3 in a row Baby

The North Geelong Premiership era continues to reign over the GCA as our boys go 3 in a row to be the first club to do so since the mid 80s. We may be a little bias but from all reports on Saturday Night and Sunday, we don’t think the boys are going to settle for just 3.

Last week Sam Hall produced what was possibly the best knock of his career and we hoped he had 1 more left in him. On Saturday he certainly did, after losing the toss and having to chase a total in the Grand Final Sam flicked a switch that’s rarely been seen ever. His 58 ball century made what looked to be a difficult run chase quite easy as the guys chased down 163 in just 18.5 overs. Not to be outdone, Sam’s opening partner, Casey Meehan, raced out of the blocks and really got the innings going as Sam settled in. Whilst Sam’s innings will be spoken about for years to come, Casey’s role will forever be remembered internally. Unlucky to finish on 49, the premiership medal around his neck will make things all the much better.

Earlier in day, not to be forgotten about was our unbelievably tight bowling which setup the game. Tom and Mitch started things off and when Tom trapped the 1st batsman in front lbw the boys were away. Bagg chipped in and grabbed the next 2 wickets and the guys were right on top. As the game drifted at a slow rate, the 40th over was upon us and East were just 3/100. That was soon 4fa when Fergy picked up an lbw. Soup chimed in and got the 5th before 2 late ones to Tom as well as an off the bowlers foot run out and East ended their innings at 8/163. A total that was never going to be enough for victory, as Sam and Casey can safely say the rest is history.

The 2nd XI simply didn’t make enough runs in their game. Batting first, 1/39 soon became 4/40 and the damage was almost done for them. Anthony Armistead worked hard for his 29 to be the leading run scorer but 133 wasn’t enough in a Grand Final.

Big Tom Webster bent the back early and jagged 2 huge wickets to keep the guys interested. A partnership then formed taking the game away from the guys before Smidge chipped in with 2 late wickets. The damage was done earlier in the day and the boys will want to forget about this one pretty quickly.

Another game without a massive highlight reel was the 4th XI contest. Bowling first our guys would consider themselves in the game for most of the bowling innings. The young bowling attack took it up to the veteran filled East Belmont side. Spinners Dwij and Benny Demasi were great to watch as they restricted East to just 134 runs.

The run chase needed to start well if the boys were a chance and unfortunately unlike the Semi we lost wickets early. It didn’t help losing Liam Biddiscombe before the game to Covid, but once the game had started we backed in the 11 guys chosen. 2/52 shortly became 7/70 and the game was slipping away. Daniel Davey cleared the fence on a few occasions to give the guys a bit of hope but when he fell it was the beginning of the end as the guys were all out for 112, 23 runs short of victory.

End of season celebrations were in full effect on Sunday as we held our best and fairest vote counts. Alistair McCann made it 3 in 3 years as his dominant season seen him win the Alf Clark Medal by 14 votes. Not to be outdone Sophie Walker won the A Grade medal by over 30 votes as her dominant season was rewarded with a best and fairest.
Other winners included…
2nd XI Baden Lucas Medal… Sean McGrath
3rd XI Andrew Vivian Medal… Col Millard
4th XI Geoff Ryan Medal… Fred Lucas
5th XI Garry McGrath Medal… Chanda Ranjithumar
B Grade Women’s Medal… Daisy Sheehy
Congratulations to all the winners, enjoy the celebrations!!!!