Premier A Grade – Imperials resuming at 7/169, leading by 32
If Moe were to get something out of this match, they needed to take the remaining 3 wickets quickly, hit up a lead then bowl Imperials out again, all in day two. It started strongly with Royce Colgrave dismissing both overnight bats (Dunstan 4, Mann 23) within the first 19 balls of play with the lead only growing to 41 with one wicket left. Former Lion Aaron Johnstone (28 off 59) frustrated his old side with Scott Aitken (8* off 62) at the other end, the pair adding 82 in 20 overs. Imperials all out for 215, a lead of 78, Colgrave (2/45) & Zomer (2/19) the wicket takers on day two. 63 overs left.
Moe lost Phoenix 8 & Philip 1 early, falling to 2/25. Callum Grant (27) & Benn Zomer (28) steadied the ship well initially, adding 39, but both fell on the eve of the lunch break. Moe 4 down, still trailing by 5 and now looking to avoid an outright against rather than anything for.
Matt Hibbs (30), Noah Kane (22), Anubhav (33), Chris Robinson (29*) & Royce Colgrave (12*) all got starts to avoid outright, hands shook at 7/194, Imperials taking first innings points only. Todd Mann took 5 wickets for the innings to make it 8 in the match.
Moe miss the chance to be top 4 at the break, falling to 5th with Churchill winning to move 4th.
Premier B Grade – Moe v CATS
Moe sent 4th placed CATS in and were on top early. Aiden Savige taking 2 wickets, Brady Cake 1 & Daniel Farmer 1 to have the visitors 4/24. Chase Wilkerson (40) & Jason Motta (23) added 51 for the 5th wicket to steady the ship. The Lions were still bowling well but the pair added 8 boundaries to take advantage of anything slightly off. Once Dylan Freitag dismissed Motta at 5/75 and Wilkerson at 6/94, the resistance ceased, CATS losing the last 5 wickets for 7 runs, all out for 101 in 37.4 overs. Wickets were shared around by an all medium pace line up for the Lions – Savige took 3/8 off 5, Freitag 3/19 (9), Cake 2/18 (5.4), Blunt 1/25 (9) & Farmer 1/26 (9).
Moe’s innings got off to a disastrous start, Mustoe showing off his indoor cricket skills to retrieve the ball for keeping and throw down the stumps before Whitney
could scamper through. In a continuing tale of much of B Grade’s season, the batting struggled with double figures achievable but not much more. Ash Savige (12) & Evan Sheekey (12) both fell to Evan Pass and Blandford & Freitag (both 0) both fell to Brad Foster, a combined collapse of 4/3, Moe in huge trouble at 5/33.
Michael Johnstone (17) added 21 with Ritvik Mahajan before being caught behind, 6/54. Ritvik (9 off 51) & Brady Cake (7 off 33) offered slow but crucial resistance, seeing off Foster (3/16 off 9) & most of Bence’s overs (1/10 off 9). With Pass (2/21) bowled out also, it forced a change in attack. Ritvik fell to Cooper & Cake the next over in Bence’s 8th, both with the score on 71, still needing 31 to win but had 13.3 overs to bat. CATS now in the box seat.
It was steady going but the Lions tail managed to get it done, Troy Oakley (13* off 41) & Daniel Farmer (12* off 28) scoring the 31 needed in 63 balls to take the victory. A required victory for Moe after letting last week slip, whilst CATS will rue this one themselves, extras top scoring with 20, including 14 wides & 3 no balls.
5th to 7th (Boolarra, Toongabbie & Moe) all picked up victories to close up the gap to 6pts (1.5 wins) between 4th & 7th.
Games resume 10th January after the break. Statistics updates will be provided over the break with a few milestones hit these past couple of weeks too.
