By CHRIS ANDERSON
YVDCA
DESPITE five months of tough cricket, there is still a battle between three sides to claim the final two invites to the finals party in D.J. Strachan Shield.
With Seville all but stitching up second place, behind Warburton-Millgrove, it has been left to a last-round dash between Woori Yallock, Mount Evelyn and Yarra Junction for the right to face them in semi-finals action in a fortnight.
With the season concluding with a one-day fixture, there will be little room for error for the combatants, with Mount Evelyn having to take down the top of the tree, Warburton-Millgrove, to secure their birth.
While Yarra Junction must beat Woori Yallock in what promises to be an old-fashioned scrap if they are to have any chance of unseating either of their challengers.
Seville booked their finals ticket with a nail-biting victory against Mount Evelyn in a game that warmed the cockles of the hearts of cricketers gone by.
In an era where teams battle to see out their allotted overs, this game contained two days of highly entertaining cricket where both teams enjoyed success with both bat and ball.
After compiling a highly competitive total of 246 in a dogged day one, the Blues entered day two confident their formidable bowling attack would hold firm.
Inspired by the presence of a club legend in the field, Seville hit the ground running removing the Rovers openers with little damage inflicted.
Mount Evelyn captain Kane Jones (39) teamed with heir apparent Gareth Fraser (36), and with little trouble they had the Rovers back on track in their pursuit of the formidable target.
The Rovers batsmen did themselves no favours throughout the innings, and despite many top-order starts, they kept giving the advantage back to the home side by gifting them their wickets.
With the exciting talent of young spinner Brayden Caldwell (3/46) entering the game with an expertly delivered spell beyond his years, the Blues were eyeing an easy kill with the Rovers teetering at 5/125 at tea.
That changed as a dogged rear-guard fight back by the visitors lower order, accompanied by some sloppy catching by the fielders, gave the visitors a sniff of an unlikely victory.
Although never really being in front of the chase, the Rovers looked likely winners as they closed within seven runs of victory with two wickets in hand and a couple of overs remaining.
That would be as close as Mount Evelyn would get as a disastrous run out was followed two balls later by the final wicket securing Seville an exciting six-run victory.
Yarra Junction ensured they stayed in the race for finals action with an impressive run chase against Hoddles Creek.
The Wombats compiled 189 on day one and would’ve felt reasonably confident.
The experienced Stephen Flutter has been a key inclusion to the Yarra Junction batting line-up this season, and at the top of the order, he has somewhat lessened the blow inflicted by the loss of the Lever boys in the off-season.
Flutter’s experience and value shone through with his half-century setting the tone for the Eagles’ chase.
Another key to the Eagles’ batting strength this season has been the continued emergence of captain Quinton Hodgkinson as a genuine, and consistent, threat with the bat.
Despite securing the THR Drummond Medal as the competition’s top player last season, Hodgkinson was predominantly viewed as a bowling all-rounder.
This season his contributions have generally come in the Eagles’ victories, and his hard-hitting 74 ensured his team wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip.
Despite taking five wickets across the journey, mainly courtesy of their main man Brenton Derix (2/44), Hoddles Creek was never realistically in the hunt as Yarra Junction seamlessly passed the total with ease.
With a bye in the final round, Hoddles Creek will reflect on another season where their best has been good enough to challenge, however their depth has cost them a realistic challenge on the top four.
They have some exciting talent amongst their ranks, but their progress must be fast tracked if they are to close the gap on the competition’s best.
For Yarra Junction, they live to fight another day, and some would argue that their finals start next week.
The equation is simple for the Eagles, victory against Woori Yallock and it’s finals for the second year running, defeat and it is season over.
Woori Yallock bounced back from an indifferent month securing an impressive victory against a staggering Healesville outfit.
The Tigers batted first last week, and although they would’ve been slightly disappointed with the final total of 187, they would’ve entered day two confident that they had enough aces in their bowling deck to counter for any serious challenge that the Bloods could muster.
That proved to be the case as the visitors had no answers for the Tigers new ball pairing of Jackson Wright (4/29) and Simon Young (4/51).
The pair made light work of the Bloods top order and never let their opposition back into the contest.
The fast bowling duo could well hold the key to Woori Yallock’s chances this season as Wright’s pace, and attack on the stumps, have netted him plenty of wickets this season, while Young is benefiting from an extended run on the field after an interrupted season and his skill at moving the ball through the air is a challenge for most batsmen across the Valley.
Despite some rear-guard challenges from Ash Hamer (26) and Chance Burridge (24), the Bloods were once again lacklustre in their chase of an achievable target and one senses that the season couldn’t end quick enough for the perennial finalists as they fell 65 runs off their opposition.
Healesville now face Seville with one last chance to post a victory this season, and if form is true then they will battle against a team fine tuning for finals action.
Woori Yallock has its destiny in its own hands, and victory against Yarra Junction will see itin a rematch of last season’s semi-final against Seville, while a loss would put them in danger of missing finals all together.
D.J. Strachan Shield
Woori Yallock 187 (M. King 68, G. Selby 27, C. Burridge 3/20, D. Fry 3/22) d Healesville 123 (A. Hamer 26, C. Burridge 24, J. Wright 4/29, S. Young 4/51), Seville 246 (T. Dwyer 94, R. Akers 41, D. Troyahn 28, C. Anderson 5/31) d Mount Evelyn 240 (G. Fraser 39, K. Jones 38, J. Fraser 36, B. Caldwell 3/46, M. Tilney 2/61, D. Troyhan 2/69), Yarra Junction 5/199 (Q. Hodgkinson 74, S. Flutter 52, B. Derix 2/44) d Hoddles Creek 9/189 (Doc Chesney 37 not out, W. Trotter 34, C. Spaulding 4/70, H. Wilson 2/20), Warburton-Millgrove – bye.
R.A. Finger Trophy
Healesville 107 (B. Horner 53, A. Pearce 19, S. Morgan 5/43, M. Arnold 2/17) d Woori Yallock 9/64 (A. Pearce 3/8, D. Kerr 2/25), Hoddles Creek 89 (M. Jones 13, A. Edmonds 13, D. Chaproniere 4/23, M. Richards 2/9, N. Goyal 2/11) d Yarra Junction 10/86 (T. Hawkins 48, S. Robertson 5/48, P. Jones 3/30), Warburton-Millgrove 125 (J. Lewis 30, M. Hadj 41, M. Pezzimenti 4/32, C. Dikschei 3/17) d Coldstream 9/106 (Phillips 36, Walsh 23, Abblitt 4/16, Hadj 2/40), Seville 6/204 (L. Corbett 53, J. McInness 42, L. McGookin 40) d Mount Evelyn 9/130 (D. Fraser 54, T. Hancock 23, H. Byrne 5/34, L. McGookin 2/15).
