WITH three teams vying for two places in the Leongatha and District Cricket Association finals, starting in little more than a week’s time, and two in the drop zone, there were some crazy plays and some thrilling highlights on Saturday.
And vying for the top of the highlights was the pair of centuries by Wonthaggi Club brothers Mitch and Ryan Thomas who shared a 103-run partnership in the middle stages of the Club innings at Korumburra while each went on to make 100s.
Mitch Thomas opened the innings with 113 off 144 and enjoyed the moment of posting the three figures with his brother up the other end before holing out off Yashan Vithanage.
Ryan Thomas then put on a brutal display of hitting to completely decimate the Korumburra bowling line-up with 130 off 106 balls including 16 fours and two sixes, sharing the moment with Stuart Beaumont who played a useful supporting role with 42 not out.
It was the first time the brothers have scored a ton each in an A Grade match for Wonthaggi Club, but over the club’s long and successful history, with 23 premierships in 43 years, we’re told there have been a couple of other brothers who’ve done likewise.
Can you tell us who they are? Bonus points for when and in what circumstances.
The other highlight, or lowlight of the day, depending on your perspective was the disastrous batting performance by Phillip Island on the sometimes tricky, new synthetic deck at Newhaven.
Right-arm medium pacer Lucas Anderson got the game going Leongatha Imperials’ way with three of the talented top four for the Island out in short order; Lachie Cleeland 2, Tom Niven for a duck and the danger man Daniel Mock for eight and with Lachie Wright finding rhythm with his pace, trouble turned to disaster with Shiran Rathnayake gone for 6 and both Eli Richards and Kohen Beaumont posting ducks.
And with Tim Sauvarin and Jack Ginnane cleaning up the rest and by dispatching the Sharks within a couple of hours, for a horrific total of 38, they caught out Brodie Johnston who was competing in the Penguin Dash swim and run event on the other side of the Island in Cowes.
He was “timed out” by the umpires when plans for two sports in a day went awry.
However, the crucial, last-round contest for Imperials’ hopes of regaining their place in the top four isn’t over yet with Imperials managing a response of 115, principally on the back of a fine 38 by Nick Eddy and some dour efforts further down the list.
Imps hold a 61-run lead going into Day Two next week, with Phillip Island’s openers Tom Niven 1 and the villain of the hour, Brodie Johnston 14 getting their side off to a positive start.
The equation for Imps is relatively simple, contain the Sharks’ scoring next week and then either polish off the target to avoid the dreaded “reverse outright” or simply occupy the crease for the rest of the day and they’ll be in the finals, likely at the expense of OMK.
Then guess what, Imps would play Phillip Island again with the runaway leaders of the competition unlikely to put in that sort of performance again.
In the other A Grade Division 1 game with a spot in the finals on the line, Leongatha Town’s much-vaunted batting line-up produced the goods, led at the top of the order by enormous servant of the club, Amila Ratnaike, 75 off 108 balls, in his last home-and-away match for the club after announcing his retirement during the week.
The captain Jesse Giardina gave the stability to the innings with 71 off 145 balls when opening and there were some fine contributions down the order by Ron Abeysinghe 45, DLMP Gallage 60 and Panda Jayasinghe 34 on the way to 9/324 off 75 against some top bowling, it must be said, headed by the lightning pace of Mudassar Riaz 1/57 and the guile of Peter Dell 3/36.
OMK have the job in front of them next week, but if they reach 325, they’re in.
In the drop zone, Inverloch and Nerrena are engaged in a worthy battle for each of these proud clubs to avoid relegation to A Grade Division 2 next year with Nerrena putting up a hard-fought 9/181 off their 75 overs, with Darcy Berryman 24 and Josh Trease 10 contributing potentially a match-winning partnership at the end.
Inverloch will fancy its chances of reaching the gettable total next Saturday but with the ultimate pressure of relegation on their minds, it’s very much anyone’s game.
It has been one of the most action-packed last A1 rounds for many years and raises prospects of a thrilling final series ahead.
