First XI
We were very relieved to get a Saturday without too much rain about, as our First XI played Lilydale away.
Bowling first, spinner Tyson Gaskett took an early wicket, but Lilydale set about building an innings.
At 111 Jai Gupta broke through and Adam Dunn took two more after that.
Lilydale closed their innings at 6-208.
Tight bowling by Lilydale in our batting innings saw runs hard to come by, and wickets falling regularly.
Some starts, but other than 30 (29) from Matthew McConnell, it was slim pickings.
14-year-old Flynn Pritchard batted solidly in his First XI debut, facing out 45 balls for his eight runs. In the end we finished with 9-142 off the 40 overs, falling short by 66 runs.
Second XI
Hosting Yarra Junction at Woori Yallock reserve, our Second XI had a very solid team, and so batted first to see what we could make of the lightning quick outfield.
It was a good decision as Dean Worlley and Michael Nicholls put on a 156 run opening partnership, with Mick being dismissed for 74 from 61 balls just before drinks.
Dean went on with it after drinks and posted a magnificent ton, eventually dismissed for 109 (111).
Andy Van Der Vlugt then took advantage of the platform set by the openers and in a devastating performance hit 75* from just 35 balls, including five maximums.
After our 40 overs, we posted 6-340, a mammoth total.
Yarra Junction naturally came out swinging, and did get some away, but our bowlers and fielders were disciplined, taking constant wickets.
Jackson Wright was impressive with 1-17 off eight, and Stephen Morgan chimed in with another two wickets, but it was the young at heart Marty White who continued his run of form with 4-33 off eight.
Yarra Junctions falling well short; dismissed in the 39th over for 189.
Third XI
Our Third XI took on South Croydon away and took the fight right to them.
Batting first there were a couple of standout performances.
Ben Hubbard returned to form with 62 runs, including an 80 run stand with his son Tayte, a marked improvement on the last time they batted together.
Skipper Stuart Parker was able to come in and free the arms, scoring a rapid 52* off 39 balls to get the total to 5-172 from 36 overs.
Alexander Mason got us off to a good start, bowling their opener, and from there it was a rollercoaster of tight bowling and big hitting.
It came down to the wire, with South Croydon just scraping past our score with only three balls left.
Fourth XI
At Wickhams again for our Fourth XI, this time hosting Healesville.
We batted first and lost many early wickets, looking in trouble at 6-46.
A rescue mission from Paul Broussard who scored 53* from 52 balls, and young Cameron Philpot who scored 25 runs, and has the possibly unique stat of outscoring both his dad and his mum in the same match.
We were eventually dismissed for a respectable 146.
With the ball there weren’t many highlights, but the ones we had were spectacular with Woori Yallock legend Andrew Ferguson taking an absolute screamer of a catch, certainly winding back the clock with that one.
Healesville passed the score two down in the 26th over.
U14
Our Juniors took on St Andrews away and looked to cement a top two spot in the process.
Bowling first; it was a real team effort with seven individual wicket takers, as well as two run outs restricting St Andrews to 130. Our batters got to work again, and retirements to Jacob Ahamad (22), Joel Pritchard (31) set the platform, and Alex Mason hit 25 and Mason McNeill 19 to get us to their total in the 23rd over, winning an important match up.
U12 and Mini-Bash
The Lusatia Park U12s took on Seville on Friday night, with Oscar and Abi taking wickets, and Oscar a run out, whilst Maxwell top scored with 16 runs in a loss.
The Mini-Bash kids took on Lilydale again, with Eden taking out the MVP for that match.
