Disappointing draw for Sharks in final over

A Grade

This week saw the A grade boys make the trip to Leongatha to take on the Imperials.
After losing the toss the Sharks were asked to have a field and despite some good early bowling from Simon Kirton and Shiran Rathnayake, the Imperials got off to a strong start and were 0-43 at the 10 over mark.
A fantastic run out off his own bowling from the boy wonder Rathnayake saw the Sharks get their first breakthrough with the second coming the very next ball leaving the score at 2 for 45.
Some good middle over bowling from Zac Brown and Clint Wilson saw the Sharks wrestle back some control and while the wickets remained sparse the run scoring slowed.
Charith Keerthisinghe came on and did his usual thing controlling the tempo of the game for the last 20 overs and was helped by an excellent second spell from Kirton who continued his impressive season.
With some strong fielding the Sharks were able to restrict the Imperials to 6 for 137 off their 40 overs with the wickets being shared amongst the bowlers.
After the break the Sharks lost opener Jarrod Black to a ball that stayed low but other opener Lochie Cleeland continued his impressive season and along with number 3 Eli Richards the two put on a 70 run stand looking in total control of the game.
Richards then chopped onto his stumps for a well-made 30 and from here the Sharks struggled.
The Imperials lifted in the field and with the ball and were able to take regular wickets with the remaining runs proving difficult to find and when Cleeland was dismissed for 56 a bit of tension started to set into the group.
After losing 6 for 29 it all came down to the last over with the Sharks requiring three runs to win with one wicket in hand.
After a well-played french cut from number 11 Zac Brown the Sharks looked home with the score tied and four balls remaining until a terrific one-handed catch from Imperials keeper Dimithri Perera saw the game concluded with the scores tied.
A bizarre finish in what proved to be a disappointing result for the Sharks.
Despite this the A1 boys remain second on the ladder and face Leongatha Town next week in what will be a top of the table clash.

B Grade – 3 wickets in 4 balls to 17-year-old Liam Dyson!

Phillip Island versed Wonthaggi Club at Cowes.
Phillip Island’s B grade team have revived their season with a narrow victory over Wonthaggi Club.
The Island were fortunate enough to bat first in very warm conditions.
B grade icon Andrew Finlayson was the pick of the batsman with an outstanding 57.
Finlayson was supported by teammates Shawcross, Womersley and Wright.
The hosts were 3/66 at drinks (20 overs).
Unfortunately the Island were unable to fully capitalise at the back end eventually bowled out in the 40th over for 130.
Caretaker skipper Dave Womersley decided to hand the new ball to the Sri Lankan recruit Ranasinghe (nickname TV).
The off spinner struck in his first over and was unlucky not to claim three or four wickets from his fantastic eight over spell.
TV finished up with figures of 1/26.
The game was in the balance throughout the run chase.
Tight bowling from Tom Niven and Pete Cleary kept the visitors honest.
The crucial moment came when 17-year-old leg-spin prodigy Liam Dayson claimed three wickets in four balls to leave the score at 8/98.
Wonthaggi refused to give up, pushing the score to 8/119 until a heroic effort from the injured Henry Shawcross claimed a caught and bowled.
The tail end looked primed to claim an impossible victory until the number 11 batsman skied a ball to Island keeper Finlayson off the bowling of Andrew Tolley, securing a five run win.
Phillip Island 130 (39.3 overs) A. Finlayson 57, H. Shawcross 16, M.Wright 13, T. Ranasinghe 10 def Wonthaggi Club 125 (38.5 overs) L.Dayson 4/22 (8 overs), T.Niven 2/14 (8 overs).

C1 cricket

C1 traveled to Outrim to take on the only other undefeated side, leaving the Island with barely a puff of breeze to arrive at Digger Park to Force 9 winds blowing across the ground.
Having lost the toss, the Sharks pups and veterans bowled first, Blake Young and Connor Epifano opened the bowling and kept the ball full and Connor got an early reward with a good catch from our skipper Dan McCausland.
Blake Young has really accepted the C1 mantra of full and straight and was unlucky not to snare one, but Connor picked up another one and after 10 overs had OMK 2-16.
The Skip and the pup took over in Dan McCausland and Heath Wommersley and they bowled really well and limited the scoring and D-Mac picked up another wicket and at the end of 20 overs on what was a very slow outfield OMK were 3-60.
Zac Walker and welcome back to Tyce Klevekamp kept the pressure on as OMK tried to up the scoring rate but wickets continued to fall with Zac getting two run out to Tarryn (Not out) Allan.
Andy O’Brien took the last over in that set. Licorice all sorts would be the best way to describe the over with one that never saw the cut surface, two that bounced five times and then six unplayable classic Bear McPhee leg spinners. 
The last 10 overs were going to be crucial and the Skipper took on the job with Connor, Tim Niven who picked up a crucial LBW and Blake, and did a great job restricting OMK to 163.
Connor was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 21.
Connor and Andy O’Brien opened up and got us off to a solid start before Connor got a pull-shot and a straight drive mixed up.
Andy, it would be fair to say was not making many friends out in the middle and was points up in both the verbal and batting stakes when Keating joined him after the demise of Tyce and McCausland.
They started to get the scoring moving and things in the field were going quite before Andy skied one on 37 and then OMK found their voice again with all sorts of advice as to the direction of the pavillion.
Heath joined Keats and his batting is starting to come along really well before one moved and caught an edge, Tarryn unfortunately got a straight one.
Keats then did what only could be described as some very ordinary calling ran Wado out by a quarter of the pitch and given they were sharing driving duties it was going to be long trip home.
Blake Young (16) batted really well, and they got to run a ball with five overs to go before Keats (52) then managed to run himself out by half a pitch mixing up ambition with ability.
Blake and Zac (11) hit the ball cleanly and tried to keep it going but the task became too much, and we fell short by 20 runs.
We know we can match it and look forward to the return match.

C2 cricket

Phillip Islands C2 side played host to Koonwarra blue side on Saturday.
The game was played whilst Beau Vernon was circling Newhaven on his 100 km ride.
An inspiring feat but not to the opposition bats as they crawled to 82 off 40 overs.
The pick of the bowling went to young James Lewis who bowled an excellent line and length and was rewarded with 2-8 off 8.
He has come a long way in a short time and we are looking forward to see how far he can improve.
We also welcomed young Will Peppard to join us and his brother Henry and they combined to give Will his first wicked caught behind by his brother.
The other highlight for the fielding team was a simple dropped catch by Kenter but unfortunately for Dave the ball cannoned into an area that all males fear and with Dave feeling slightly unwell his teammates saw the funny side of it but when the young female bat told him to ”toughen up Princess” his teammates lost it .the game took a while to restart.
We opened with Steve Burchill and John Manning and it didn’t take long to see Mr Manning back in the shed.
Woody Kenter limped to the crease and between them got the home side a win.
Steve 20 and Dave 53 retired hurt.
We finished 2 for 90 and pulled up stumps.
A good solid win and next week we take on the other Koonwarra side in a 20-20 format.

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