The A Grade Lakers made their way to Wangaratta for yet another top of the table clash last weekend. This time against the second placed Rovers United Bruck (RUB).
The temperature was in the mid-30s as the warmups began.
The wicket was hard with some green and brown grass, and the outfield was on the slower side.
Coach Archibald spoke to his players in the warmup and acknowledged the return of batsmen Adam Dodd and Zach Moore.
RUB won the toss and chose to bat. Without fast opening bowler James Irvine, the Lakers knew they needed to bowl patiently in the hot conditions.
Left armer Angus McMillan fresh from his 11 maidens in a row and right armer Angus Heslin opened the bowling for the Lakers.
Heslin struck first in the third over of the day and sent the bails flying - clean bowling the RUB opener. RUB 1/3.
In the tenth over of the day, McMillan bowled a delivery just short of a length to remove the other opener caught behind by a diving Reid Clarke.
A great catch and RUB were 2/7.
With the Lakers turning up the heat, RUB dug in and batted patiently while the Lakers continued to bowl accurately.
Brock McCabe soon came in to the attack to replace McMillan from the Evans Street end.
In Brock’s second over, the batsman leaned back for a cut shot and nicked off to Clarke behind the stumps. RUB 3/21 from 24 overs.
Brock toiled away and restricted the runs and had his second wicket in the 34th over. Caught again by Clarke - this time a high ball caught 10 paces over to his left. RUB 4/37 from 34 overs.
Brock showed great patience and continued to bowl accurately. In the 48th over Brock clipped the bails with a straighter delivery - bowled. RUB 5/69.
The Lakers powered through the overs in the heat and knew they needed to keep the energy levels up in the field as the job was only half done.
In the 49th over, a ball went gently back over the bowler Matt McCabe’s head straight to Zach Moore.
The batsman had a mix up mid pitch and Moore heard the call to throw to the keepers end. Clarke took the bails off - run out by a foot. RUB 6/70.
Matt McCabe was involved in another run out just an over later. McCabe was resting at mid-off, gathered a drive along the ground and directly hit the stumps at the non-strikers. RUB 7/72.
Matt McCabe took the next three wickets to complete his second spell. The first caught behind by Clarke, the second caught McMillan at cover point and the third caught Matt Knight at first slip.
RUB finishing 10/108 from 63.2 overs. No extras were recorded by the scorers.
The Lakers faced 8 overs at the end of the day with Clarke and Moore opening the batting.
Both Moore and Clarke saw out some fiery bowling to reach stumps 0-11.
The Lakers requiring 98 runs for victory next Saturday.
Overall, the bowlers bowled with discipline and patience. McMillan and Heslin lead from the front while the McCabe brothers bowled long spells and consistently bothered the batsmen.
Four accurate overs from Knight also put the squeeze on RUB.
The bowlers finished with the following figures;
Heslin - 10 overs, 3 maidens, 1 for 15.
McMillan - 15 overs, 5 maidens, 1 wicket for 21 runs.
Brock McCabe - 17 overs, 3 maidens, 3 wickets for 33 runs.
Matt McCabe - 17.2 overs, 5 maidens, 3 wickets for 29.
Knight - 4 overs for 10 runs.
Clarke took 4 catches with the gloves, McMillan and Knight took one catch each while Matt McCabe and Zach Moore had one run out each.
Catch you all next week from Rovers Ground on Saturday at 1pm.
Kreeck anchor, Hunter heavy hitter and Dishy demolition
City Colts 2/25 v Yarrawonga Mulwala 10/226.
The third placed A Reserve Lakers took a trip to Wangaratta to play against the 6th placed City Colts on a warm and sunny Saturday.
An important match for the Lakers as they head into the final rounds of the year and look to secure a finals spot on the ladder.
The Lakers won the toss and chose to bat. A decision that paid dividends. Fraser Smart and Ollie Cope opened the batting.
Smart smashed three fours and was caught for 19 while Cope was caught for 12.
Young speedster Van Kreeck batted at number three for the Lakers and played an impressive knock. Kreeck patiently anchored the innings.
O’Brien was out for 1 while captain Andrew Dishot came to the crease and formed a partnership with Kreeck to run up the Lakers score.
Kreeck made a fine 44 while Dishot smacked three fours and a six before he was run out for 34. Brendan ‘fine wine’ Hill joined O’Brien on the scorecard tally.
Premiership Pigeon Bailey ‘Basil’ Frauenfelder didn’t trouble the scorers but his brother Hunter kept them very busy. Smashing five fours and a six for 41 off 48 deliveries to push the Lakers over 200.
Cameos from Aneeque Azam, Tom Lovell and Ollie Connell pushed the score to 10/226 from 55 overs. City Colts bowled a surprising 51 extras.
With 9 overs left in the day, the Lakers took to the field. Basil Frauenfelder and Dishy’ Dishot got the breakthroughs.
Finishing the day with Colts 2/25 from 9 overs. Leaving 8 wickets for victory this coming Saturday.
B Grade lose thriller
Milawa 9/190 def Yarrawonga Mulwala 7/173.
The B Grade Lakers travelled to Milawa to play the second placed side. Upon arrival the well mowed but incredibly thick outfield and short boundaries were noticed.
Losing the toss and asked to bat, the Lakers lost an early wicket in Jamison for a duck bringing Buerckner to the crease to bat with season leading run scorer Hargreaves.
They got down to work punishing the short ball and taking advantage of the short boundaries reaching 55 until the first drinks break.
A change of bowlers bowling full and at the stumps slowed the runs and Hargreaves and Buerckner both fell trying to move the game along.
Veteran Shaun Giblett and the talented Geoff Montgomery batted well with Giblett (56) unleashing all the shots after a hamstring strain.
Montgomery 22 and some huge sixes by the lower order from Lach Phillips (20) pushed the score up to a defendable 173.
Early wickets to Browning started the defence well and Milawa were in trouble at 4/50 at drinks.
Hargreaves bowled his 8 overs for a miserly 1/20. The bowlers swapped regularly searching for another breakthrough all to no avail.
Milawa starting to take advantage of the short boundary. Allan made 77 off 69 balls but when he was dismissed by a well flighted off spinner from Docking the Lakers were in the box seat with Milawa 8-123 still requiring 50.
Unfortunately, Milawa’s number 10 batsman Graham with nothing to lose teed off smacking 49 off 26 balls to win the game in the last over.
Under 16s run chase ahead
Yarrawonga Mulwala v Benalla Bushrangers 4/236.
A long day at the office on Friday afternoon for the junior Lakers.
A warm afternoon saw the Lakers lose the toss and bowl against Benalla at Stan Hargreaves Oval - Vic Park.
A good size crowd was in attendance and swelled as the game went on.
Benalla openers punished the loose deliveries early and took advantage of the fast outfield.
With the score rapidly increasing,g the Lakers desperately needed a wicket.
Young Lucas ‘Parra’ Eales came to the crease and bowled his seamers with conviction.
‘Parra’ got the breakthrough with a straight ball that cartwheeled middle stump from the ground.
Benalla continued to apply the pressure and got the score above 150 before Jace Gove took a wicket bowled.
From then on, it was all Benalla until the final over when young Archie Purtle got a run out.
Benalla finishing 3/236 from their 40 overs.
A big run chase ahead for the junior Lakers next week - go well boys.
Under 14s
Yarrawonga Mulwala 10/69 v Beechworth Wanderers 4/27.
Rams have big away win.
City Colts 5/44 def by Yarrawonga Mulwala Rams 3/107.
The Under 12 Rams played beautifully to come away with a convincing win against City Colts White.
Losing the toss, the young Rams were sent in to bat.
After the early loss of Jordan Knight, Eamon Pickering and Hugo Bott set about building a solid partnership, and that they did.
Pickering retired with 20 from 15 deliveries and many more of the Rams batsman made fine contributions.
Hugo Bott, Mitch Purtle, Lachie Brown, George Kennedy Zaine Rickhuss and Billy Vagg all retired playing an array of fine shots and running well between the wickets.
The Rams finished with a total of 3/107 off their allocated 20 overs.
The Rams bowling was exceptionally tight and consistent. As such the City Colts were contained to 5 for 44 off 20 overs.
Jordan Knight led the way with 1/0 off his two overs, Mitch Purtle, Lachie Brown, Zaine Rickhuss all followed up taking 1/3 off their two over spell.
Eamon Pickering showed his all-round skills with a direct hit runout.
The boys are looking forward to their final home game of the season this weekend.
Bulls continue to charge
The under 12 Yarrawonga/Mulwala Bulls continued their winning streak accounting for Rovers United on Saturday at Stan Hargreaves Oval.
The Bulls won the toss and decided to bat on what was a perfect Summer’s day.
There was a strong contribution from all batters. Byron Dodd was the standout producing a swashbuckling 36 from his 15 balls, which included boundaries from his first four balls faced!
Dodd was well supported by birthday boy Michael Smith (7 retired), Isaac McLarty (14 retired), Kirsty Plevnik (9 retired), Benji Wollington (14 retired), Finn O’Brien (16 retired) and Hudson Hall (12 not out).
In total the Bulls were able to amass 135. With the temperature starting to rise it was going to take a concerted bowling effort to defend their strong total.
Wickets fell at regular intervals and the Bulls had the opposition on the ropes at 7-15.
Hudson Hall (1 wicket), Benji Wollington (1 wicket), Kirsty Plevnik (2 wickets in the one over) were the wicket takers.
Some great work in the field saw a total of 3 run outs.
After the drinks break Rovers formed some strong partnerships and pushed the score to 65 at the close of their 20 overs.
They did this without losing another wicket, which was a great effort.
There are only two rounds left in the home and away season, with both games against top four teams.
This should be the perfect preparation leading into the pointy end of the season.
CMCU Cup
Kyle ‘Travis Pastrana’ Archibald goes whack
The annual Central Murray Credit Union Cup returned on Thursday night in front of a bumper crowd at Stan Hargreaves Oval - Victoria Park.
Over 150 people were in attendance to enjoy the T20 game, dinner and cold beverages whole the Lakers pulled out the blue colours and Barooga the maroon.
The Lakers won the toss on a warm and windy afternoon that created a hard and bouncy wicket with a green carpet-like outfield.
Matt McCabe and Kyle Archibald opened the batting with McCabe caught on the boundary looking to send one over the clubrooms at mid-wicket.
Reid ‘disco’ Clarke had the music pumping between balls and overs to keep the crowd entertained.
Matt Casey came to the crease and formed a strong partnership with Archibald. Both batsmen run quick singles and twos while regularly hitting the pickets top.
Casey was caught in the gully for an entertaining 30 while Archibald pressed on with Zach Moore.
Moore picked up the ball early and took control of the game with Archibald. Pushing the score over 100.
Archibald made his 50 but was out not long after in the final over.
Ben McDonald came to the crease and rotated the strike while Moore squeezed all he could from the final over before falling LBW on the final ball.
The Lakers finishing 3/118. After a quick changeover Angus Heslin and McMillan opened the bowling taking a wicket each early in the match.
Matt Wollington was a panther in the field as usual - cutting off many runs through the covers and at point.
Tom Lovell and Van Kreeck chased the ball in the field with aggression putting the batsmen under pressure and cutting off extra runs.
Eventually, the teams fielding pressure led to a ball being guided to McDonald at gully which resulted in a direct hit run out at the keeper’s end.
Brock McCabe bowled accurately and picked up a couple of wickets, while speedsters Van Kreeck and Matt McCabe all bowled valuable middle innings overs for the Lakers to restrict Barooga.
McMillan returned to close out the game and picked up another wicket caught McDonald at gully.
Barooga finished 6/88 from their overs. Captain Coach Kyle Archibald won the medal for best player for his fine knock.
Overall, it was an entertaining match and put on a show for the crowd. A big thank you to Barooga for their efforts and coming across for the match.
Another big thank you to the Central Murray Credit Union for their support of the two clubs and the community.
Also, Wally Brear and Lee Fraser for umpiring the match and the team in the kitchen for the awesome dinner.
After the CMCU Cup match, the Lakers very own Geoff ‘Jimmy’ Anderson presented his recently purchased cricket gear to TJ Docking.
Geoff spoke of TJ’s emerging talent and passion for the game.
“I was so proud to give TJ my gear, I know it’s going to a future star of a great club who welcomed me into their nest,” Geoff said.
Geoff toured England last year as part of the senior Ashes tour representing Australia.
Geoff not only captained the side, played on the hallowed Lords, turf, but made a ton during the tour too.
“Firstly, I would like to thank the Yarrawonga Mulwala Lakers Cricket Club, Reid Clarke, Gary Athanitis, Terry Brear, Dennis ‘Pickles’ Phibbs, president Wally (Glenn Brear) and Tracie Anderson Ford (my beautiful wife) who has put up with a lifetime watching me play and achieving my goal to represent my state firstly and then my country,” Geoff said.
“To the lovely ladies who served great meals, Thursday nights and behind the bar. This is the best club, so family orientated, so I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
TJ is an up-and-coming middle order batsman and off spinner who loves his cricket stats.
TJ is often seen in the nets until sunset on Thursdays after training and on game day - even when he plays away games across the north east.
Well done Geoff, what an awesome gesture!