B Grade – Moe v Raiders
Moe Innings-
Moe’s batting got off to the worst possible start with Nic Reed (0) bowled first ball of the day by former Lion Jagbir Singh playing his first game in opposition colours. Semmens (5) became Jag’s second victim at 2/7. Mark Whitney (4 off 42, 1 four) & Kye Micallef (7 off 35) did what was asked of them and saw off Barney Webber’s & Jag’s opening spells, regardless of scoring volume. Whitney & Atkinson (6) fell to Sidhu before Micallef’s dismissal to Berryman-Lambert reduced Moe to 5/41.
Shannon Murphy (15) & Aaron Johnstone (28 off 28) capitalised on Raiders’ middle order bowlers before Johnstone was caught sharply in the deep off Zoe Quinsey-Munro. Murphy became her second victim, caught in gully at 7/101 to start the 29th over. Heaps of time left and the tail order to come. Ben McCartney (18 off 20, 3 fours) put on 30 with Edwards in short order, dismissed in the 34th over to promising young leg spinner Patrick Mills. Edwards (19 off 34, 3 fours) missed a full toss of Mills, bowled at 9/143. Blunt survived Webber’s final two overs, and being bowled on a no ball, on his way to 13* off 30, adding 18 for the last wicket with Ron Whitney (3 off 14). Whitney became Jag’s 3rd scalp to end the innings in the 43rd over. Jag finished with 3/24, Mills & Quinsey-Munro 2 wickets each and Berryman-Lambert 1.
Like last week, a finals style strictness was put in place on wides between two top four sides, in preparation for what they can expect in the post-season. Extras top scored with 43, including 30 wides although most would’ve been wide with lenient interpretation. Moe bowled 16 wides later in the day too, including 2 lots of 5wds. Moe’s batting card featured 5 single digit scores at the top followed by 5 starts between 13 & 28.
Raiders Innings–
Raiders got off to a fast start, before fortunate circumstance saw Edwards get a touch on a straight drive into the non-strikers stumps to see Hecker (22 off 20) out of his ground. Edwards conceded 20 off his first two overs, before reining it back in well, finishing with 1/32 off 7. He had Daddo (4) caught by Semmens before his spell was done.
Webber (48 off 65) & Joshy (29 off 62) threatened to take the game away from Moe, adding 81 to make it 2/122 off 28 overs, 40 required off 102 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Atkinson got the eventual breakthrough, bowling Webber in the 29th. Johnstone returned to the bowling crease at the other end, and after conceding a 5wd, bowled Joshy, 4/127 with two fresh batters at the crease. It was 3 wickets in 3 overs when Daddo (0) became Atkinson’s second scalp and the game was well and truly back on. Atkinson’s next over saw him send Berryman-Lambert back lbw, 6/128. A few tight overs before Johnstone had his second, Sidhu (3), 7/134.
The next over by Atkinson saw Quinsey-Munro survive two dropped catches, one by McCartney, who made no mistake second time around two overs later for Atkinson’s fourth wicket (Quinsey-Munro 6 off 16, 8/143). During this time, balls remaining had crept into the picture, although runs or wickets still seemed the more likely – now 19 required off 36. This brought Jagbir out for potential heroics against Moe, surprisingly batting at 10. Ron Whitney dismissed Raiders skipper Arora (7 off 28) two balls later in his final over of his allotment to bring 14yo Mills to the crease at 9/143, a collapse of 7/21. With Jag, the last wicket with Mills added 13 off 3.3 overs in a grandstand finish, now 6 required off 2 overs. The second ball of the 44th proved decisive, Blunt bowled Mills for Moe to secure victory, Moe winning by 5 runs. Atkinson 4/23 off 9, Johnstone 2/25 off 9 and Whitney 1/20 off 9 were superb. McCartney 0/32 off 5 bowled better than the figures suggest, very unlucky to not get a couple of scalps. Edwards 1/32 off 7 & Blunt 1/15 off 4.2 each got one wicket.
Next Up – Rovers @ Duncan Cameron Traralgon.
Premier C Grade – T20–
Four games of T20 occurred at the Racecourse with Moe (turf) & Mirboo North (synthetic) each facing Ex-Students & Imperials.
Game 1 – Moe v Ex Students
Ex Students Innings-
Paul Richards (55) & Darian Millington (26) led Students to 6/114 from 20 overs. Fill-in Bryan Cake took 2/2 in the final over, Edwards, Burridge, Savige & Biggins each took a wicket.
Garry Edwards was the only batsman to make double figures in reply, making 12 as Moe were bundled out for 47. Edwards moved past 1500 Moe club runs in the process. Congrats Gaz! Isles took 4 wickets for the visitors, with Kee & Bastin also taking two each.
On the synthetic, Mirboo North scored 11 runs off the final over, 2 off the final ball (5/91 off 20) to pass Imperials 5/90 (20)
Game 2 – Moe v Imperials
Marcus Twomey (53*rt) led Imperials to 6/102 off their 20 over allotment. Jones 18 & Smith 12 also reached double figures. Matt Burridge took 2/16 with single wickets to Edwards, Biggins, Savige & Brady Cake. Randy Straughair took senior catch 100 in the Imps inning. Congrats Randy.
Veenman (5) & Straughair (16) got Moe to 20 without loss before losing 4/4. That became 6/14 shortly after. From 7/47, Frank Manduci (27* off 29) & Wyatt Addison (13 off 24) put on 30 to gain some respectability on the scoreboard. Savige (5) was dismissed on the final ball, Moe closing at 9/85, going down by 17 runs. Martin took 4/15 for Imps, with Sykes & Jones also taking two each.
On the synthetic the match was done in half of a full game overs allotment. Mirboo bowled out for 36 in 12 overs, Students winning 2 down in 8.
Premier C now break for Christmas though players should still train to put their hand up for B’s as there’ll be some unavailability the final Saturday so close to Christmas.
