Warburton’s shield

By Keith Thompson, Secretary, YVCA
WARBURTON Millgrove held out against Seville at the weekend to puts its name on the 2009-10 season’s D.J. Strachan Shield.
The last day began with Seville needing quick wickets to reverse Warburton Millgrove’s first innings lead.
Warburton had made 201 with Luke Darwall contributing 94, Mick Walker 50, Ishara Amerasinghe taking 4/46 and Dean Troyahn 4/68 for a first innings lead of 44.
Seville, after making 157 – Andy Kay 67, Leigh Aitkens 18, Mick Walker 6/51 and Cam Darwall 2/22 – took some early wickets to have Warburton 4/50 at one stage but the batsmen settled down and the wickets dried up.
With still half the wickets to get and facing a lead in excess of 140, Seville conceded at the tea break and the 2009-10 D.J. Strachan Shield premiership went to Warburton-Millgrove.
At the Coldstream Cricket Ground an enthralling final was played out in full over the three scheduled days in the R.A. Finger Trophy.
Seville, batting first, was all out for 168 – Phil Smith 58 not out, Chase Burridge 3/62 and Allan Pearce 3/33.
Healesville, in reply, reached 2/100 before a batting collapse saw it fall 15 runs short – dismissed for 153 with Brian Horner (51) the main runs scorer. For Seville Matt Walker took 5/34.
Seville then batted until stumps but was 4/17 when the bails were lifted.
Day three began with Seville with a 32-run lead with just six second innings wickets in hand. A few quick wickets fell until Mark Johnson and Andrew DiPietro joined forces at the crease.
They batted together for two-and-a-half hours, using up time and adding to the small Seville lead. The partnership was broken eventually and Seville crumbled again to be all out for 73, with Andrew DiPietro on 27.
That left Healesville 89 runs to get for an outright win in an hour plus 20 overs.
But Seville had different ideas. As it started taking every catch that came its way the pressure mounted and the crowd built as runs required seemed to get further and further away.
In the end in what was an exciting game of cricket Healesville, after being 0/25, lost 10 wickets for 13 runs and was dismissed for 38, some 50 runs short. Mark Powell made 17, and Roger Oates took 5/6 from four overs and Matt Walker had another five-wicket haul, with 5/19.
In the C1 final at Silvan, Kinglake 204 and 176 was all out with Brenton Styles making 64, Ben Munn-Gibbs 20, James Morgan 31, Ken Sherring 28, Darryl Johnson 14, Dean Prouse 4/51, Matt Cooper 2/20, Rowan Prouse 2/28 and Adam Reker 2/21.
Gruyere District was 129 and 135 with Rowan Prouse making 44, Andrew Vandervlugt 22, Nick Hunter 17, Neil Waixel 14, Ben Munn-Gibbs 2/24, Brenton Styles 2/25, Jason Gaffee 1/30 and James Morgan 2/27.
Kinglake won by 116 runs.
YVCA 2009-10 premiership teams:
D.J. Strachan Shield: Warburton-Millgrove; R.A. Finger Trophy: Seville/Hoddles Creek; C1: Kinglake; C2: Healesville; E-Grade: Healesville; Under 16: Seville; Under 14A: Healesville; Under 14B: Hoddles Creek; Under 12A: Healesville.