After a month of indifferent weather, the skies cleared for an afternoon of hotly contested cricket with Mt Evelyn’s six teams having a mixed bag of results.
The Community Bank – Mt Evelyn 1st XI returned to the winners list courtesy of a well rounded performance with both bat and ball against Croydon North. The Mounters invited the Knights to bat first and a good old fashioned arm wrestle would ensue. Mt Evelyn speedsters Bohdie Jones and Caleb Hrabe have been finding their rhythm in recent weeks and this continued early in the contest. Jones and Hrabe would take early wickets, but the visitors would steady through a persistent partnership between Zac Gates and Chris Noy.
The pair would see the Knights through to the drinks break and they looked set to post a competitive total. Noy would be the mainstay of the innings contributing a half century, but the visitors just couldn’t ramp up the run rate against some disciplined Mt Evelyn bowling, and wickets would fall regularly in the run home as the total needed significant boosting. Darcy Fraser would be the chief destroyer with 3/34 as the innings would crawl to 9/151 after the allotted 40 overs.
Jesse Fraser would look to blast the Mounters out of their top order woes with a boundary laden blitz and the start of the chase. Daniel Giblin and Jake Blackwell would be early victims, but Fraser’s attack would give the innings the ideal boost. Within sight of a deserved half century, Fraser would lose his wicket on 46, and a stuttering batting line up were again in a delicate position at 3/67. After the unfortunate run out of Daniel Fraser, captain Troy Hancock would join his lieutenant Campbell Mole at the crease and the pair would show their leadership as they would guide their team through a tricky period, then dominate their way to the total. Mole would spend some valuable time at the wicket posting a match winning unbeaten innings of 61 avoiding any late order wobbles seeing the team through to the total with nine overs in the bank. With the team’s season sitting on a knife’s edge, this victory would give the team a much needed morale boost.
The Professionals Outer East 2nd XI travelled to East Ringwood in a key contest for ladder positions as positions in the top four have become tight approaching the mid season break. Mt Evelyn would bat first and would compile a competitive score of 6/215 off their 40 overs. The hero of the innings would be Jamie Shaw who would post his maiden century for the club batting deep into the innings to help guide his to the eventual total. Shaw would combine a patient approach to the bowling with some brilliant stroke play littered with 14 fours and 4 sixes capitalising on any bowling that strayed.
East Ringwood’s response would be unflappable. Right from the first over, the required run rate would remain on course to victory. Adding to the fact was the Kangaroos would keep wickets intact, making for a chase that would go deep into the day without any panic. The Mounters just couldn’t take consecutive wickets, or contain the run rate, to apply enough pressure on their hosts. Although it took East Ringwood until the penultimate over to pass the score, they did it with relative ease. Jamie Shaw would be the pick of the bowlers with economical figures of 1/23 off his eight overs, whilst Brad Jones would be the wicket taker with 2/47.
The Rhead Group 3rd XI would travel to Heatherdale and would come across some tough opposition. Heatherdale would ask the Mounters to bat first and had the visitors under the pump for the entirety of their innings. Brad Westaway would hold the innings together at the top of the innings with a well made half century, but he wouldn’t have much help at the other end as regular wickets would keep the run rate in check and restricted the the visitors in their ability to boost the total. The Mounters would bat out their overs, but the disciplined Heatherdale attack would keep the scoring in check as the visitors could only put together a score of 9/132.
Early wickets would be the key for the Mounters, and Flynn Orchard and Daniel Meades would do their best to get the team back on the track to victory reducing the home side to 3/45 and have the visitors a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately, that would be where the resistance ended as chasing a low total allowed the home side to absorb the pressure, regain composure, then push towards victory. In the end, Heatherdale would pass the total with the loss of just four wickets and plenty of overs in hand.
Montrose would host the Hop Hen Brewing 4th XI and a classic match between two closely matched teams would make for an exciting contest. Montrose would bat first and for most part, the Mounters would keep things in check courtesy of young guns Caleb Doyle (3/37) and Jake Rigg (3/23) restricting the Wolves to 9/138.
The Mt Evelyn chase couldn’t have got off to a worse start as they quickly fell to 3/2, then 5/19 to make the pursuit of victory nigh on impossible. When the chase looked a forlorn task, the Mounters lower order would muster some resistance to breathe life into the contest. Jake Rigg would support his captain Chris Doyle, and their initial partnership would help the innings gather momentum upon which the Mounters would threaten victory from the jaws of defeat. Mike Leonard and Mason Jones would keep the scoreboard ticking over, however the damage had been done earlier and the resistance would fall 11 runs from the target. A remarkable effort considering their earlier predicament.
The Mt Evelyn 5th XI continued their unbeaten run at home to Montrose. The Mounters would bat first on the ‘Postage Stamp’ and would steadily go about their business. Useful knocks from Ryan Doyle (26) and Alastair Churchill (33) would ensure the innings would get the best footing possible, however regular wickets would have the innings precariously poised at 5/127, and some risk that the early work would go unrewarded. Explosive knocks from Jason Dunstone (36), Craig Steele (55 not out) and Paul Flavel (25 not out) would ensure that not only would the innings see out the allotted overs, but it would flourish to an impressive score of 7/233.
Montrose struggled to keep pace with the chase despite a brutal unbeaten century to Kane Rattray Robert. Up and coming star, Harry Churchill would be the star with the ball taking 4/21, whilst Steele would complete a great all round game with 3/38, and the Mt Evelyn bowlers would hold their nerve to lead their team to a 41 run victory.
The Flowtec 6th XI looked short of a gallop as an interrupted season looked to have stifled their consistency as they once again lowered their colours to North Ringwood. Once again, North Ringwood would ask the Mounters to bat first and the home side could not gain any momentum of significance to post a defendable total. Ethan Frid would do his best to keep things together early, whilst Mark Kuhne and Braidyn Doyle would spend time at the wicket, but disciplined bowling from the Bulls’ youngsters didn’t let them get off the leash. Captain Chris Anderson (28 not out) would put some respectability to the scoreboard with some late runs, but the innings would be wrapped up for a disappointing score of 86.
North Ringwood would have little trouble chasing the score as Matthew Bellizia’s brisk half century made short work of the total. Mt Evelyn would go empty handed on a grim day as Jett Gereg and Casey Giblin would scoop up their first senior wickets late in the game.
