With Finals less than a month away, the spots in the top 4 are heating up as the 1s and 2s suffer losses whilst the 3s and 4s get the job done.

Sometimes, you win some, sometimes you lose some, Saturday was a case of that as Tom won his 10th toss out of 11 and we batted first. New opening combination Sam and Casey looked to get the boys off to a flying start as the pair put on a running between the wickets clinic. When Casey fell, Hydey came and went before Layton continued on his clean hitting form. The pair put on 64 in quick fashion before in form bat Alistair McCann joined Sam at the crease. With 100 in site Sam fell for a brilliant 92. Al continued on and as the overs ticked down so did the time and at 47 overs the umpires called end of innings with us sitting at 8/231. As the rules state and as we found out in last year’s Semi Final, penalty runs can be added on for not reaching the overs, however they weren’t and the total stood at 231.

Things didn’t start great with the ball, feels like we’ve said that a lot this year as Grovedale raced out of the gates. They made their way to 66 without loss before Mitch struck. Things got even uglier after that as the Grovedale pair put on 107 runs for the 2nd wicket. Needing just 55 for victory from 80 odd balls Alistair entered the game and swung momentum back in our favour. 4 quick wickets to Soup and the game was heading for a tight finish. 21 runs required from the last 4 overs. Then it was 11 from 12 and then finally 5 runs needed from the last over. With all front line bowlers bowled out it was up to Sam Hall to do the honours. Single, two, dot and then finally a two brought up the win for Grovedale as we now slip to 4th on the ladder. Luckily enough for our guys, we haven’t lost back to back games in 3 season so the boys will be red hot to bounce back next week and solidify their finals spot.

The 2s also slipped up on Saturday as a batting collapse and lack of runs cost the guys dearly. Batting first, the guys didn’t get off to the flying start that has been a regular this season. With Deccy out early it was up to Hamish and Xav to get the innings back on track. Hame raced to 37 before he fell, bringing in Cal Ferg. On the eve of the drinks break Cal had a brain fade and then Tone got a ripping delivery that found the edge of his bat and all of a sudden the guys were on the back foot. Xav had stood at the other end watching this unfold before he fell to expose the lower order. 4/93 then became 9/110 as the batting got worse. Last pair Smidge and Mango had plenty of overs to bat and the pair set out to do so. Smidge playing the lead role, took the bowlers on whilst Mango played 2nd fiddle. The pair put on an unbroken 62 runs with Smidgey bringing up his 50 and Mango finishing 16 not out.

The last pairs batting would have given the guys a confidence boost heading into the bowling innings and when Tom Webster crashed into the stumps to have Grovedale 1/30 things were looking good for the guys. That’s kind of where the fun ended as Grovedale well experienced batting line up took on our attack and made us look 2nd rate at times. Will Milsome picked up 2 wickets in his spell but that was never going to be enough as Grovedale passed our score with 6 overs to spare and 7 wickets still in the shed.

The 3rds are still a mathematical chance at finals, however would rely on a handful of other games getting the result we wanted. The first result we wanted occurred on Saturday with Col winning the toss and batting first. Josh Smith has been in and out of form this year and when he put the first ball of the day for 6 over square leg he looked on. He’d go on to make a quick fire 28 to get the guys off to the rocketing start. The runs continued to flow as Tom Emery and Taylor Gasper all got starts. Will Hall came to the crease at 3/75 and batted in tandem with his father Sam, who was whacking them on the main oval. Will didn’t quite get to the 90s like his dad but still managed to bring up 50 and get his side into a winning position as the guys finished 6/171. With a heavy bowling line up, 171 looked enough, however Grovedale got off to a decent start making it to 45 before Josh Rhodes ripped thru the top order. His 3 quick wickets put the game back in our favour and that then exposed their middle order to Tim Birch’s in swing. At 5/66 the game was all but in our favour and Benny Demasi made sure of that with 3 late wickets to end the game and give our guys a 30 run win to keep their slim chances alive.

The 3s may be slim but the 4s are all but garaunteed after another commanding victory against another formidable side. Bowling first the Hall cousins Charlie and Jack couldn’t find an early breakthrough and instead it was the early introduction of Liam Biddiscombe that broke the game open. His young partner in crime Fred Lucas then came on and grabbed 3 quick ones to have Grovedale reeling. Overs were getting away from Grovedale but with a bit of late order hitting, managed to scrape its way to 150. Mitch Elliott picked up the last couple of wickets to get himself 3fa for the day. Chasing 150 on a fast outfield, the guys just needed to start well and start well they did, Jeff and Liam got the boys past 50 then 80 and finally Liam fell at 1/90 for a well made 55. The job wasn’t quite done as the President Jeff passed 50. He paired up with Fred Lucas and together got the game within arms reach. 1/149 was soon then 3/149 after Jeff fell for 61 and then Pricey tried to finish the game with a lusty blow. Instead it was Fred Lucas who held on to finish 36 not out and give the guys a 7 wicket win with 21 overs remaining.

The 5th XI have been getting close to a win for awhile now, again on Saturday a result looked likely as the guys bowled first and kept Torquay to 166 thanks in main to 2 of the young guys Aarav Jain and Riley Ward. The pair both picked up 3 wickets to restrict the Torquay heavy hitters. In reply with the game in the balance, we lost 3/25 to start the innings, with a relative experienced middle order the game wasnt over as Paul McKee wound back the clock. The big Colonel loves hitting balls over cover and no doubt he would have been trying that on his way to 47. He ran out of partners in the end as we were eventually bowled out for 117 with plenty of overs to spare.

Sunday our A Grade put in their worst performance of the year, bowling first, things were sitting ok at the break. The experienced Ocean Grove had made 3/107, a reasonable  score but if our girls batted well it could have been chased. Wickets were shared between Lauren, Sophie and Helen. Batting wise, Once again things started ok. Norz and Soph had pushed the score along to 15 but that’s when it turned ugly. Norz fell, then Sophie was ran out, then the young middle order was exposed to some good bowling and soon enough the girls were all out for just 45. Sometimes you play those games where you walk off the field and forget it even happened. That’s what the girls need to do as they look ahead to next week’s huge clash with St Joseph’s.

The B Grade Girls continued on their way of development and secretly counting down the days til their season is over. Batting first and losing Haylea Fitz early the girls then looked to be well on their way to a good score. Char Quagliaro and Heidi Windt were finding gaps at ease and Lara looked to have no answer. When Heidi fell, Melrod came in and played a similar role and the score kept ticking over. Char fell for a well made 17 before Melrod finished the innings with a flurry and the girls ended with 5/99. Melrod top scoring with 19 not out whilst Kayley Sod failed to trouble the scorers however kept the sick bay busy with a dramatic tumble resuktijg in a knee injury that looks to have ended her season prematurely. With 100 on the board, the girls should have been confident that a decent bowling effort could see them get another win. That went out the window early as Lara jumped out of the gates and made their way to 64 in just the 7th over. Backing up her batting Melrod picked up a scalp before newcomer Lara Law’s work in the field caused a run out. It was all too late however as Lara were always ahead of the game and managed to pick up the win in the 15th over. With a few unavailables and then an Injury mid game, it was great to see the young sub fielders our there giving the girls a hand.

We continue to talk finals, but we’ll need to keep winning games along the way, 2 games to go, this week it’s Bell Post Hill. They’re 1s had a good win last week and will be full of confidence whilst their 3s have always been quite a strong outfit.