Mixed results on Saturday for the lower grades. Ash Savige’s unbeaten half century & Ritvik’s efforts with the ball led the way on a strong team performance for B Grade to beat Rovers, whilst Smudge turned back the clock alongside Ben Williams to lead Morwell to a dominant win over Moe’s 3rd XI.
B Grade – Moe v Rovers
A much changed Lions lineup looked to make it four on the trot when they hosted Rovers. Moe had Rob Blunt, Ash Savige, Braden Finn, Jesse Pheeney & Hayden Edwards all return for various reasons. They were joined by Clint Taylor making his first appearance as B Grade fielded their strongest side for the season to date. On paper, Rovers had been rolled for 49 last start, but what fronted up to Vale St was a whole different prospect with just 2 players (Nicholls & A.Van Zuyden) featuring from that prior loss. Like Moe, a fair chunk of the Rovers cup weekend side were back playing 3rd XI this week. The visitors won the toss and elected to bat.
Rovers Innings
Rovers negotiated the opening stages very well before the Lions got the breakthrough in an odd style. Jordan Pearce’s knock of 24 (5 fours) was ended in the 12th over when an alert Brodyn Blandford (wk) threw the stumps down to catch a stumbling Pearce out of his crease.
Both teams would’ve been reasonably happy with how things were travelling at drinks, Moe bowling well and restricting the visitors for the most part at 3 an over on a good batting deck whilst Rovers still had 9 wickets in hand. Ritvik broke the resistance of Jesse Carney (24 off 80) shortly after the break to make it 2/66. Boyes (20) & O’Donnell (12) added 17 before a 3/8 mini collapse reduced Rovers to 5/91, Ritvik taking his second & third wickets and Daniel Farmer claimed one.
Ben Nicholls (11) & skipper Ashley Van Zuyden (16) added 38 to push the Rovers to a total of 7/131 to give them something to bowl to. Both were bowled by Taylor & Blunt in the dying stages of the innings. Ritvik took 3/26 off 9, whilst Blunt (1/17 off 8.), Farmer (1/19 off 7), Taylor (1/23 off 8.) & Edwards (1/25 off 9) all claimed one scalp. Mark Whitney (0/8 off 4) did a good job with his tweakers to change it up before the drinks break.
Moe Innings
Braden Finn & Mark Whitney set the Lions off at a strong pace, putting on 37 in the first 8 overs. Finn (16) fell to start the 9th over, caught by Van Zuyden in gully off Weatherall (1/24 off 7). The first bowling change at the South Street end paid dividends, Van Zuyden bringing himself on and bowling Whitney (22) with his first ball.
Ash Savige lost 3 partners in 4 overs as Pheeney (7 off 12) & Taylor (1 off 5) were dismissed to reduce the Lions to 4/81 and bring Rovers back into the game.
Vice Captain Brodyn Blandford had just 9 runs in 4 knocks at number 6 so far this season, but looked confident Saturday, dancing down the wicket to spinner Van Zuyden from the get go. Savige at the other end was a calming influence to keep that confidence at just the right level for the most part. The pair put on 47 for the 5th wicket to push Moe to within single digits for victory. Savige moved up to 49* during the partnership as the anchor of the batting card.
The only knock on Blandford’s inning of 19 off 35, his best hit of the year, was that he should’ve seen it through to end. A rash shot attempt saw him dismissed with 6 runs to win, a moment the youngster can and will learn from. A couple of balls after his exit, Savige brought up a hard earned half century with a 3, leaving just 3 to win. The next ball, Stuie Palmer (0) was trapped lbw for a second ball duck. Palmer (24*) & Biggins (33) hit the match winning recovering partnership last round against Gormandale. Biggins missed the chance to be there at the end this that game, bowled with 7 runs to win. He was quickly presented another chance to be there at the end this week in the very next game. However…Biggo (0) saw the opportunity to hit the winning runs in one swing of the bat and was bowled to join Palmer in the second ball duck club pavilion.
Ritvik survived the last ball of the over, before a couple of 2’s from Savige (56*) at the other end secured what was now just a 3 wicket win. Van Zuyden (3/39) took 3 wickets and a catch for Rovers. Elijah Sharp (2/8) took the late wickets of Palmer & Biggins to go with his earlier catch.
Moe move up to 3rd on the B Grade ladder. Next week they face Imperials (4th) again, in their first ever trip to Catterick Crescent.
Premier C Grade – Morwell v Moe
Moe entered the fixture with a 6 game winless streak against the Tigers (4 losses, 2 abandonments), but had a great opportunity to break that trend with Morwell yet to win this season and the Lions sitting atop the division. The Tigers won the toss and sent the visitors in.
Moe Innings
Moe’s batting started poorly losing vc Mustafa Glibanovic(0) & Shannon Murphy(0) without scoring. Randy Straughair (15) & Bailey Wilson (19) both got starts to add 34 for the 3rd wicket. Ryley Semmens (13) & Craig Veenman (17) also got starts before being dismissed as wickets fell in regular intervals. Savige(0) & Whitney (3) also couldn’t cause the scorers much trouble. The total could’ve been much worse at 8/77, but Cake (4) & Frank Manduci (13) played supporting roles as captain Garry Edwards put on 35* (2 fours & a six) to give Moe something to bowl to, all out for 130 in the penultimate over. Seven Moe batsmen found themselves castled, something the Lions will surely focus on at training. The wickets were shared around for the Tigers, Craig Johnson taking 3/25, Williams 2/23, Monds 2/31 and singles to Billy Riley 1/9 & Sterrick 1/10 and a run out.
Morwell Innings
The Moe bowlers worked hard but Morwell were in control of the run chase from the get go. Ben Williams 50 (four 4’s) & Mark Smith 67* (7 fours) had the Tigers within 9 runs of victory before losing any wickets. Semmens (1/13) had Williams caught by Glibanovic for the only entry into the wickets column. Sam Cheffers (9*) hit two boundaries to wrap up proceedings quickly with 27 balls to spare.
Excluding abandonment draws, Morwell now have 5 wins in a row over Moe in C Grade to go with a 5 win streak in A Grade and a 12 win streak in B Grade dating back to Moe’s two wins in 2013/14. Next meetings in A’s & C’s are in February to try to end that, whilst the clubs are now in different divisions in B’s so that wait goes on.
Moe lose top spot as a result in Premier C, sitting 2nd now, and travel to Rovers next week.
