It was a welcome return to junior and senior cricket last week, after the long Covid lockdown. Players and officials at the Phillip Island Cricket Club are pictured at a training session last week, preparing for a full complement of matches on Saturday. Back Row from left are Peter Spence (Junior Co-ordinator) Lee Fuller (Bowling Coach) and junior players Prish Soni, Heath Womersley, Tom Niven, Blake Young, James Lewis, Kohen Beaumont and Carl Muscat (Specialist Coach and Club Vice President). Front Row from left are Dave Womersley (Junior Co-ordinator) and players Zac Walker, Henry Peppard, Max Arceo, Ollie Hibbert and Tim Niven.
A Grade cricket report
After a long off season, it was time for cricket to resume at Cowes for the island boys and after a solid pre-season there was optimism throughout the group.
Round 1 saw Inverloch make the trip across the bridge on a cold but dry Saturday afternoon.
After winning the toss Phillip Island had a bat, losing the first wicket of Jarrod Black for 7.
First drop Eli Richards came to the crease and formed a solid partnership with other opening batsmen Lochie Cleeland.
The two put on 50 before Richards was dismissed caught behind, bringing Shiran Rathnayake to the crease who batted and ran well for a run a ball 28.
When Cleeland was dismissed after a classy 53 the wheels fell off for the Sharks losing 7 for 9 before some lower order hitting from Henry Shawcross dragged the total to a defendable 148.
After the break the Inverloch openers came out with guns blazing and put on 63 for the first wicket in good time.
A change to spin from both ends seemed to do the trick for the Sharks with the Sri-Lankan duo of Rathnayake and Charith Keerthisinghe halting all the momentum the Stingrays had built, allowing the
Island to apply pressure from both ends.
From here the game swung the Island’s way taking the final 8 wickets for just 19 runs to knock over Inverloch for 120 with superb bowling efforts from Simon Kirton (7 overs, 2 for 23) and Geoff Odgers (6 overs, 2 for 16).
The star of the day however was Keerthisinghe as it so often is with the champ, finishing with 4 for 15 off his 7 overs spinning the Sharks to a gutsy win.
Next week we go to Outrim to try for an away win that has eluded the A Grade boys for far too long.
Go Sharks.
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