Racecourse Thriller – 
Moe vs Imperials 
B Grade hosted Imperials, who were the last team to defeat the Lions, back in November. Moe won the October clash, so this was a home & away rubber match with home final implications being 2nd vs 4th.
With all home fixtures to date being at Ted Summerton, it was Moe’s first game at the Racecourse for the season and they elected to bat. The pitch looked great to bat on despite what transpired on the scorecards.
Moe wore pink stumps hats for ladies day.
Moe Innings
Moe’s openers had been getting off to good starts for the last month, but both found themselves in the pavilion (Whitney 
, Finn 10) with the score only on 15, both dismissed by Loots. A calamitous run out saw Jesse Pheeney (7) dismissed at 3/19 and the other batter involved in the run out (M.Johnstone 1) caught at mid wicket the following over. Aaron Johnstone (2) was stumped the first ball he faced from Loots and Moe were 5 down for just 23. Sizeland bowled the final over before the first drinks break and claimed a wicket maiden, Haydn Edwards (5) skying to mid off. 6/33.
Shannon Murphy hit two boundaries to be just the second batter to reach double figures, before being bowled for 11. Glen Sheekey, returning for the first time since the 2021/22 A Grade Premiership, top scored with 17 and was bowled to be last man out after losing two partners (Semmens 2, Glibanovic ) prior. Blunt was 0*. Moe all out for just 64 from 26.5 overs. Loots (3/18) took the wickets of 3 of the top 5 batters, with Moss (3/16) wrapping up the tail. All bowlers took a wicket with Sizeland, Williams & Bermingham claiming one each.
Imperials Innings
The visitors had an hour to bat before lunch and knew they could pace themselves chasing such a low total. Despite it being the third matchup of the season, they hadn’t faced either of Moe’s openers in the first two matches due to A Grade selections or unavailability.
Campbell found himself bowled by an Aaron Johnstone yorker the first ball of the innings in a dream start for Moe. Unfortunately, Johnstone injured his shoulder and had to come off after 2 overs with figures of 1/6. Trent Paulet made 51 last time around and should’ve been back in the sheds for 3 but an edge off Blunt was dropped by M.Johnstone at slip and ran away towards the fence, allowing him to double his tally. Johnstone’s blushes were spared by his namesake at the other end when Aaron took a ripper catch in slip – with the injured arm – off Edwards to dismiss Paulet (6) without any further scoring.
Dunstan scored 2 runs off Blunt the third ball he faced off of him but then couldn’t score any further in a tough head to head battle that went through to the lunch break without a run or dismissal occurring between them.
At the other end Edwards claimed a second wicket to dismiss Caulfield (4). Blunt got to bowl to someone not named Dunstan in the final over before lunch, and Rickwood (4) french-cut edged for two before being trapped lbw, Imperials 4/22 at the long break.
Following lunch, after about 4 overs worth of deliveries across both sessions, Blunt finally won the battle against Dunstan, caught by M.Johnstone in slip, but only had 4 balls left in his over allotment. Four dots followed, Blunt finishing with 2/9 from 9 overs (49 dots).
Aaron Donoghue got a season’s worth of luck in one inning. He survived two chances off Edwards dropped by M.Johnstone & stand in keeper Pheeney behind the wicket. Then what was going to be a direct hit run out by Blunt from point with Donoghue well short of his ground……wasn’t…because Pheeney bumped the stumps with his hip before the ball reached its final destination. Who ran over a black cat before the game from the Moe side? 
Haydn Edwards was bowled out shortly after with 2/19 (9) and with Johnstone unable to bowl, Atkinson playing A Grade, and Pickering, Savige, McCartney & Farmer all unavailable, Moe only had Mark Whitney as a semi regular bowler at one end but needed someone from the other end. Enter Glen Sheekey.
1wd, 3wd, 2+Nb. Uh oh. 7 runs conceded without a legal delivery and memories of Jumbo in A’s were flooding back for those who had witnessed his temporary extras struggles a number of years prior (no offence Jumbo if you’re reading this, all in good banter). Then, two balls later Sheekey struck gold, Sizeland lbw. 6/42, still 23 required. Donoghue took some advantage of his earlier luck and hit a four off each of Whitney & Sheekey, before being caught by Whitney off of Sheekey’s bowling for 16. Not a score that would suggest he capitalised on the luck he had been given, but in context, he top scored as the only batter to reach double figures (other than extras) for his side which proved pivotal. 7/56, nine required.
Whitney bowled Moss (2) five balls later, 8/56. Moe had a pulse. It still took another 5 overs for the visitors to get the winning runs required, Bermingham 6* & Williams 4* each striking a vital boundary and showing the composure required to get Imperials the points they probably deserved from the first half of the day’s efforts – although did their best to hand the points back. Sheekey finished with 2/16 (5.4) and Whitney 1/14 (7). All bowlers from both sides took a wicket. Imperials passing 8/68, from 32.4 overs.
A ridiculous game in terms of scoreline but a great contest. From Moe’s perspective, the batting left a lot to be desired but responded well with a spirited bowling performance. When defending a low total, you need to take the 10 chances for 10 wickets. Unfortunately they needed about 14 chances to take 8, ultimately costing them what could’ve been a miracle defence.
A big blow to Moe’s top two hopes. Imperials jump to 3rd with two winnable games on paper to come. Moe slip to 4th and also have 2 winnable games on paper. Centrals play Raiders again next week, both have winnable final round games, so if Raiders win next week, it’s likely Centrals & Raiders will finish top two. If Centrals win, Raiders could slip to fourth, and play Centrals for what would be the 3rd time in six weeks in the semi. If that happens, Moe would meet Imperials. If Raiders win, it’s likely Centrals v Moe and Raiders v Imps. A lot can change in two weeks, especially if any of the top four find a banana skin in the fixtures against the bottom four teams. What can’t change is who makes finals, all 4 are qualified, with a huge 4.5 win gap between 4th & 5th.
