CRICKET
CLV
By LIAM DURKIN
RUN in with a smile.
Journeyman cricketer Todd Mann will play his 300th A Grade match this weekend.
The right arm fast bowler is set to bring up the milestone in the first two day game of the Cricket Latrobe Valley Premier A season.
As fate would have it, he’s playing against one of his old clubs as well – Rovers.
Mann, now with Imperials, is officially a legend of Gippsland cricket, having achieved four All Gippsland XI black caps.
He has played for a host of clubs across the region during his more than 20-year career.
His career started with Trafalgar, before stints at Yarragon, Rovers, Heyfield, Boisdale-Briagolong, Warragul, Willow Grove and now, Imperials.
Premierships have come at five of those clubs, and interestingly, all bar one broke a long premiership drought.
The first came 20 years ago, when Trafalgar won its first A Grade flag in 30 years in 2006/07. This was followed by a title with Yarragon in 2010/11, which remains the Panthers’ last First XI triumph.
Recent premiership success has come at Warragul (2022/23) and Imperials (2024/25) – which was the Traralgon-based club’s first A Grade flag in three decades.
Picking a standout however has to be Boisdale-Briagolong.
The Saints were equal-last on the ladder at Christmas, and went on to win every game after sacking its coach at the halfway mark of the season. They snuck into finals, and won the club’s first A Grade premiership in the Sale-Maffra Cricket Association. (The flag could unfortunately be the only one Boisdale-Briagolong ever wins, as the club is now only competing in third grade).
Mann has well and truly made a mockery of all sports science to bowl for as long as he has.
Very much a self-taught cricketer, he strides in off only half-a-dozen steps, before a flurry of arms wave manically at the point of delivery. Being loose-limbed however allows him to generate good pace, and a deadly amount of extra bounce from a good length. The short run up also allows him to bowl unchanged. It is not uncommon to see him bowl 10 to 12 over spells and maintain the same speed throughout.
He learnt to bowl long spells during his youth.
Growing up in Trafalgar, he and fellow Gippsland cricket great Rhys Holdsworth would catch the train to Moe and purchase a new ball from legendary retailer Tony’s Sportz.
The pair would then catch the train back to Trafalgar and head to the nets.
Mann would bowl, and Holdsworth would bat for hours on end. What better way to learn how to face the new ball? Is it any wonder they both went on to have stellar careers?
Mann still remembers his first wicket – that of Drouin Cricket Club icon David Sharpe.
There’s been more than 500 odd scalps since.
He rated a spell of seven wickets for Imperials in a semi-final as his best performance.
As he said himself: Not bad for a kid who couldn’t get a game in junior GCL.
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CLV
By LIAM DURKIN
TO rain card, or not to rain card?
Despite forecasts predicting a torrential downpour, most matches achieved a result in Round 4 of Cricket Latrobe Valley at the weekend.
The only Rod Dunbar Shield (Premier A) game that didn’t was between Moe and Morwell. The Lions were 3/36 when play was abandoned at Ted Summerton Reserve after 13.1 overs.
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ROVERS showed what a difference a week can make – and just how unexplainable cricket can be.
Seven days after getting skittled for less than 30, the team from Duncan Cameron Reserve rolled reigning premier Churchill.
Any talk of Rovers not winning a game in Premier A is now over, after they brushed the Cobras aside by eight wickets.
Electing to bowl first at Andrews Park West, the visitors made early inroads, before a brilliant piece of fielding from Ewan Williams caused a major collapse.
Churchill was reduced to 5/30, after a sliding Williams threw down the stumps at the non-strikers end from wide mid off.
His direct hit saw the back of Cobras captain Kurt Holt, and led to Churchill being all out for 57.
Navdeep Singh benefitted from the collapse that left the tail exposed, taking the last four wickets to fall in his 4/20.
Kane Scott (2/9) took two top order wickets, while Simon Duff chipped in with 2/8.
Rovers got the required runs in 25 overs. Williams capped off a good day with an unbeaten 27.
Churchill and the Cox Plate generally don’t mix as far as Saturday cricket is concerned, and the Cobras had mass unavailability as a result. Holt recruited a few Moe footy mates to fill in, namely Brodyn Blandford and Justin Morrow.
To see a Shields (Jordan), a Blandford, and a Morrow on a Churchill team sheet would have surely had those of a certain vintage choking on their cornflakes.
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TELL the grandkids about that one Timmy.
Some razor sharp glovework from Tim Hutchinson had a big say in Raiders’ win over Glengarry.
Raiders defended 244, bowling the Magpies out for 180.
While the margin looks relatively comprehensive on the scoreboard, Glengarry superstar Nat Freitag was flying before being stumped by Hutchinson’s busy fingers.
Freitag was 43 off 48, having plundered five fours and a six. He overbalanced on one off Tom Digby however, and failed to get his back foot down in time.
Hutchinson, who won this year’s Mad Monday across all of Gippsland footy for his costume, quickly whipped the bails off.
Freitag was just as quick to accept his fate, replacing the bails Travis Head style before walking off.
Digby had made a century earlier in the day off just 82 balls, smashing nine fours and three bombs at Fred King Oval.
Liam Maynard added 46, and paved the way for Harvey Rogers-Collen to take 4/43 and Digby 3/40, along with Harri McColl, whose 2/28 included the big wicket of Sam Marks.
Al Jenkin gave Glengarry a chance with 61 off 68, as did Max Merton with figures of 4/49.
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LAST week’s article asking who was the best ever Gippsland cricketer may have made a huge oversight.
While the article was mostly focussed on players from yesterday, there is no reason the best can’t be right in front of us.
He would have to be right up there.
Another century from Lee Stockdale ensured Ex Students were victorious over Imperials.
Stockdale’s latest effort came opening the batting, and made up more than half of his team’s score.
What’s more, his 119 came off 161 balls.
As one of his former teammates said when I showed him PlayHQ: “That’s a bloke who just loves it.”
Such words seem accurate, as 119 runs off 161 balls means Stockdale was out in the middle for close to 30 overs.
Even more remarkably, only 40 of his runs came in boundaries.
That’s what makes him so good. Yes he can go at a run-a-ball, but he can go up-and-down the gears as conditions and the game demands.
He’s done it at all levels too (GCL and Vic Country). Stockdale partnered with Rick Battista for a near 100 run third wicket partnership. Battista, ever reliable, made 44, to see the Sharks reach 6/204 in a match reduced to 45 overs at Catterick Crescent.
Scott Aitken returned figures of 2/48 for Imperials.
Imperials took the game down to the wire, reaching 8/190.
Mali Bardouille-Lewis might be going head-to-head with Digby as import of the season. The Imps opener scored 84, putting on 70 with Lewis Blake (29) for the first wicket.
Andy Matthews (4/41) made the key breakthrough however, and affected a run out during his time on the field.
Stockdale chimed in with 2/15 off nine overs with two maidens for good measure.
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A GRADE saw only half the games completed.
Mirboo North did a Mirboo North thing and won by one wicket.
Chasing 144 at Jack Canavan, the Tigers made life typically harder than it should have been, but found a way to win, as they generally do.
Amazingly, the game did not see any reduction in overs.
Mirboo North was 5/112, yet the wicket of Klayton McGrath (49) triggered panic stations that only kept coming when Even Neviljohn was dismissed for 47. He was the ninth wicket to fall, and the Tigers still needed five runs to win. Numbers 10 and 11, Pasan Gunathilake and Liam Roberts however, scrounged the winning runs. Every tailender needs that moment.
Ben Edebohls took 4/32 for the Eagles, alongside opening partner Hayden Kimpton, who nabbed 3/24 with his military meds.
Dale Banks was back in the ones for Mirboo North, after giving his body a chance to settle into the season in the lower grades across the first couple of weeks. He finished with 2/28, Frankie Ingram gave little away in his 3/15, while Ben Heath secured 2/11.
Edebohls (30) top-scored for Traralgon West. Liam Bermingham finished with an unbeaten 26 off 76 rocks.
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TROUBLE for Willow Grove?
The Wolves lost a second consecutive match by some distance, going down to Gormandale at Stoddart Oval.
The Tigers batted their allotted 50 overs for 9/200 after being sent it. Campbell Peavey played a captain’s knock of 73, and was backed-up by Nimesh Soyza, who noodled a half-century. The pair put on 128 for the third wicket.
Wickets were shared among the Willow Grove bowlers. Dane Fawcett took 2/18, Logan Walsh 2/19 and Luke Payton 2/41.
In an ironic twist, Dane’s brother Aaron was announced as a new recruit for Gormandale Football-Netball Club on the same day as this match.
Willow Grove was a fighting chance at 3/80, yet one wicket quickly became plenty after Josh Hammond was bowled by Peavey for 30.
Jie Armstrong got what was probably the game-deciding wicket of Payton, dismissing him before the big hitter had a chance to get going.
Willow Grove was all out for 127 after 38.1 overs.
Nimesh Soyza took 3/16, Armstrong 3/35 and Yohan Soyza 2/10.
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THE games between CATS and Toongabbie (at John Black Oval) and Latrobe and Centrals (at Peter Siddle) were abandoned without a ball being bowled.
