Premier A Grade
Moe 4th v Toongabbie 7th separated by just over a 1st innings result with the visitors 1pt above the relegation after a big win over CATS last round. With Moe’s sponsors and past premiership teams looking on, would the Lions bounce back from a bad loss to Morwell?
Moe Innings:
Keenan Hughes on the back of 8/38 vs CATS, got the ball rolling for the Rams with the early dismissal of Jesse Pheeney (0) for a 2nd ball duck. Noah Kane (16) & Riley Baldi (8) fell to Farley & Hughes to see Moe sitting precariously at 3/36.
From there, Andrew Philip & Benn Zomer put on a masterclass. In a very rare instance, the visitors used ELEVEN bowlers at the pair to try to break the partnership.
At one end, Philip notched up his 24th 1st XI and 26th club century for Moe, posting his second highest career score of 149 off 224 balls, eight short of his 157* best v Latrobe in 2013/14.
At the other end, Benn Zomer posted double his highest ever A Grade knock. His previous best was 68* for Latrobe vs Morwell in Feb 2021 & 68* again v Churchill in Feb 2022 – ‘there’s something about February’ for Benn. Zomer had just 21 runs from 4 innings prior to last week and in just two hits, has almost 10 times that now, making 46* against Morwell and 136 on Saturday against the Rams.
Philip & Zomer surpassed Philip & Joel Mitchell’s 271 vs Morwell in 2020/21 to be the 2nd highest partnership in club history. The pair fell 22 runs short of Mitchell & Nathan Lee’s effort later that season (309* vs Boolarra), which remains the club overall & 4th wicket record stand.
The pair hurried for runs late in the day, which potentially cost them the record, but set the Lions up for the declaration upon Philip’s dismissal at 5/334 off 75.3 overs (Zomer had been dismissed 11 runs earlier). Farley (3/30) & Hughes (2/58) picked up one of the batting mainstays each as the only wicket takers of the eleven used.
The declaration saw Toongabbie facing 9 overs before stumps.
Toongabbie Innings:
Aaron Johnstone struck in just the 2nd over (D.Barry 2) with Royce Colgrave taking a fantastic diving catch at mid off. The Lions weren’t done as Broad (9) was bowled by Callum Grant in the second last over of the day. At stumps, the Rams sit 2/12 with M.Barry & S.Ryan both 0* at the crease.
A fantastic day for the Lions. To anyone externally looking at the scorecard, a potential outright result would look on the cards but Moe can’t afford to look that far ahead as that’s when things go awry. The sole focus must be taking the remaining 8 wickets in the first innings before anything else.
