By Ronen Erulkar
With another weekend of cricket complete, the home and away season came to a close for Lilydale Cricket Club’s senior teams, a number of the junior teams, and the junior blasters program.
On Friday night, the U12-4 team played Chirnside Park. Lilydale bowled first and managed to restrict the opposition to 126 all out, with the wickets being evenly shared around. In reply, we could only manage 70 runs, with the openers James Cook (28) and Aneesh Sriram (21) top scoring. A win next week could see the team play finals.
The U18 team batted first in a two day game against Glen Waverley and managed to score 161 all out. Birra Whymann-Coombes top scored with 50. In reply, Glen Waverley is 1/16 overnight.
On Saturday morning, the U16-3 team made 8-216 batting first against Mooroolbark. The runs were evenly spread with Bryn Ballah (36), Luke Green (32), Lachlan McCall (26) and Braeden Anthony-Digby (26) contributing towards the total. The match will resume next week with a win to cement a finals spot.
Come Saturday afternoon, Lilydale’s First XI took on top side North Ringwood with a home final at stake next weekend. Losing the toss they were sent in to bat, and managed to compile 9/187 from our 40 overs, with Brenton Pearce (43), Rhys Smith (32) and Bailey Humphrey (26) the main contributors. In reply, the game went deep but they weren’t able to take the win, North Ringwood passing 7 wickets down with a few overs to spare. Shifran Muthalif (2/33) and Daniel Thompson (2/39) each took 2 wickets. The Falcons will now play North Ringwood again next week with a double chance and opportunity to win straight through to a grand final.
The Second XI needed to win and results go Lilydale’s way to make finals. Taking on Healesville, the team restricted them to 6/197, with Nick Hunter (2/24) and Connor Smith (2/53) the main contributors. In reply, we fell 17 runs short on 9/180, with Mickey Goodlet (70) and Rhys Starr (56) putting together the only partnership of the game. This draws the season to a close and Lilydale be looking to come back stronger next season.
The Third XI had a tough final weekend of the season, being bowled out for 91 against Kilsyth. Trent Davison was the mainstay with 44. Kilsyth passed us 3 wickets down for an easy victory, with us finishing 7th on the ladder some end of season and plenty of room for improvement next season.
The Fourth XI had a tough loss against Wonga Park however have secured a finals berth next weekend. Batting first, we compiled 9/171, with captain Daniel Barker (67) and Steve Oxley (25) the main scorers. In reply, Wonga Park passed us for the loss of 5 wickets, with Daniel Barker (2/11) and James Ivan (2/23) contributing with the ball. Next week we will play top side for a chance to play off in a grand final the following weekend.
Our Fifth XI took on Templeton in what would be their last game for the season. Batting first, we were bowled out for 147, with Angus Smith (50*) and Steve Smith (40) the top scorers. In reply, Templeton made light work of our total, passing us for the loss of 1 wicket. Come end of season, we have finished 7th on the ladder with a bit of work to do next year.
The Sixth XI had a fantastic victory against St Andrews to cement a spot in the finals. Bowling first, we restricted the opposition to 3/193 from their allocated overs. Anthony Cliff (2/33) was the pick of the bowlers. In reply, we chased the total down, finishing 4/194. Anthony Cliff (50*), Lachlan McCall (42) and Raju Narayan (39) were the top scorers. Next week we will play the top side in the semi final.
With three senior teams and possibly two junior teams in finals (to be confirmed next week), this is a fantastic result for the club and we look forward to seeing some great success in March.
