HAMILTON has surged into the Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) semi-finals with a comfortable last round victory against Pigeon Ponds to grab second place on the ladder.
Both teams entered the match knowing that defeat would end their season, but Pigeon Ponds’ home ground suits the Hamilton players, as they haven’t posted a total of less than 257 in the last four seasons at the venue.
Brandon Weatherson won the toss and immediately decided to bat first on the synthetic surface looking to place the home side under pressure from ball one.
Anthony Read and Simon Sharrock set to their task, as Simon Close and Aiden Sutherland took the new ball.
As always, Sharrock was keen to get after the bowlers and he had 11 next to his name with a maximum when Sutherland had him well caught by Anthony Close in the fourth over.
The old saying “one brings two” was to strike the Hamilton innings when Read was brilliantly run out by Michael Close for six and Hamilton was 2-24, as Tobi Cook and Michael Ross looked to steady the innings with a solid partnership.
Cook is a player that loves to feel the ball on his bat and he struck a half dozen boundaries in his 27-minute stay at the crease, but with 27 next to his name and 60 on the board, he was trapped in front of his stumps by Anthony Close and was given out.
The run rate was humming along at six runs an over, as the batsmen enjoyed the ball coming onto the bat.
Ross was joined by Daniel Jones and the pair looked likely to take the side safely to the drinks break without further loss of wickets, when Anthony Close struck at the end of the 22nd over to clean bowl Ross for 48 and Hamilton enjoyed the break with 4-124 on the board.
If the home side thought that the run rate would slow with the introduction of a new batsman, they were mistaken.
Robbie Cook roared back into the top grade with a knock of 33 from only 27 balls to reclaim his spot in the batting order after missing the last four rounds through injury.
He and Jones added 69 for the fifth wicket at better than a run-a-ball, as the match began to get away from the home side. When Jones fell soon after for a well-made 60 (63 balls with seven boundaries and a six), Hamilton had 6-198 on the board in the 34th over.
Hamilton’s last three wickets added a further 73 runs to carry on with the scoring rate that the top order produced.
Pigeon Ponds would need to score at a tick under a run-a-ball pace and they would need their top order to fire once again if they were to stay in the hunt for a semi-final place after Hamilton posted 9-271.
With a top order that read Simon Close, Peter Staude, Luke Merryfull, Anthony Close and Michael Close, the home side had the players to score the required runs, but it wasn’t to be for the home side, as Hamilton made vital early breakthroughs.
Weatherson chose to open the attack himself along with Daniel Jones and the ploy seemed to cause doubt to settle over the Ponds batsmen, as Simon Close (two), Merryfull (one) and Anthony Close (one) were all back in the pavilion with only 21 runs on the board.
When Peter Staude (21) was caught at the wicket by Jack McCrae and then Hamish Cook added a further scalp in Will Burbury (four), Ponds had slumped to be 5-44 with only Michael Close standing in the way of Hamilton claiming second spot on the ladder.
Close would go on to post a match-high 67, but once again with the fall of his wicket, the home side would lose wickets in a clump to see the final pair at the crease with the board showing 9-132, as Josh Grant and Josh Brown formed the last line of defence.
The pair came together halfway through the 30th over with a mountain to climb if Ponds were to claim an unlikely victory, but they refused to hand their wickets over without a fight.
Once they played themselves in, the runs began to flow as they struck 10 boundaries and three maximums in their 59-ball partnership which produced 82 runs in only 34 minutes.
Weatherson finally turned to Sharrock to break the partnership after his frontline attack couldn’t budge the stubborn tailenders and Brown (32) offered a simple return catch to Sharrock from only his second ball to end the Ponds summer.
Demons end Pumas’ title defence
MACARTHUR has driven the final stake into the heart of Grampians’ title defence, as the Demons travelled to Dunkeld on Saturday looking to secure a finals berth in the last round of the season.
Knowing that Pigeon Ponds could claim their finals spot if they fell at this last hurdle, Macarthur entered the match with a mission to fine tune its game before the semi-finals and to secure the points on offer to claim third place on the ladder.
After 20 rounds, there were still five teams that could figure in the finals and the last round would decide just which teams would join College and St Andrew’s in the final four.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Macarthur skipper, Jeremy Sheehan, could only watch on as Stefan Burnell and Josh Gordon presented a fine new ball spell of bowling that saw the visitors lose the wicket of Oliver Wortley (zero) and post only 25 runs from the first eight overs.
Gordon was taken from the attack after a four-over spell that claimed Wortley’s wicket but was replaced by Lachlan Phillips who immediately grabbed the wicket of Matt Timms (20), who presented Ryan Burgess with a catch on his return to the team.
At 2-26 halfway through the 10th over, Grampians held the upper hand, but the Demons had their best two batsmen in Michael Brilley and Kyall Timms at the wicket and the pair were in the mood to score quickly.
Brilley raced to be 17 from the first nine balls he faced, as the ball raced to the fence across the fast outfield.
Kyall as always is content to accumulate his runs at a slower pace, as he looks to bat for as long as possible and he was cautious with his stroke play, as he grew accustomed to the conditions.
He and Brilley have three P.F. Christie Medals between them (as the best player in the competition) and their class showed as the runs began to flow.
They took the score to 2-106 at the drinks break with Brilley on 49 and Kyall on 31, having shared a partnership of 80 and the break couldn’t have come at a better time for the home side, as the Macarthur pair looked set for a huge tally.
Brilley would post his half century upon resumption but both batsmen were back in the pavilion after only 14 balls with Tom Polkinghorne bowling Brilley for 51 and Ryan Burgess dismissed Kyall for 35 as Joe Sutherland held onto a fine catch.
Macarthur slumped to 6-117, as Ryan Burgess cut a swathe through the middle order, as he sent Kyall, Jeremy Sheehan (three) and Hamish Wortley (zero) back the way they came to have the home side in a dominant position after 28 overs.
All that was required was for the bowlers to run through the Demons lower order, but Zebb Nield and Kyle Smitten refused to be daunted by the Pumas onslaught and the pair dug in to post a 47-run stand for the seventh wicket that rescued the innings.
The Macarthur tail wagged, as the last three wickets added 90 runs to the tally to end the allotted overs with 9-207on the board.
Smitten (37), Nield (14), Charlie Summers (17) and Matt Lindsay (13-not-out) all reached double figures, as the Grampians attack struggled to grab those final wickets.
Buoyed by the late order rear guard action of their lower order batsmen, Macarthur entered the second half of the match hunting that finals place and early wickets against the defending premiers.
That early wicket would come too, as Zach Burgess (three) was bowled by Smitten with only 11 on the board.
A second success would have to wait, as Will Collins and Joe Sutherland joined forces to see off the new ball and then start to increase the run rate.
Once the batsmen had seen off the new ball attack, Macarthur set to a ‘pace off’ game plan, as Brad Sheen and Adam Fry combined to stem the run rate.
That lack of scoring opportunity gave pause to the Grampians innings, but Fry had Sutherland bowled for 18, before Nield came into the attack and found instant success, removing Collins for a deserved half century.
Nield also grabbed Polkinghorne (zero) and Gilmore (23), as Grampians slumped to be 5-104 after Nield grabbed the three wickets in his eight-over spell that turned the match in favour of the visitors.
Once again, Stefan Burnell would rise to the occasion, but this week he had little assistance from the other end, as the last three wickets added on 39 to the total as Grampians were all out for 175.
Smitten and Nield had rescued the Demons with bat in hand and they grabbed three wickets apiece with the ball to secure a semi-final place.
Bailey blasts biggest total of season
HAMISH bailey has posted the highest score in A grade for the season, as College accounted for the visiting Maroons at College Turf.
Having already secured a finals spot, College looked to grab the William Hewitt Cup as reward for finishing as minor premiers.
Casterton District on the other hand was looking to round out its summer with a second victory for the season and take some bragging rights into winter.
College entered the match without skipper, Charles Murrie, and Jason Schmidt from their first picked team and while Murrie will slot back into the top order, it remains to be seen just where/who Schmidt may replace after he made 45 and returned to bowling in B grade on the weekend.
Bailey entered the match after only five balls of the first innings when Jack Austin (zero) was caught by Kaden Humphries, as Rick Killey grabbed the vital early wicket.
From there on it became the Hamish Bailey show, as the veteran number three simply toyed with the Casterton bowlers.
He showed respect to their good balls, but contempt to those that strayed off line, as he accumulated his runs at will.
He watched as his teammates come and go, but he and Heath Schmidt had set up the innings with a 53-run stand for the second wicket that saw College have a foundation of 2-58 from the first 15 overs.
From there though, the batsmen were rewarded for their shots, scoring at better than seven runs per over for the rest of the innings.
The 33 minutes that young Henry Bensch spent in the middle will be some of the most valuable in his development, as he watched on as Bailey went about his innings.
Russell Bennett (33) and Kane Uebergang (39) gave valuable support, but Bailey carried on to post 149-not-out from only 126 balls, finding the boundary 23 times and a further two maximums.
College posted 5-277 to continue its great form with the bat in hand, while Rick Killey and Fletcher Bright were the only multiple wicket takers for the Maroons.
Even with such a total to hunt down Casterton District had a template from which to form their chase with the visitors only having to mimic Bailey and their hosts to find a way of reaching their goal.
Ben Holmes opened the innings along with Michael Jarrad (19) and the pair added 70 for the first wicket before Jarrad fell victim to Ross Milne.
At the drinks break, Casterton had 1-104 on the board and they were still a chance of reaching their target.
Upon resumption though, the run rate all but dried up and with the dismissal of Killey (19), Casterton would collapse to lose 9-63 to be all out for 175.
Only Holmes (71) could be proud of his efforts with the bat, as the batsmen came and went in search of that elusive second victory.
