A Reserve Captain Hudson Gillies formed a strong opening partnership with Zach Moore in the A Reserve match against Ovens Valley.
Yarrawonga Mulwala’s A Grade side has secured a home preliminary final against third-placed Wangaratta Magpies after convincingly defeating fifth placed Benalla Bushrangers in the final round of the WDCA season on Saturday.
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Ovens Valley United will face ladder leaders Rovers United Bruck in the other preliminary final.
The Lakers are hitting strong form heading into the finals after suffering a crushing defeat against Rovers United Bruck in their round 11 clash at home.
Yarrawonga Mulwala has defeated the Wangaratta Magpies on both occasions this season, with Angus Heslin starring with the ball, taking three wickets in each match.
With the bat, Fraser Smart scored an impressive 81 in the first clash in round five, while Ben Welsh contributed 31 in that match and an unbeaten 52 in the second meeting.
In their round 12 contest, Welsh combined with Devlin Webb (40 not out) in a strong partnership to comfortably guide the Lakers to victory.
Against the Bushrangers last Saturday, the Lakers again looked impressive with both bat and ball.
After being sent into bat, the Lakers steadied after losing Fraser Smart early.
Reid Clarke and Ben Welsh then combined for an impressive 125-run partnership before Clarke was caught by Xavier De Fazio for 38.
Devlin Webb and Brock McCabe didn’t trouble the scorers too heavily but provided solid support for Welsh, who went on to score a superb century before being trapped lbw by Brodie for 108 from 125 balls.
At 5/187 the Lakers were well placed for a competitive total. Zac Fraser added a quick 28 from 23 balls, while Matt McCabe (12 not out from four balls) and Jack Hudson (9 not out from seven) kept the scoreboard ticking over as the Lakers finished on 7/220 from their allotted 45 overs.
With the ball, Angus Heslin struck early to remove Sharma. Benalla steadied through captain Brayden Stepien and Jonty Priest, who offered some resistance at the crease.
However, Ben Welsh made the key breakthrough, trapping Stepien lbw for 30, and continued his fine all-round performance by claiming four wickets for the innings.
Matt McCabe and Kyle Archibald each took two wickets, while Devlin Webb also chipped in with one. Priest fought hard for the Bushrangers, finishing unbeaten on 50.
The Lakers eventually bowled Benalla out for 142 in 40.3 overs to seal a convincing victory.
A Reserve defeated in a thriller
In preparation for the club’s Last Man Standing, captain Hudson Gillies was sent into bat by a determined Ovens Valley. Gillies opened the attack with Zac Moore and the pair produced a strong opening partnership on a tricky deck.
The Lakers reached the drinks break at 1/82 after Moore smacked them around for his 41 before being dismissed.
The Lakers’ middle order were able to get starts, especially Lach Phillips with a quickfire 32 and Hunter Frauenfelder with a composed 27 before trying to lift the run rate.
Zach Moore looks for the boundary with this cut shot.
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Young guns Jordan Knight and Taj Parker attempted to help the tail wag, and the Lakers finished with 174, bowled out.
After some sausage rolls prepared by Thorpey, the Lakers went out to defend their total with opening bowlers Phillips and Frauenfelder.
However, there might have been something dodgy in the sausage rolls because the Lakers came out slow in the field and let Ovens get off to a good start in the first 20 overs, reaching 1/79.
After getting fired up by skipper Gillies, the Lakers fought back with some nice bowling, particularly from Taj Parker and Jordan Knight, keeping the Lakers in the match.
Wickets were shared around, and it came down to the last over with Ovens needing 6 to win with 1 wicket remaining. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the Ovens team were just able to get the runs.
Final scores: Lakers 10/174 (20 overs) defeated by Ovens Valley United 9/175 (40 overs).
The Lakers remain on top, two games clear, and will face Rovers United Bruck in the first semi-final this Saturday.
Merton flex their muscles to knock B Grade out
Scraping into the finals in sixth position, B Grade faced top-placed Merton in a knockout final.
Winning the toss, Merton were sent into bat on a wicket that was providing some assistance.
Opening bowlers Brendan Hill (2/20 off 8) and Kade Michael (0/14 off 5) heaped pressure on the strong Merton batting line-up.
Ben Pickering then came on and had the ball hooping, the veteran bowling an amazing spell with figures of 3/24 off 8 overs.
Pickering couldn’t be kept out of the action in the field either, running out one of Merton’s gun bats in comical scenes.
The batters were mid-pitch having a chat and fist-pumping what they thought was going to be a boundary, only for Pickering to cut the ball off and ping it back to the bowler, leaving the batter red-faced and well short.
Ash Thiseen and Shaun Hawking were the other wicket-takers as Merton were restricted to 135 from their 36 overs.
After smoko, young Darcy Hargraves (23) and Josh Vagg (23) got the chase off to a respectable start, putting on 42 for the opening stand.
From there though, Merton turned the screws as a steady stream of wickets followed.
While Ben Pickers (13) and Damian Leeburn (13) also got starts, Merton’s bowling and fielding were a class above. Yarrawonga only managed 97 from their 36 overs.
While disappointing to be knocked out of the finals, Merton certainly showed why they are sitting top of the table and favourites to take out the flag.
