The victory handed the Eagles a chance to defend the Dundas Cup over the next two weekends against Grampians in the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade Grand Final after both teams won their respective semi-finals on the weekend.

College d Pigeon Ponds

Saturday dawned fine and cloudy with both teams at full strength for the match at Monivae College and College skipper, Charles Murrie, called correctly and quickly decided to bat first.

Having toyed with batting lower in the order during the summer, Murrie assumed his spot at the top of the order and quickly set about playing his natural game of ‘see ball-hit ball’ as he hit six boundaries in his knock of 32.

He watched on as Heath Schmidt (three) was sent on his way after the first half hour with 20 on the board, as Simon Close made the much-needed breakthrough.

Murrie was next to go with 39 on the board as Close found the edge of his bat, as the ball passed by on its way through to Will Staude behind the stumps.

Knowing that finals are a whole new format with a day consisting of at least 85 overs, Hamish Bailey stood at the non-striker’s end, as the Eagles slumped to be 3-44.

Bailey looked to rescue the situation along with Russell Bennett, but Jack Beaton was brought back for a second spell and he had Bailey caught by Hamish McCrae for 13.

At 6-203, Pigeon Ponds must have been looking to wrap up the innings quickly, but the Eagles tail wagged with Kane Uebergang (24), Lachie Watt (11) and Lachie Brown (56-not-out) taking the long handle to the tiring attack.

As stumps were drawn, the board showed 8-300 after an incredible 93 overs with Anthony Close taking the honours with 3-98 from a marathon 35 overs.

Day two and rain had fallen overnight and during the morning but the pitch had been covered and play began on time with Henry Bensch and Lachie Watt taking the new ball in hand, as Peter Staude and Simon Close took guard.

Bensch gave up a single from the second ball of the day to Close but Staude was bowled with the next ball and the Eagles were off to a great start.

Michel Close joined his brother in the middle but Bensch and Watt refused to be knocked off their brilliant line and length and Bensch had wicket number two with the last ball of the seventh over when he found the edge of Michael Close’s bat.

From there though the top order collapsed with Bensch claiming a third, Anthony Close (zero), and Lachie Brown chiming in to grab both Will Staude (zero) and the prize wicket of Simon Close (11) as the Pigeons slumped to be 5-15 in the 19th over.

Noah Hildebrand (14) and Jack Beaton (13) added 17 for the seventh wicket, but the return of Bensch into the attack saw the Pigeons tail quickly mopped up as the youngster ended with the stunning figures of 12 overs, eight maidens, six wickets for six runs and the end was finalised with only 54 on the board.

Grampians def Casterton District

MINOR premiers, Grampians, also booked a spot in the big dance, but the Pumas certainly didn’t have their game against Casterton District all their own way on their home ground at Dunkeld Turf.

After winning the toss, Will Collins, chose to send the visitors into bat looking to put the Maroons under pressure with the ball.

The Casterton District top order hasn’t been in great form of late but they knuckled down against the in-form attack of the competition, as Stefan Burnell and Ryan Burgess took the new ball.

Oliver Foster (five) was the first to go with a faint inside edge through to Zac Burgess, which brought Carey Megaw to the wicket and the talented all-rounder was quickly into stride with some crisp shots around the ground.

He and Ben Holmes took the score along to 50 without any difficulty before Joe Sutherland was brought into the attack in the 17th over and he had immediate success, dismissing the opener for 12.

Megaw had been fluent in reaching 44 from 60 balls but a ball from Ryan Burgess held up slightly in the and he lobbed a leading edge to Ty Gilmore at mid on to have the Maroons at 3-69.

Rick Killey and Kane Forbes were now in the middle and looked at ease with the bowling despite the introduction of Harrison Wood.

The pair was heading to the tea break seemingly in command, but Wood and Josh Gordon bowled very well to dry up the runs with Wood getting a late wicket to see the Maroons go to the break at 4-107 with the match evenly poised.

Maybe there was something in the tea that the Casterton District players drank, but after the resumption they collapsed to be all out for only 122, as Wood ran through the order to claim 5-20.

The Maroons lost 7-15 either side of the break that handed the home side the momentum as the middle-bottom order failed to put any value on their wickets.

With a minimum of 24 overs left for the day, Collins and Sutherland took strike looking to build a solid foundation for the home side in the run chase.

Once again the wicket gave the new ball bowlers great assistance if they pitched it up and there were a number of deliveries that left the batsmen playing and missing.

Megaw grabbed the all-important first wicket when he delivered the perfect off cutter to Sutherland (six).

Zac Burgess took his place at the wicket and he lasted only 17 balls before Kaden Humphries had him edging to Kane Forbes at first slip as the Pumas slumped to be 2-33.

Casterton District was on top and Collins looked to Carl Joyce to stem the flow of wickets with the pair battling against an attack that could smell wickets.

They added 34 for the third wicket and seemed perfectly at ease and headed for stumps when, with an over to go before the end of play, Joyce failed to keep a ball from Rick Killey along the ground and Fletcher Bright grabbed the catch.

The Pumas ended day one at 3-73 still needing a further 50 runs to win.

Rain fell overnight and during the morning, and with the Under-14 semi-final being played on the same venue, the A grade wicket was getting damp.

By the time play began though the pitch was dry, and the Pumas looked to be odds-on to win easily.

Tom Polkinghorne and Collins took the overnight total from 73 to 101 and were seemingly on track to reel off the required runs, when Collins (52), who had just recently raised his bat to acknowledge the applause for the only half century of the match, was bowled by Megaw with another perfectly pitched off-cutter that found the gap between bat and pad.

Polkinghorne (18) and Wood (zero) followed their skipper back to the pavilion, as Killey grabbed two wickets in an over to see the home side at 6-111.

Josh Gordon (nine) and Ty Gilmore (15-not-out) saw the Pumas pass the required target but when Gordon was caught at the wicket by Oliver Foster from Humphries bowling the final four wickets fell quickly as Grampians posted 140 in reply.

Killey (4-43) and Humphries (4-6) shared the honours and the Maroons decided to bat again rather than concede the match.

The openers knocked off the 18 runs that separated the teams after the first innings before the tea break, but wickets fell steadily after the break.

A declaration finally came at 5.17pm, as Grampians required 74 runs to claim a rare outright victory. With a minimum of 18 overs with which to claim the 10 wickets required, the visitors battled hard but couldn’t grab more than one, as the Pumas finished on 1-47 when the two captains agreed to call a halt after only 12 overs