A GRADE
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Yarrawonga Mulwala Cricket Club’s Ben Welsh has joined the elite at the club after scoring 126 runs against the Benalla Bushrangers at the Benalla Gardens Oval.
Welsh’s century came from 76 balls which included 19 boundaries and finished in the 29th over with 126 runs from 89 balls including 24 boundaries.
Welsh batted from the second over and in 27 overs at the crease punished the Bushrangers to all parts of the ground.
Welsh now sits 9th on the highest A Grade batting scores with the 10th A Grade century at the club.
His score is the 30th highest across all grades at the Yarrawonga Mulwala Cricket Club; more importantly it was his highest career batting score.
YMCC Captain Reid Clarke won the toss, and after electing to bowl immediately had the Benalla Bushrangers on shaky legs with James Irvine claiming a wicket with the first ball of the game.
The McCabe brothers entered the bowling fray and in partnership took 4 for 22 off 16 overs, with Brock taking 3 for 14 and Matt 1 for 8.
Such was the dominance of the YMCC bowlers, the Bushrangers took 22 overs to score 30 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.
A 32-run partnership between Brodie and Hoysted took 14 overs and eventually Benalla finished at 6 for 77 off their 40 over allotment. Alongside the McCabe brothers, James Irvine took 2 for 18 off 7 overs to cover the 6 dismissals.
Angus McMillan took 0 for 10 off 7 overs; Corey McIntosh 0 for 20 off 7 overs and Matt Casey 0 for 6 off 3 overs.
With the bat the YMCC looked to make quick runs and trouble struck with openers Casey and Kyle Archibald back in the sheds with the score on 6.
Ben Welsh and Brock McCabe joined forces and contributed a 39 run partnership with Welsh scoring 35 and McCabe dismissed for 10. Welsh was then joined by Harry Wheeler and added 37 for the partnership with Wheeler dismissed for 9 and Welsh adding a further 24 to his tally to pass 50.
Zac Fraser in his third A Grade game, joined Welsh and the fireworks continued with Welsh launching boundaries at will and Fraser lethal on anything loose.
In an 88-run partnership, Welsh scored 67 runs, while Fraser scored 20.
Welsh was dismissed for 126 in the 29th over and Fraser was out for 25 in the 30th over; with YMCC Captain Reid Clarke calling an end to the match after Frasers dismissal and the Yarrawonga Mulwala team had won by 99 runs and four wickets in hand.
The victory now sees the YMCC lead the combined ladder at the Christmas/ New Year break and will recommence on Saturday January 9 against Rovers United Bruck at the Stan Hargreaves Oval in Yarrawonga.
This will double up with a clash against City Colts at the Stan Hargreaves Oval in Yarrawonga on Sunday, January 10.
B Grade
Saturday saw the YMCC B Grade travel to South Wangaratta to take on Rovers United Bruck.
After very little cricket over the past four weeks, with two teams forfeiting to YMCC and a wash out 15 overs into another game, the Lakers were a little rusty to start with.
Having won the toss Captain Gary Browning elected to bowl against the very experienced Rovers Bruck combination.
The opening bowlers in Reece Norman and Tom Elliott took a little to get their radar going but Norman rattled the stumps in his second over and things were seemingly back on track at 1/18. RUBCC consolidated and even though the Lakers bowlers were bowling well, the wickets weren’t falling.
Captain Browning took the ball and true to form put great pressure on the batsmen with good line and length and was justly rewarded to break the second wicket partnership. RUBCC 2/113.
Lach Elliott was then introduced to the attack and started the wickets falling. Lach finishing with 3/25 from 5 overs to have the best figures of the innings.
Some lusty hitting from the RUBCC bats in the final couple of overs saw their total finish a bit larger than the Lakers were expecting at 6/175.
Special mention to TJ Docking playing his first game of senior cricket, when asked to bowl took everything in his stride and bowled very well unlucky not to get a wicket.
A large target for the Lakers and things didn’t start well losing a couple of early wickets to be 2/18. Lach Elliott and Jobe Fraser steadied the Lakers with a 60 run partnership, Lach finishing with 44 and Jobe 22.
Solid contributions from Gary Browning 19 and Tom Elliott 17 saw the Lakers eating away at the tally and giving themselves every chance to make the required runs.
The highlight of the innings was that of young Ben Kennedy coming to the crease with 65 runs needed to win and giving it a good crack.
He gave his all and made a career best 32 not out from 32 balls and gave the Lakers a glimmer of hope.
But the total was just too big for the young Lakers. Falling 12 runs short, some good lessons were learnt from the game and shows the young Lakers aren’t too far away.
The Christmas break is now upon us and B Grade return to Mulwala on January 9.
C Grade
Yarrawonga Mulwala C Grade have continued their dominance with an 83-run victory against Gapsted at Victoria Park 2, Yarrawonga. Gapsted won the toss and sent Yarrawonga into bat.
With 13 runs on the board, Peter Brear was dismissed for 0 and Jett Peters was soon joined at the crease by Steve Lappin.
The pair added a 74-run partnership before Peters was out for 36 including five boundaries.
Rod Peters joined Lappin and added 18 before Rod Peters was out for 9.
Lappin continued his dominance of the attack in a partnership of 71 with Ben Pickering dismissed for 38 and then a 39-run partnership with Sean Mclarty scoring 10.
Lappin brought up another century finishing 104 being dismissed in the final over as Yarrawonga Mulwala amassed 6 for 230 from their 36 over allotment.
The YMCC didn’t take long to do damage with the ball with Jyda House claiming the opening two wickets with just 20 runs on the Gapsted total.
To Gapsted’s credit they tried to score and although they lost 7 wickets, they were able to bat out their overs to finish with 147 runs. House finished with 3 for 23 from his 8 overs.
Ageless legend Craig Frauenfelder took 3 for 28 from 8 overs and Austin Willett 1 for 34 off 8 overs and newcomer to the club Jaydee Pujari claimed his first wicket to finish with 1 for 16 off 3 overs.
C Grade begin next year on January 9 taking on Beechworth at Baarmutha Park Turf wicket in Beechworth.