Pictured is the Latrobe Valley Express’ article on our B Grade flag along with the match summaries & match reports in our usual socials format.
B Grade – 
Raiders vs Moe 
🎥 Match Highlights – https://youtu.be/xzXiB3KZLwM
Moe Innings
Our B’s won the toss and batted, losing Braden Finn (1) to a no-shot lbw early. Ash Savige (41) almost exclusively did the scoring in the 2nd wicket partnership before being bowled at 2/48, having scored 85% of the team total to that point. It was slow going for Mark Whitney, sticking around for a long period but struggling to score with a strike rate of just 4 after 50 balls. It increased slightly before being stumped at 3/66, out for 14 off 85 balls.
Jesse Pheeney & Michael Johnstone put on 70 for the 4th wicket, mostly having to run the runs, given they scored just 2 boundaries in that time. The score 4/136 after 42 overs when Pheeney was out for 41 off 40 balls.
The final 3 overs saw M.Johnstone (34 off 58) ran out, Aaron Johnstone (1) bowled & Haydn Edwards (1) lbw chasing quick late runs. Kye Micallef was 5*, Moe 7/146 from 45 overs.
Hardeep Rai (2/25) & Jeevan Varghese (2/32) took 2 wickets each with singles to Satwant Pooni (1/15) & Zoe Quinsey-Munro (1/20), the latter breaking Whitney’s long resistance at the crease.
Raiders Innings
The Lions got off to a fast start with the ball, Hill (5) lbw to Robert Blunt for his 200th club wicket for Moe. Aaron Johnstone sent Rai’s (4) off stump cartwheeling before taking a catch to dismiss Pooni 
for Blunt’s second of the day. Raiders 3/20.
After 2/9 from 4, Blunt’s 5th over went wayward, replaced by Haydn Edwards at the nets end and an average first ball turned brilliant with Arora caught behind on the leg side by Micallef.
Opener Rupinder Sidhu & Amal Joshy offered resistance in the form of a 30 run partnership to bring the home side back into the game. Enter Jarryd Atkinson, it had to be, breaking the partnership like he has done all year to dismiss Joshy (9) caught behind.
Sidhu was joined by veteran Jason ‘Jock’ Macfarlane and the former brought up his half century shortly later. Another partnership breaker throughout the season, Mark Whitney ended Sidhu’s knock, lbw for 64 off 70 (8 fours), Raiders 6/91.
Macfarlane did the heavy lifting from then on for the home side, and whilst losing partners along the way, the target required was rapidly closing also. Atkinson took his second to dismiss Berryman-Lambert (4), 7/102, 45 required. Ritvik had Varghese lbw for 7, 8/122, 25 required.
Jack Daddo added 18 with Macfarlane making steady progress, now 7 required with two wickets in hand.
Enter Ash Savige
40.1 Dot,
40.2 – Wicket – Daddo slashing at a cut shot, caught behind. 9/140.
40.3 – 1 run to Sandhu, 9/141, six required.
40.4 – Macfarlane 34* on strike, leg bye, 9/142, five required
40.5 – dot
40.6 – dot (no over call)
40.7 – WICKET! Sandhu goes for a slog, caught mid wicket by Aaron Johnstone. Moe win by 4 runs. Macfarlane stranded on 34*.
Man of the Match Ash Savige took 2/1 in what was the decisive 7-ball over to go with 41 with the bat.
Atkinson took 2/19 with two crucial middle order wickets. Blunt took two top order scalps in his 2/30. Ritvik (1/4), Whitney (1/10), Edwards (1/14) & Johnstone (1/21) all took one wicket each, all coming at critical times for the Lions.
* A.Johnstone caught the final wicket in both the semi final & the grand final.
* Aaron also played in Moe’s last second XI Premierships before this one, 15 years ago – 2009/10.
* Savige took the final wicket of the A’s 2021/22 Premiership and again in B’s 2024/25 flag.
* Savige & Blunt were the only two players from that A’s flag playing Saturday.
* First Moe Premiership for the vast majority of the lineup.
Our B’s now move back up to Premier B Division to try their hand at that level once more (we were in Premier B for 3 seasons between promotion as minor premiers in 2020/21 and relegation in 2023/24).
Premier C Grade – 
Ex Students v Moe
🎥 Match Highlights – https://youtu.be/aEmyxf17svo
Will keep this one reasonably brief. Commiserations to our C Graders who went down to Ex-Students who had only lost twice for the season and once since Round 2. Moe had ran them close in the January contest, going down by 15 runs.
Moe Innings
On Saturday, the Lions were off to a disastrous start, losing both openers for ducks, Shannon Murphy first ball of the day and Randy Straughair sixth ball faced.
It was a tough slog for Moe to get any scoring happening, Troy Oakley & Mustafa Glibanovic battling for 14 overs, adding 30 runs. The latter was caught for 11 off 46.
Semmens (4 off 15) & Biggins (3) became Michael Isles’ second & third scalps, both dismissed in the 24th over, 5/40.
Oakley & skipper Garry Edwards added 26 from the next 12 overs, Edwards bowled for 13 off 37 to finish the 36th over. 6/66, 4 overs left
Oakley was run out for 40 (119) in the penultimate over before Craig Veenman (11* off 10) took 10 off the last, to give Moe a little more to defend, but still only 7/83 from 40 overs. Manduci 3*.
Isles took 3/6 off 8 for the Sharks, with Bentley 1/9 off 8 & Kosterman 1/17 off 8 also bowling their full allotment with a wicket.
Ex-Students Innings
Steven Thomson (4 off 25) hung around at one end whilst Paul Hennessy (26 off 26, 5 fours) made significant inroads towards the target.
Thomson was caught behind off Brady Cake at 1/35, Hennessy caught & bowled by Cake 10 runs later. 2/45. That’s as good as it got for the Lions.
Marshall Cropley (10* off 18, including a six) played second fiddle to Jack Robertson’s powerful hitting (35* off 16, 2 sixes & 3 fours) hunting down the required total one ball into the 15th over.
Ex-Students won all Premier Division Premierships, with Premier B by one wicket late on Saturday and by 2 wickets in Premier A late on Sunday.
Unfortunately a bad result for our 3rd XI, hopefully we can return and go one better in 2025/26
LATROBE VALLEY EXPRESS ARTICLE ON OUR B GRADE PREMIERSHIP
