B GRADE: Wickets Tumble in Dramatic Clash
Moe vs Thorpdale
Although a hard wicket often presents the opportunity for a lot of runs, the heavy outfield meant not a lot of value along the ground. Thorpdale won the toss & batted.
THORPDALE INNINGS
As A Grade toiled away trying to grab their first wicket on the adjacent oval, celebrations kept being heard coming from the B Grade match. Left-arm duo of Daniel Farmer & Josh Pickering had Thorpdale in huge trouble dismissing Dron (2), Durkin (1), former Lion Kayne O’Connell (0) & Millsom (0) with 2 wickets each and the scoreline 4 wickets down for just 4 runs. Hayden Edwards threw a couple of economical overs down and dismissed danger man Powell for just 3 to make it 5/14. The Lions knew a withstanding partnership would come at some point and Ferguson (13) & Jenkins (21) added 24 for the 6th wicket. The young brothers partnership of Ibi & Mustafa Glibanovic then struck with Ibi dismissing both the set batsmen and Musty getting the wicket of C.Pinkerton (0) to see the Blues 8/50. Hansch (0/35) fell victim to Greg Bradshaw’s (17*) late flurry to propel the score to 69 all out from 28.1 with Ibi & Farmer picking up the last scalps. A great bowling & fielding performance (7 catches) to see the B Grade heavyweights colours lowered.
Moe Bowling – Farmer 3/3 (6.1) – Pickering 2/4 (4) – I.Glibanovic 3/19 (8) – Edwards 1/6 (2) – Hansch 0/35 (6) – M.Glibanovic 1/1 (2)
MOE INNING
Moe’s top 3 got the innings off to a cautious comfortable start with Ben Jackson (15), Jesse Pheeney (22) & Lachie McKenzie (8). The openers targeted Pinkerton (0/24 off 6) and saw off the first spell of Kayne O’Connell (0/3 off 5 first spell). At 1/42 (23), with 28 runs to get and a significantly ample 22 overs remaining, it looked like the Lions would get a quick win, then head over to A Grade’s run chase to hopefully celebrate two club wins. Unfortunately, Moe then lost 4/6 losing Pheeney, McKenzie, Hansch (0) & McCartney (0). That collapse became 6/12 when Farmer (0) & M.Glibanovic (5) were dismissed. Now requiring 16 to win, the 8th wicket added 11 runs, with Hayden Edwards (9) getting the majority. Now just 5 runs were required with 3 wickets in hand. Pickering (2) fell at 8/65, Ibi Glibanovic (0) run out at 9/66 trying to get a double, which brought Garry Edwards to the crease with his son, and 4 runs to get and 4 overs to get it, but just 1 wicket in hand. I would’ve loved to have been writing about the fairytale father/son winning run combo, however unfortunately despite a great effort with the third highest score of the inning, Hayden was caught one run later, the Lions losing 9/25 to be all out for 67, and going down by 2 runs. The full match saw 20 wickets fall for just 136 runs. Plenty of learning opportunties in that one for the development of a pretty young B’s side. The bowling inning brought plenty of positives along with Pheeney’s 22 being the top score for the full match.
C GRADE: Morwell vs Moe
Our C Grade side was also very young featuring I think four U16’s and two in their first non-junior season. New skipper Shannon Murphy won the toss and batted first against a C Grade Morwell side whose B Grade had the bye. From my count, six of the Tigers lineup had been named in their B Grade team lists across the preceding washed out rounds. So it was always going to be a tough ask but how would our Young Lions fare?
MOE INNING
Michael Mitchell (1) was first out at 1/8 before Randy Straughair (7) & Brodyn Blandford (6) added 19 for the 2nd pair. After Straughair was dismissed by Cheffers, Blandford was run out, Murphy (2) also caught off Cheffers and Kennedy (0) & Pyke (0) were both bowled by Josh Seymour. All of this occurred in a loss of 5/10 to be 6/37. A massive positive in the batting inning was the 7th wicket pairing between U16’s skipper Jordan Shields & Andy Daly. Daly (7) held up an end whilst Shields (47*) accumulated a brilliant innings to that point. After Daly was bowled, it triggered a bit of mayhem between the wickets with Shields & his fellow junior pairings. Savige (0), Walsh (0) & Verschuur (0) were all run out as the final 4 wickets fell for just 5 runs. With 4 run outs for the innings, Shannon Murphy & Ash Savige have flagged running between the wickets as a high priority for junior training this week. Shields’ 47* & extras (28) were the only double figures in the scorecard of 98 all out. Seymour (2/13 off 8) & Cheffers (2/20 off 7) were Morwell’s best with the ball.
MORWELL INNING
With some genuine B Grade quality at the top of the batting line up chasing under 3 figures, Morwell were in the box seat. Miles Verschuur (0/14 off 6) bowled excellently economical whilst Andy Daly (1/37) got the first breakthrough of Francis (10). Aiden Savage (1/8) picked up the wicket of Josh Seymour (36) at 2/76. Opener Shane Gniel (33*) & Zac Cheffers (21*) saw the Tigers home with 2/109 in 25 overs.
Moe Bowling – Daly 1/37 (7) – Verschuur 0/14 (6) – Shields 0/31 (6) – Kennedy 0/17 (3) – Savige 1/8 (3)
JUNIORS RECAP
The junior coaches have posted individual match reports earlier in the feed, here’s a snapshot of their seasons to date (when rain allowed)..
UNDER 16’s
1W-2D-1L
Rd 1 & Rd 3 washed out
Rd 2 MOE 9/86 (Shields 28) def CHURCHILL 56 (Archipow 2/5, A.Pheeney 2/8, Hansch 2/13)
Rd 4 CATS 4/115 (Bellingham 50*, Savige 2/25) def MOE 4/83 (Holmes 27)
Round 5 is played today at Racecourse, get over to watch them if possible
UNDER 14’s
0W-2D-0L
Unfortunately 2.5 rounds washed out so far. Hopefully day 2 vs Willow Grove can go ahead without issue
UNDER 12’s
2W-0D-1L
R1 – MOE 3/57 def YALLOURN NORTH 3/49
R2 – TRARALGON WEST 3/50 def MOE 5/49
R3 – TRAFALGAR 4/37 def by MOE 0/67 (Young 13*)
