WDCA under 18s go back-to-back
The Warragul District Cricket Association side lost the toss and Sale Maffra chose to bat on a bleak Leongatha morning.
Rain had fallen overnight and again in the morning and further interruptions was looking probable, but the game started on time.
Their openers started slowly and it wasn’t long before players were off for the first of three heavy showers.
Before that Wilson McGillivray had opened the bowling with two maidens and Kim Drew had a very confident leg before wicket turned down, with Tim Dessent the getting the first score of the morning a leg bye.
After returning from the rain break, Wilson immediately broke thru to remove Zac Hurley bowled for two, and next ball cleaned up Elliott Durrant the same way to have the Sharks 2/4 off five overs.
In his next over he sent Tom Anderson back to the pavilion for 0 and he had 3/2 off four overs. Sale-Maffra were 3/5 off seven overs and players were off for rain again.
When play returned Johah Serong, who is still eligible for the under 16s (0/19 from 10), had been bought into the attack an over earlier. He tied up one end while Wilson attacked from the other.
Connor Hughes had joined Dessent at the crease and these two started slowly at first, but started to build a partnership.
Hughes had a confident LBW decesion go in his favour from Sean Masterson, who had replaced Wilson, just before the next rain break.
When the players returned there had been over an hour lost in the three breaks and the WDCA batting overs would be reduced.
Dessent and Hughes worked well together putting on 128 in 34 overs, before Dessent was dismissed, with a good bit a fielding from Harry Wans to Zane Harper saw him short of his ground for an excellent 68. They had moved the score to 4/133 in the 41st over.
Wilson was back in the attack and finished his 10 overs with 3/23.
Kim Drew (1/35 from 10) had returned at the other end and he removed Hughes for 54, with the score on 148, and the next over Sean (1/35 from 10) then removed Jenkins for 0.
Charlie Morrison 22* and Tom Glen 5* took the score to 6 for 171 after 50 overs.
Bowlers who bowled without luck were Davis McConnell (0/9 from three), Aidan Phillips (0/25 from five) and Bailey George (0/13 from two).
Warragul would have 40 overs to chase the 171, losing 10 overs due to the rain interruptions.
Joel Batson and Harry Wans opened the innings for WDCA and both batted positively until in the fifth over Harry was adjudged LBW to Hughes for 7, the score 1/18.
Rhys George joined Joel and they took score to 42 when Rhys was bowled by McGuiness for 11, and in his next over he removed Kim Drew for seven (one six).
When McGuiness removed Joel an over later for 13 (one four), Warragul had slumped to 4/55 in the 17th over and McGuiness had 3/14 off four overs, which included eight wides.
Things were looking bleak with Warragul needing 117 in the final 23 overs when Zane Harper was joined by Sean Masterson.
They started off cautiously, relying on their running between wickets and taking the short singles, and with the score at 4/67 off 21 overs they decided it was time to go.
Sean hit Durrant for six, the first of his three sixes, and with smart running and the occasional boundary they added 80 runs in 11 overs to turn the game on its head, 4/147 after 32, and needing 25 from eight overs with six wickets left.
Zane was finally dismissed stumped in the 35th over when the score was 158 for an excellent 44 (two fours), which broke the match winning 103-run partnership.
With Sean following in the next over for a hard hitting 63 from 61 balls (four fours and three sixes), the WDCA had four overs to get the runs.
Bailey George had been joined by Wilson and Bailey was dismissed in the next over, the score 7/169.
Aidan Phillips joined Wilson and he defended the last three balls of Durrant’s over.
With three overs to go and three runs to get, people were getting a bit nervous including the last two bats Jonah Serong and Gerard Shields.
Wilson got a single off the second ball of the over. With opener Morrison bowling and Aidan on strike, there was a very confident LBW shout which the umpire turned down and the boys took two with the ball going to fine leg to finish the game with 14 balls to spare.
Well done to the boys in what was a mixed year. After being flogged by Sale in the first game they bounced back to win the final.
For Sean, Zane, Bailey, Wilson, Harry and Gerard, it was the last game of underage cricket and for the first five it ends a fantastic run of four wins in five years at this level.
The Association thanked the whole group off 21 young men who represented the WDCA over the five games this GCL year, which finished with a great win and back to back wins for both the under 18s and under 16s at this level.
It also thanked Dale Serong for his commitment for seven years, with his coaching second to none and Peter Harper for driving the bus, along with Jamie Serong and Richard Wans for doing a fantastic job with the under 16s.