 3/22 and 4/15.
Hughes equally had the right to be bestowed the honour with seven wickets and seven maidens overall, as did Maynard for his unbeaten 50.
The Raiders skipper acknowledged that halfway through the season it wasn’t looking too great for his outfit, in which they sat with just one win from their first six games before rebounding in the home stretch.
“To turn things around the way we did, (we) had a lot of guys put their hands up and get it done with the bat or the ball and got us back into a position where we could be here today and get the job done,” he said when accepting the perpetual shield and premiership cup.
Both Raiders and Rovers now move into the Premier A competition for season 2026/27, while Centrals and Toongabbie drop back.
Rovers earnt promotion as the Grand Final team given Raiders were the premier and minor premier.
The premiership team was;
Liam Maynard (captain), George Cheshire, Tom Griffiths, Michael ‘Juice’ Higgins, Tom Hood, Keenan Hughes, Tim Hutchinson, Harrison McColl, Tom Robertson, Will Robertson, Harvey Rogers-Collen, Ray ‘Razor’ Stanlake (scorer) and Jason ‘Jock’ MacFarlane (president).
