Crows fall short of outright victory
Christensen dampened their hopes.
However, Warragul’s middle order collapsed again, as they fell to 7-126 due to another three for Cook and two for Austin Van Strijp before Josh Wright and Nathan Macfarlane buckled down and made sure that the young side surived outright defeat.
Iona to play finals
Drouin 111 & 9/121 def by Iona 7/237 Iona has secured a finals place, falling a wicket short of outright victory.
With the win already in the bag, Luke Ferguson continued where he left off, smashing his way to an outstanding century as Iona heaped misery onto the sliding Drouin team.
Ferguson finished on 109 not out as Iona declared on 7-237, 126 ahead, as Drouin scrambled to survive.
Runs were difficult to come by as no one made over 20, as Kieran Lenders (3-15), Jayson Barwick (2-2) and Jarryd Bain (2-26) brought the Swamp Tigers within striking distance.
The Hawks are very rarely beaten this badly at home, though, as Regan Hodge and Jack Jarred batted out several overs of tense cricket to save themsevles from embarrassment as they finished on 9-121, needing a win to make finals next week.
Titans secure top spot
Western Park 171 def by Garfield-Tynong 8/228 Tight bowling, as well as thoughtless batting has secured Garfield-Tynong top spot heading into the last week of the season, whilst forcing Western Park to fight for survival.
Chasing 229 on a batting friendly Western Park, the Warriors’ batting woes continued as only Dale Fawcett (44) was able to break the shackles of the Titans attack as the innings crept along at a snails pace.
APK Rangajith was the hero for the away side, taking 4-26 off 28 overs to erase memories of their hammering last season, showing their vast improvement along the way.
Dave Burn (38) restored some pride with some lusty hitting before having his stumps disturbed by Brayden Ridler (3-29), although by that point the game was done as the Warriors thoughtlessly dug themself a grave they could not recover from, falling to 171 all out.
Bankers win again
Ellinbank 250 def Hallora 160 Ellinbank has completed another win, this time cruising to victory over Hallora.
Chasing 161, Luke Rogers (70) showed his batting prowess with a blistering knock, ably supported by Michael Masterson as the pair took the Eagles to 2-142, with victory assured.
A middle-order wobble caused by Steve Fox (337), Jai Newcombe (2-20) and Alex Henshall (235) threatened to de-rail the innings, however Sean Masterson and Jack Pandolfo combined to ensure the Eagles would make it safely home as they reached 250 before stumps were called.