Youth Club shores up second spot
Youth Club has resolved a battle for second position in Grampians Cricket Association after dismissing St Andrews for 112 on Saturday, 23 runs short of a Clubbers target.
Chief destroyer for the winners at Ararat’s Alexandra Oval was Clinton Slorach with 3-18, while Abhijeet Verma and Cam Kimber assisted with two wickets each.
The win put the Clubbers eight points ahead of the Saints with two home-and-away rounds to play.
At North Park in Stawell, Pomonal turned its day-one advantage over Halls Gap into an outright victory and ensure a finals berth.
Pomonal now joins the Saints on 22 points.
Pomonal took its score from 0-117 to 2-223 thanks to an unbeaten Lynden Brewis 111 and 58 to Lachy Green.
Batting a second time after a firstinnings 146, the Gappers managed 108, largely due to Luke Stevens’ 44, while the best of the Tigers bowlers was Lee Oliver with 4-35.
Halls Gap’s second knock left the Tigers just 32 runs to complete the second-innings win.
Swifts-great Western increased its lead at the top of the ladder by four points after overrunning Chalambar to win by an innings and 26 runs. Chalambar, which had made 87 the previous week and then watched Swifts-great Western declare at 8-218, resumed its second knock on Saturday at 3-32.
With the Combine’s Jayden Mccartney capturing 5-21, Swifts-great
Western dismissed the home team at Ararat’s Gordon Street Oval for 101.
This Saturday features the penultimate round of the season with the feature match being the battle between fourth-placed Pomonal and competition leader Swifts-great Western at Alexandra Oval.
Pomonal, boosted by an outright win over Halls Gap, will be looking to add the Combine’s scalp to its belt.
Much will depend on Tigers Batsman Lynden Brewis, who has hit a purple patch of form with unbeaten scores of 97 and 111 in his last two knocks. But he is coming up against a bowling attack that has taken 17 more wickets than the nearest team.
Quicks Matt Heffer, Lachlan Patching and Jayden Mccarthy, together with spinner Albert Eldridge will make runs difficult.
The Tigers have their own strike bowlers in young Lachlan Dalkin and Michael Armstrong.
In other matches, St Andrews travel to Halls Gap and hope to regain momentum after their loss to Youth Club.
The Saints will be expecting a better effort with the bat, in order to give themselves a chance of maximum points.
Main danger to Gappers’ batsmen Charlie Mcintosh and Josh Leith will be Saints bowlers Tom Mills and Michael Harricks.
Youth Club is opposed to Chalambar in a match moved to North Park.
Chalambar has suffered consecutive outright losses and will need to bring its A game to keep out Youth Club, still keen to finish on top.
It is interesting to note that Nic Baird has scored 375 runs out of Youth Club’s 847.
This Saturday will also feature a ‘Dad’s Army’ contest when RhymneyMoyston fields six father-son combinations in a B Grade match against Pomonal – a unique occurrence.