By Rob Boxell
Under 12s vs Wandin
A reduced 10 over per side game was played on Friday due to the ground conditions and Wandin won the toss and decided to have a bat first. They started off like a train batting extremely positively and capitalised on any bad bowling. Standouts with the ball were Tyson Oates taking 2/10 and Aidan Fogarty taking 1/9 as Wandin finished 3/67 off their 10 overs leaving Junction a big task.
Jordy Thornton and Oates opened the batting and played maturely with both retiring. Luke Dark came in and batted well also retiring before Junction slumped from 1/18 to 5/30 looking dead and buried. In came Al Mason and boy did he bat well. He punished the bad ball with conviction as he finished up 15* off 6 balls to give Junction a fighting chance. Oates, Thornton and Dark all came back in and tried to push the run rate up but ultimately fell short as Wandin won by 4 runs in what was a high-level game of cricket in challenging conditions.
Yarra Junction 5/63 (A Mason 15*, T Oates 14*) defeated by Wandin 3/67 (T Oates 2/10)
Women’s vs Officer
Junction travelled down to Officer for the second time this season looking to keep up their 100% success rate since the Christmas Break.
Officer won the toss and elected to have a bat but Junction soon made them regret that decision as Millie Kuth struck early to leave Officer 1/2. Officer regrouped but tight bowling from Kuth, Alannah Bomford and Tara Wilson kept Officer to 3/58 at the 24 over mark. Junction then stepped it up a gear as Officer lost 7/27 thanks to wickets from Kuth, Bomford, Wilson, McCracken and a first wicket for Jade Bennett to bowl Officer out for 85.
Skipper Carly Millar and Tara Wilson opened up and it wasn’t the best start as Wilson was caught behind for 0. She was quickly followed back by the dangerous Kuth for 8 and the score 2/20. 2/20 became 3/31 as Jade Bennett was caught behind but not before she made her first runs for the club to cap off a good game for her.
Lisa Hilton joined Millar and both showed their experience by rotating the strike well, waiting for the bad balls and respecting the good ones. A 55-run partnership from them both led us home with both finishing 20* and giving Junction a 7-wicket win and book a spot in the finals.
Yarra Junction 3/86 (C Millar 20*, L Hilton 20*) defeated Officer 10/85 (A Kuth 3/11, A Bomford 2/6)
2nd XI vs Ainslie Park
Playing a rare home game at Wesburn, the 2nds took on Ainslie Park in a bid to keep their finals hopes alive. Losing the toss, Yarra Junction opened the bowling with Brad Nightingale and Toby Pilton who bowled tight lines, putting the visitors on the back foot early as only 18 runs came from the first 12 overs. Wickets to Nightingale, Leigh Van Der Vlugt and Jack Jenkinson saw Ainslie Park struggling at 3/65. A small partnership formed for Ainslie Park until the evergreen Glenn Thompson struck. Between Thompson and captain Marcel Kocher, they took 5/30 together to have Ainslie Park finish 8/128 after their allotted 35 overs.
Matt Hammond and Kocher opened the batting and were looking good before Hammond was trapped for 11. A mix-up between wickets saw Jenkinson run out for a duck. Wickets in quick succession threatened the home side until Nightingale joined Kocher at the crease. The two steadied the ship as Nightingale went on to hit his high score of 41 before being caught behind. Glenn Thompson was bowled shortly after, leaving Yarra Junction 35 runs to make as time was starting to run out and light threatened to end the game early. Enter Julian Bennett, in his 200th match for Yarra Junction, joined the skipper to steer the side to victory through calm and calculated batting. Kocher carried his bat for 46 not out whilst Bennett capped off the fairy tale by hitting the winning runs.
Yarra Junction 7/129 (M Kocher 46*, B Nightingale 41) def Ainslie Park 8/128 (G Thompson 3/15, M Kocher 2/26)
1st XI vs Chirnside Park
Yarra Junction 10/64 defeated by Chirnside Park 10/141 (K Bomford 3/22)
