Inverloch shocks Diggers in A1
INVERLOCH will play Wonthaggi Club in the grand final of A1 cricket this weekend at Scorpion Park, Leongatha after rain affected semi-finals caused some nail biting results.
It was a herculean effort by Inverloch in its semi-final against the OMK with the heroes being Brett Debono and Dave Newman with the bat for Inverloch hitting a magnificent partnership of 173 to help the Stingrays overtake the 8/365 runs the Diggers hit up on Saturday. It was one of the best partnerships in semi-finals seen in the LDCA. This was despite the early rain on Sunday reducing Inverloch’s amount of overs from 90 to 82.
Inverloch, which finished lower on the ladder, had no choice but chase the runs as it needed to win to reach the final.
On Saturday OMK won the toss and in hot conditions at Korumburra decided to bat first and got away to a great start with openers Adam Miller scoring 38 and Tom Wyatt 50 to put on 90 for the first wicket. Wyatt was out with the score on 90 and Miller followed soon after and it was 2/103.
Callum Honeyman, OMK’s number three, struck the ball well for 62 and despite losing Daniel Mock for 4, the Diggers’ Jesse Van Rooye came in and made a fine 106 not out. With Wilson, 23, Rose, 23 and Cochrane 16 not out, the Diggers amassed a very commendable 8/365 from its 90 overs.
Luis Rankin claimed 3/101for Inverloch.
Inverloch had a delayed start to Sunday’s chase and would have its work cut out. Despite this Debono and later Newman would take up the challenge despite runs per over being daunting and wickets falling around them. Debono would end up with 133 which included 14 fours and 5 sixes. He went out with the score on 4/265 with still 101 runs needed for victory.
The Stingrays still had bats in the shed and despite losing Kit Rotthier for 3 and Walter Taberner for 1 it was Tom McQualter who played a pivotal role with 39 not out to combine with Newman’s 147 not out to bring home the win, their partnership being 85 runs.
In another exciting semi-final Phillip Island fell agonisingly short of victory when it had Club down to 9/146 but Club’s number 9 and 11 bats, M McCall and Z Macdermid stuck around for 11 overs to survive and force a draw which saw the higher placed team, Club, make it into the final.
On Saturday Phillip Island had won the toss and batted at Scorpion Park, Leongatha, making 248 in the process from 89.5 overs.
Top scorer was Eli Richards with 110, Jona Watts made 44 and down the order a fine 54 was scored by Matthew Dennerley. J Sheerin claimed 3/94 for Workers with Zac Macdermid 2/25.
Persistent rain on Sunday morning caused a delayed start in Club’s chase with the rain reducing the number of over to 75. Club, being the higher placed team, either had to chase down the rains or, if not, bat out the overs and force a draw.
With the Island making an impact with the ball Mitchell Thomas out for 29 and Alex Geyer top scoring with just 32, Club was forced to try to bat out the overs.
Jake Wallace managed 25 but even with 11 overs left Club was nine wickets down and things were looking dire.
However with a couple of sharp catches missed by the Island, Club managed to scramble the draw and go through to this weekend’s final.
Charith Keerthisinghe was the best of the Island’s bowlers picking up four wickets.
Charging in: Ryan Thomas from Workers sends one down in the A1 final to Jona Watts of Phillip Island. He claimed 2/38.
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Posted by Sarah Vella on Mar 20 2018. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
