Phone
(03) 9435 5971
Brett Money - Mobile
0421424775
secretary@riversidecricketclub.com.au
juniors@riversidecricketclub.com.au
Having won the toss and choosing to bat first on a hot day one at Whatmough Park against 3rd placed Mernda, the boys didn’t off to a great start, losing the top 4 with the score on only 33, with only Cal Skiba (20), getting away to a start. A partnership of 31 between captain Scott Gibbs (20) and Luke Morgan looked to steady to ship, but a 2nd flurry of wickets before and after tea left the score in a precarious position at 8/79 with still 30 overs to bat. However, Number 10 Noah Gleeson joined Luke Jurkovic in the middle, and out together a fantastic partnership worth 67 runs, As Luke and Noah were watchful early, before hitting the boundaries on a hot day, Before Luke fell for a well-made 37, showing incredible control and poise despite the wickets falling around him. Noah feel a short time later for 46, a personal best as the boys were all out for 153, a dream score if someone had asked the team a couple of hours earlier. With 5 overs to bowl on day 1, Scott Gibbs took 2 wickets to give the boy some momentum going into the 2nd Day.
On a much cooler 2nd Day, it was Mernda who got off to an impressive start, seeing out some early tight bowling from Gibbo and Fletcher Gauci, unable to take our 3rd wicket until the score had moved to 67, with Aidan Amenta taking a good catch off the bowling of Luke Morgan, however it wasn’t until just before tea where the 4th wicket was taken, with Luke Jurkovic claiming one of Mernda’s key batsman, with Paddle taking a sharp catch at 1st. Mernda had moved to 4/103 at tea. A wicket to Cameron Drake just after tea was keeping the boys in the game, however Mernda continued to creep up to the total, but an important run out from Elliot Smale removed Mernda’s top scorer with the score on 134. Before Scott Gibbs came back with Luke Morgan to claim the last 4 wickets, taking a total 5/15 at the end, to claim victory by just the 4 runs in one of the great Grand Finals. Gibbo finished with 5/26 from 20.4 overs, and was ably supported by Paddle (2/34 off 18) and Drakey (1/26 off 23) to claim the clubs 14th 3rd XI Premiership, Congratulations boys!
Captain Rick Bohan won the toss on a warm Sunday out at Laurimar and chose to bat first. Despite losing Paul Bohan early, a excellent partnership by Matt McMaster-Smith (33) and Paul Tulip (34) of 68, to move the score to 70 with 13 overs to bat against an excellent Laurimar attack.. This then set up for Al Broughan (14) and Tony Lander (11) to support Nick Ellks (41*) in the acceleration of the innings, before Rick Bohan and Dave Apostola finished the innings off to get the score to 6/153 off our 36 Overs.
With the ball, it was the Dave Rowley and Harsh Dhillon show, Rolls (2/18) was able to pick up the wicket of their key batsman early, before Harsh then became the chief destroyer, taking 4 quality wickets, including some excellent catches from Shane Doyle, Rick Bohan and Matthew Fleming, to have Laurimar reeling at 8/46, Harsh finishing with 4/17 from his 6 Overs. Wickets from Shane Doyle (1/3 off 6 overs), Paul Tulip (1/29) and Tony Lander (1/12), helped with the early damage, as Laurimar batted out their 36 overs to finish at 9/110. Congratulations to the boys on brining home our 8th Vets Premiership, and the first for 14 years. A Great effort and a great season.
