Pomonal rebounds to meet Swifts-great Western in final
St Andrews crashed out of Grampians Cricket Association semi-finals on Saturday and Swifts-great Western dominated Rhymney-moyston, leaving a Swifts-great Western and Pomonal A Grade grand final.
Pomonal was able to reverse a trouncing by St Andews from a couple of matches ago to reinforce the adage ‘cricket is a funny game’.
The Tigers ripped through the Saints batters for a lowly 57 runs thanks to bowlers Corey Taylor, 5-14, and Lachy Green, 3-20, and then cruised to 3-67 for the win, principally thanks to Matt Peel’s 26 not out.
At Central Park, Stawell, Combine skipper Sam Cocks took his season run tally to 781 with a dominant display, which yielded 171 runs including 17 fours and 10 sixes. He was assisted by Jack Cann, 46, to reach 3-241. Rhymston’s reply was 75 all out. Best of the Combine bowlers were Aaron Greenaugh, 4-4, and Matt Heffer, 3-18.
Rhymston skipper Trevor Quick was the only batter to reach double figures, with 30.
In B Grade action, the top two sides, Swifts-great Western and Halls Gap 1 proceed to the grand final.
Playing at Halls Gap, Halls Gap 1 scored 2-213. Charlie Mcintosh continued his fine form with 125 not out. He was assisted by Luke Stevens, 65.
The Gappers then dismissed the number two side for 93, the highest batter Riley Reid, 25.
Rikki Mcintosh, Clinton Slorach, Riley Thomas and Caleb Bretherton all took two wickets each.
The match was all over rather quickly at Great Western, where the home side took just four overs to score 1-29 to defeat Rhymston 2’s 27 all out.
Marc Brilliant, 3-6, and Jack Harney, 2-1, did the damage.
The pennant committee is trying a new format for the finals this year, which entails a single game to decide the premiers and playing the finals on separate days.
Saturday will see Swifts-great Western play Halls Gap at Central Park, Stawell and on Sunday it will be Swifts-great Western taking on Pomonal, also at Central Park.
The matches will be played under the Grampians Cricket Association one-day rules.
Saturday’s match will be an interesting tussle as both teams have had wins against each other – the Combine having the most recent victory in round 14.
The key to a Gappers’ victory will be the form of captain Charlie Mcintosh. Every time he has made runs, the Gappers have prevailed, and he is in good touch with 125 not out in the semi-final. The question is, can he do it again?
The Gappers also have handy bats in Luke Stevens and Les Pyke and a handy spread of bowlers to call on – all capable of taking wickets.
The Combine also has a key batter in Travis Nicholson and back-up batters in Craig Marrow, Leon Moloney and youngster Jacob Dunn to complement experienced bowlers Marc Brilliant, Gary Ranton and Tom Robinson. It is anybody’s game. Sunday will see if the Pomonal Tigers can repeat their heroics of the semi-final, when their bowling attacks lead the victory. Much will be asked of Lachy Green and Dalkin, Corey Taylor, Harry Evans and Clinton Mackley facing up to the Combine’s batters featuring Sam Cocks, Jack Cann, Rick Peters, Tom Fitzgerald and all-rounder Matt Heffer.
Aaron Greenaugh, Heffer and Jayden Mccartney will lead the Combine bowling.
The pressure will be on Clinton Mackley, Matt Peel and Corey Taylor to score the runs required.
The key to this game is Cocks, who has scored 781 runs of the Combine’s 1707 runs. Get him early and the pressure comes upon the other batters.