A GRADE – Raiders resuming 1/86 chasing 123
Moe showed some fight despite only having 36 runs to play with. Royce Colgrave bowled Burrows (25) on the third ball of the day. Clint Taylor dismissed Burcombe (3) three overs later and Colgrave had Mills caught behind the following over. 5 overs played and Raiders had lost 3/6. In the 11th over, Blunt had Hutchinson (3) caught with his third ball of the day to make it 5/99 and you just never know with cricket. Unfortunately for the hosts, Macfarlane (6*) & Maynard (26*) steadied the ship and passed the score 5 down. The match was called at the drinks break with just one hour of play on Day 2. Colgrave took 2/6 off 5, Taylor 1/7 (4) & Blunt 1/1 (3) in the second days play only.
The Lions took the chance for the additional time to spend 45 overs amongst themselves on the centre wicket in preparation for the Semi Final vs Morwell next week. Morwell are 8-0 in senior games vs Moe this season, no better time to end that streak than next week.
B GRADE – PHEENEY MASTERCLASS
MOE 
V 
BOOLARRA
5th v 4th, separated by half a game. Finals came early with a mini elimination final before the official finals as the losers would have their seasons ended whilst the winners continue another week.
BOOLARRA INNING
Tim Laaks did the majority of the work early with batters number two & three only scoring five each (Coster, Parker), both dismissed by Pickering to have the Panthers 2/45. It continued with Glen Smith 
not contributing to an 11 run pairing and Carnes fell one later. Spark added 8 in a 24 run stand as Laaks continued to do the heavy lifting for his side. Whiley outscored Laaks in a pairing of 7 runs before falling for 5. Moe on top with the Panthers 6/88 off 34 overs. Laaks finally got some real support in the form of Baker and the pair hit out adding 49 for the 7th wicket. Laaks had taken 14 off Bailey Wilson’s third over early in the day and Wilson returned to the attack last over, with the opener still at the crease. First ball back, he got retribution, with Laaks caught by Sheekey for a fine 82. Baker finished 30* and the Panthers closed at 7/140 from their 45 overs. Pickering & Atkinson were Moe’s best with 2/8 (9) & 2/17 (9) respectively. Farmer (1/32 off 9) & Wilson (1/21 off 4) got a scalp each and Brodyn Blandford got a run out. Ash Savige (0/40 of 9) felt the force of Laaks’ hitting on a quick outfield.
MOE INNING
Mark Micallef & Jesse Pheeney took the first partnership to almost halfway through the Lions allotted overs, with the score at the breakthrough on 75 (Micallef out for 32, Pheeney 37*). Jarryd Atkinson joined Pheeney and they made it look easy adding an unbeaten 68* to rack up the total with four overs to spare. Atkinson finished with 20* whilst it was Pheeney’s day, carrying his bat on 79*. It was an inning that displayed his personal growth as a batter with plenty of patience and hitting out at the right moments. Admittedly a couple of loose shots he was lucky to get away with but in a sign of maturity, each time, he knuckled back down and got on with the task at hand. A great knock to watch.
Moe now face Thorpdale and like A Grade’s match against Morwell, a streak will need to be ended to progress. Since Moe’s B Grade were promoted to Premier B, clean sweeps have happened all three H&A seasons (Thorpdale 2-0 in 2020/21, Moe 2-0 in 2021/22 & now Thorpdale 3-0 in 2022/23). They haven’t met in a final in that time though.
C GRADE – Win But Forfeit Elsewhere Ends Season
Unfortunately news overnight before the game meant that C Grade knew their fate with CATS (2nd) forfeit to Mirboo North (4th) sealing finals for the Tigers in 4th place. After contacting CATS captain/ coach for comment, he advised they’ve had the bare minimum all year but work commitments for a few players and a couple of others not in the country, just left them too short to field a team. Can sympathise as player unavailability is a known issue across the 3rd grade division, but to have the season ended via that method still leaves a little bit of a sour taste.
The only way Moe could now qualify was to have a very very significant margin over Boolarra on final day. Moe won the toss and had elected to bat but with the Panthers only fielding 8 players, the sporting decision was made to let the visitors bat first instead of Moe potentially racking up a huge total on a much depleted side. Any very slim chance of making up the significant percentage required was now gone but it was admittedly unlikely regardless.
BOOLARRA INNING
The Panthers were rolled for 42 in 16 overs. Hayden Edwards took 3/20 off 7, Ibi Glibanovic 2/17 off 5, Stuie Palmer 1/1 from 1 and Aiden Savige finished with a tidy 0/4 from 3. Extras (10) & E.Stanton (10) top scored.
MOE INNING
Moe chased the total in an eventful 10 overs. Randy Straughair (2) fell in the first over and Ben Jackson (4) fell in the second). 3 overs later, Shannon Murphy (3) was run out for the fourth time this season. Stuie Palmer 
was run out the very next delivery to make it 4/18. Mustafa Glibanovic was at the crease for both run outs but regained composure with the wise head of Chris De Vent and both finished 16* to wrap up the game at 4/46.
The season might be over for the C Grade team but plenty of individuals have been in and out of B & C Grade all year so plenty of chance to continue training and put their hands up for selection in the higher grade’s finals.
