Bunyip take edge into semi finals
Division 5 by Adam Johnson
In the bottom grade, Warragul continued its dominance of the competition with a resounding win over Western Park.
The Gulls will take on Yarragon after the Panthers held their spot in the top four with victory over Jindivick.
Bunyip will take a slight advantage into their clash with Catani after running out big winners over the Cats at the weekend.
Semi Final Preview
Bunyip took out a big win in a preview of this weekend’s semi-final against Catani.
Choosing to bat first the Bulls made a steady start despite losing wickets at regular intervals. Mat Dare (25) then lifted the run-rate with two fours and two sixes.
Jerry Whibley (21) held the middle order together as the visitors saw out their 40 overs. Danny Brewster was the pick of the bowlers with 3/23. In reply, the Cats were in trouble early, left reeling at 3/10 before Danial McFarlane (21) and Robert Coupe (21) offered some resistance before Jake Stewart (4/23) tore through the tail. Ben Sharpe kept things tight snaring 2/11 off six overs.
Good Signs For Panthers
There were good signs for Yarragon ahead of their semi-final clash with Warragul, taking out a thumping win over Jindivick.
Carlo Ierfone (50 retired n.o.) looks to be in ominous form, recording a second half-century while Joel Kilday (48 n.o.) was a welcome inclusion and kept the scoreboard ticking over as the home side posted a competitive total.
In reply, the Jumping Jacks were on the back foot early loosing 2/3 before Jake Jeffrey (24) got things going.
His dismissal triggered a stunning collapse however as the visitors lost 7/23 to be all out late in the day.
Gulls Never Troubled
Warragul were never troubled in their match with Western Park as a disappointing batting effort from the Warriors left little for the home side to overcome. Tyler Payroli (24) and Matt Towt (23) were the only batsmen to have any impact on the scoreboard. Ajay Bajwa (3/7) was the best of the bowlers after Vaneet Singh (2/24) made the early breakthroughs. Liam Giliam chimed in with 2/11.
In reply, Vaneet Singh anchored the chase with a hard hitting 32 n.o. receiving good support from Vishal Chopra (18) and Paul Singh who finished with 12 not out.
After a dominant first week, the Warriors walk into finals with momentum after a big win against the Crows.
With the bat, Daniel Pullen got his side off to a brilliant start, as he posted a season high 62 not out to push his side towards the massive total at hand, unfortunately for him, no one else contributed a big score to take it to the Warriors. Liam O’Connor (3/7) was outstanding with the ball as he ripped through the Crows middle order giving them no chance at coming close to the total, as they finished with 9/118.
The Kangas claim top spot after a dominant batting display in week two of play. At the top of the order, Brendan Wall (25 off 21) got things underway as he punished any kind of bad bowling, he was followed by Liam Serong (49 off 55), Andrew Burdett (27* off 50) and Brayden Notman (30* off 20) as the Kangas batsmen were too good.
Sam Graziotin (2/32) was the only hope for Neerim District/Yarragon however it wasn’t