Skipper Noah Kane’s bad luck continues to go against the 50/50 heads or tails logical odds as he lost yet another coin flip, and Raiders elected to bat. The Raiders had beaten Moe in every one day (3x) or two day (1x) match, with the Lions only holding a now unplayed format 20/20 win over Yinnar. Raiders won the last 2 one dayers by 9 & 8 wickets chasing decent totals of 181 & 202.
RAIDERS INNING
The returning Clint Taylor took the new ball with Royce Colgrave for the Lions. Colgrave – switching to the Vale St end with the ‘Rev’ back from the South St end – didn’t quite hit his mark from prior weeks with Cheshire targeting the short boundary early off of him. An early bowling change at 0/29 off 6 overs paid off as Robert Blunt dismissed Mills (7) & Higgins 🦆 in consecutive balls in his first over. Burcombe almost chopped on twice and was dropped early off Blunt, before going on to put on a 30 run stand with Cheshire. He fell for 19, edging to Noah Kane two balls in a row, the second adjudicated as out after the first appeal was turned down. Cheshire’s fast paced knock (38 off 49, including 4 fours and a six) came to an end via a direct hit run out from Riley Baldi. Callum Grant (1/28 off 10) & Sean Spiteri (1/36 off 10) kept Raiders honest through the middle period. Liam Maynard (59 off 89) became the predominant scorer for the remainder of the innings before Rob Phoenix (4/10 off 4.3) dismissed him and the tail to have Raiders all out for 173 from 48.3 overs. Phoenix & Blunt (3/34) did the damage with the ball and Clint Taylor (0/33 off 10) was economical whilst unlucky with a few chances just falling short of fielders.
Moe Bowling:
C.Taylor 0/33 (10) – R.Colgrave 0/29 (5) – R Blunt 3/34 (9) – C.Grant 1/28 (10) – S.Spiteri 1/36 (10) – R.Phoenix 4/10 (4.3)
MOE INNING
Riley Baldi had made 153 runs in 3 innings including 63 & 61 the past two hits before unavailability last week. He was unable to build on his season upon returning this week, dismissed early for 3 (15). Noah Kane, after a duck in his first outing of the season, had made 156 in his past 3 knocks and made another 35 (81) to take his season total to just under 200 in a 73 run stand with Andrew Philip. Kane suffered what appeared a poor lbw decision from the sidelines to end his fine inning to that point. Sean Spiteri (22 off 42) picked up where Kane left off and joined Philip in a 61 run stand, the latter bringing up his half century during the partnership. Rob Phoenix (13 off 13) came out for a quick cameo to get the Lions within 16 runs of victory. Chris Robinson 🦆 joined him back in the rooms two balls later at 5/158. Callum Grant (8* off 19) rotated the strike with Philip to guide the Lions to the win. Once Moe were level, Philip finished the game in style putting the ball onto or over the Ted Summerton club rooms. The whereabouts of the pill remain unconfirmed. Philip’s 72* off 116 balls takes his tally to 202 @ 67 for the campaign. Cheshire 3/21 (10) & McColl (2/31 off 9) took the wickets for Raiders.
With Morwell falling to Churchill, Moe go back to the top of the Premier A Grade ladder!!
Moe travel to Centrals for the Battle of The Lions clash in the final one day match of the season next week.
