By Rob Boxell
Under 12s vs Seville
Skipper for the evening Luke Dark won the toss and elected to field first with the boys looking to make it 4 wins on the spin.
Dark and Jordy Thornton opened the bowling, bowling some tight areas without much reward. Seville began really well and it wasn’t until the score was on 32 that Junction got the breakthrough thanks to a fantastic direct hit run out from Thornton.
More tight bowling from Tyson Oates, Charlie Guerin and Alexander Mason continued to put the squeeze on Seville as they tried to up the ante with quick wickets from Dark and Thornton restricting Seville to 3/78 off 23 overs.
Tyson Oates and Wil Joseph opened the batting and set off like a train, finding the boundary with ease as both retired allowing Thornton to come to the crease and continued his good run of form retiring on a career-high of 14*. More good batting from Mason, Traye Foy and Daniel Lefel kept the pressure on Seville but it was the returning Oates who was the superstar finishing with 41* off 30 balls as Junction finished 1/111 to take home the win and remain unbeaten.
Yarra Junction 1/111 (T Oates 41*, J Thornton 14*) def Seville 3/78 (L Dark 1/14, J Thornton 1/17)
3rd XI vs Seville
The 3rds had an important game to try and keep their momentum going. Bolstered by a few extra players, Yarra Junction was made to field first. Dale Treller and Paul Ainsley opened the bowling,
keeping things tight with Ainsley only going for 6 runs of his 7 overs, and Treller snaring a couple of early wickets. Rob Boxell and Brendan Ford were then brought on to push the overate through as the threat of rain was looming. Ford was his ever-economical self, only going for 20 runs of his 7 at a time when a game-changing partnership was looking to form. Boxell got through his spell with 2 for 23. This allowed James Krenn and Sean Vanderhyde to bowl out the remaining overs at less than a rain a ball, with Krenn taking a wicket for himself. Seville finished 6/125 after 35 overs.
Yarra Junction’s turn to bat and Rylan Bomford opened the batting alongside the skipper in Boxell. The two were able to put on a run-a-ball 50-run partnership, capitalising on quick singles whilst punishing the bad balls. Bomford was dismissed for 9 with the score at 56. From then on wickets fell regularly at one end as Boxell kept plugging at the other. Eventually, Seville’s score was passed at the end of the 30th over with Boxell having carried his bat for 74 not out.
The 3rd XI has not won two on the trot and is set to keep that momentum going.
Yarra Junction 7/126 (R Boxell 74*) def Seville 6/125(R Boxell 2/23, D Treller 2/34)
2nd XI vs Warrandyte
Losing the toss, the 2nd XI were made to bowl first. Tight bowling on the hard-to-score Yarra Junction home ground saw the visitors bowled out for 105. The ever-reliable Leigh Van der Vlugt taking 2 for 10 and young gun AJ Druitt taking 2/9. In an inspired bowling change, captain Marcel Kocher turned to Jack Jenkinson to have a trundle, with Jenkinson taking 5/20 off his five overs, his maiden 5 wicket haul.
While it was not a large total to chase, the 2nd XI had struggled for consistency with the bat thus far this season. This trend threatened to continue when Matt Hammond was dismissed for 3. However, Kocher and Druitt put on a 70-run partnership to all but take the game out of Warrandyte’s hands. Druitt was dismissed for 17 whilst Kocher hit 48, bringing up his 2000th senior run for Yarra Junction.
Lachie Thompson hit a quick 22, including one of the largest sixes seen in recent years, while the Hawkins brothers saw the side over the line, as the score was passed 5 wickets down with 7 overs to spare.
Yarra Junction 5/113 (M Kocher 48, L Thompson 22) def Warrandyte 10/105 (J Jenkinson 5/20, A Druitt 2/9)
1st XI vs Mt Evelyn
Defending 149, and having Mt Evelyn 4/50 overnight, the game was there to be one for the 1st XI. While day one had contributions from several players, day two belonged all to Ant Davis, who in his first game for the season was able to run through Mt Evelyn’s bottom order, taking 5/25. Mt Evelyn was bowled out for 126, with the 1st XI leading by 23 runs after the first innings.
Sent in for a second dig, the game went for another 19 overs before stumps were pulled up. Nick Bark and Andrew Cowan were able both able to carry their bats in the 2nd innings, making 18 and 36 not out respectively.
With the 1st XI bringing up their first win of the season, it saw a very successful weekend for Yarra Junction with all three senior sides getting wins, whilst the Under 12’s remain undefeated and the women’s side sitting comfortably on top of the ladder after a washout match. The future is looking very bright at the eagle’s nest.
