The Winch Mullen Shield once again stays in our Trophy Cabinet for another off season thanks in large to a brilliant batting display from Alistair McCann.

After winning 9 tosses in a row, the 10th toss wasn’t to be as Joeys won the toss and sent our guys into the field. Things haven’t happened early for us this year and the loss of Crumpet Hayes has been realised. This week was different as Grant Armistead and Mitchell Troy took the new pill with great reward early. Whilst Grant toiled away and kept things tight, Mitch picked up a wicket with his first ball of the day. When Ferg and Bagga both picked up wickets, the game was on our terms. Tom then picked up the easiest lbw of his career and at 4/79 Joeys had some work to do. Work they did with GCA stalwart Andrew Hodgson working over our bowlers during the middle and late overs in the innings to get Joeys to a total of 4/203.

The small boundaries of the College oval were always going to be tested by our guys who have been holding out for a smaller venue after playing so often on the bigger spaced Osborne Park. Openers Blake and Case didn’t last long as Lachy Hyde and Layton McCann set out for the chase. When they both departed, the score was 81 as Fergy joined Soup and together the pair set about chasing down the remaining runs. Noone enjoys the college oval more then Soup, as he took advantage of the short boundaries on more then one occasion. Fergy played the 2nd fiddle role and played it well as he made his way to 39 before falling. From there Soup continued on his way, clearing not just the boundary but the front fences across the road from the ground as well. All of this on his way to a match winning 74 from just 64 balls as the guys won the game with 5 overs to spare to all but book their place in the March 19th Semi Final.

Another side that will be playing on March 19th is our 2nds who have bounced back well from their loss 2 weeks ago. Bowling first the guys have been on a roll getting early wickets, that wasn’t the case Saturday, Kingy got 1 wicket early but wickets weren’t coming as easy. Whilst the Joeys bats weren’t really hurting our bowlers, the wickets column was dry. Enter the ever reliable Mango, Sean took 4 quick wickets to take his season tally to 26 and to have Joeys back pedalling. A couple of late run outs and Joeys finished 8/155.

The score looked a little under par but when our guys were 2/12, Joeys were right in the game. Hamish Lucas paired up with Cal Ferg to get things back on track. The word cowboy and Hamish are often paired together and whilst their wasn’t a huge amount of cowboy behaviour, it was still on show. The pair put on an exciting 50 before Hamish fell for 41. That brought new skipper Tone to the crease, and the boys looked in control with Tone and Cal both scoring at ease. When they both fell and Patty Vis went as well the guys may have been looking around as to who was going to get the remaining 20 runs. Smidge and Webster were the men for the job as the pair did it comfortably, Tom Webster putting a ball onto the netball courts in the process as the guys came away with a 4 wicket win. Earlier, Cal 28 and Tone 35 being the key pair.

The 3s season was hanging on by a thread with a miracle needed for finals action, that thread has just about burnt out as a heavy loss ends their hopes of back to back premierships. Bowling first our guys were missing last week’s pairing of Birch and Kingwell as the results showed. The highly fancied Joeys batting line up took advantage of our young attack and piled on 5/249. In reply things were looking good early with normal 4ths openers Jeff and Liam taking ok the job. 0/64 was soon 2/66 as both openers departed. That soon became 4/80 and then 8/107 as collapses have been our downfall all year. When Col hauled out it was game over as our guys fell 120 runs short and waving goodbye any finals hopes.

Finals hopes are well and truly alive for our 4ths who are a game clear in 4th spot. Batting first, Louie Carr enjoyed his promotion to the 4ths with a firey start, he paired with future wicket keeping talent Harvey Marles as the pair got the score ticking over. When they both fell it was over to new player and potential Turf prospect Euriah Hollard. He made batting look easy and looked oh so comfortable at the crease. A few wickets tumbled and when he fell for a well made 28, the guys needed a partnership at 5/66. That partnership came in the form of skipper Jack Hall and young Mitch Elliott. The pair dragged the boys out of danger with a 66 run stand before the skipper fell for 45. Mitch continued to bat on with the lower order as Daniel Davey once again got the guys to a healthy total of 8/168, Mitch and Davey both making 25. With the ball, the boys went with the big guns early in Sammy Wakefield and Jack Hall himself and what a decision it was as Jack picked up 3 early ones to leave Joeys reeling at 3/38. When Mitch Elliott and Dweej both picked up wickets, Joeys needed a partnership, that didn’t happen, as Euriah chipped in for 2 quick ones. His 3rd came soon after, before Mitch Elliott wrapped things up with the last 2 poles to give the guys the win and push themselves 9 points clear of 5th spot. Jack, Euriah and Mitch all getting 3 wickets apiece.

Selecting a 5ths side over the last few weekends hasn’t been easy. With Covid still hanging around and niggling injuries creeping into the game, getting 55 guys on the park each week is a tremendous effort from all involved in the club. This week’s side on paper looked a bit light on and results showed. Bowling first the guys did well to restrict Bannockburn to 8/188. The opening batting pair both retired with 50 however the boys went through the rest of the line up comfortably enough. Chanda was once again looking sharp but it was Shannon Kilgower who ended up being the chief destroyer with 3/20 from his 5 overs. If the guys were to win Browny was going to have to go large, he tried early but hauled out on 27 and from there things didn’t look great. Adam Di Giacomo batting at 7 looked our last hope and when he found the boundary and then cleared it, the guys at least had something to cheer about. Unluckily for Adam, he run out of partners as we were skittled for just 80 runs. 3 games to go for the boys.

Sunday both women’s games were closely observed, after a successful ladies day on the Saturday and a forecast of 35 degrees all eyes were interested to see how the women pulled up. For the 8th time from 11 games we batted first, but for the 1st time all season we had to do it without the master-class that is Sophie Walker. Soph fell for 8 but that didn’t put the girls off as Caitlin Wight showed the girls what we’ve been missing out on all season as she had her first hit back from injury. Her 28 backboned the innings whilst contributions from Melrod and Locky pushed the girls to a competitive score of 2/89. Barrabool are on the edge of the finals race sitting in 5th just behind us and Joeys. However they batted like a champion team yesterday, racing to 66 without loss before Sophie Walker picked up the first wicket in the 10th over. Steph Murphy then grabbed the 2nd wicket but the damage was done and Barrabool won by 8 wickets with 5 overs remaining.

In the game at Osborne Park, similar to the As our B Grade Girls batted first, unlike our As runs were hard to come by and wickets fell at a regular rate. Daisy Sheehy has been a revelation this year in her first year of playing cricket. She top scored with 12 as once again Tash Millard showed her resistance as she proved hard to remove. Lethbridge in reply didn’t muck around with the run chase, chasing down the total inside 10 overs and not losing a wicket. A hard day for the girls, and just like our 5ths they’ll be counting down the 3 games to go.

In a way all sides are counting down the 3 games, as it stands we look like having 4 sides play finals and that can’t come quick enough. Next week we tackle Grovedale, a club that’s generally pretty strong across the grades including their 1st XI who currently sit in 4th spot, just 6 points behind us. Luckily for us, we’ve got the home ground advantage which promises to be a big day at the Nest!