By Les Hutchings
Kilsyth Third XI played Yarra Junction Second XI at Seville Reserve, North Oval in the John Springett Shield Grand Final (Premier 2 Section). Kilsyth won the toss on Saturday and elected to bat with the temperature reaching a top of 33c at Seville.
The Redbacks lost their first wicket with the score on 17 after 6.1 overs (caught behind by Rylan Bomford, bowled Jordan Poynton). Another quick wicket in the next over (lbw bowled Charlie Young), saw Kilsyth now 2/18 off 7.4 overs. Then, a third-wicket partnership of 44 between opener Anthony Cook and Mark Unternahrer steadied the situation. However, in the 25th over, Cook was caught at backward square leg by Tyler Reed off the bowling of spinner Anthony Davis for a well-made 36 off 63 balls (4 fours). At that stage, Kilsyth were 3/62 with Unternahrer batting well on 19 not out. By teatime, the Redbacks had progressed to 3/86 off 42 overs with Unternahrer on 32 not out and Andrew Woolhouse 8 not out.
After the break, the score advanced to 94 in the 46th over when the fourth wicket fell, Woolhouse lbw to Davis for 13 off 63 balls (1 four). Kilsyth then lost a clump of wickets, 5/105, 6/105, 7/106 and 8/106, including Mark Unternahrer, who had batted very well for 45 off 137 balls (7 fours), before being bowled by Jordan Poynton, who took two wickets off consecutive balls to be on a hat-trick. Mark Wells and Trent Potter put on 16 for the ninth wicket before Wells was caught behind off the bowling of Anthony Davis for 14 off 19 balls (2 fours). Kilsyth were now 9/122 and then all out for 122 off 58.1 overs in a disappointing batting performance. The Redbacks lost their last 7 wickets for only 26 runs. For Yarra Junction, the wicket takers were Jordan Poynton, 5/56 off 18.2 overs (4 maidens), Anthony Davis 4/30 off 19 overs (4 maidens), and Charlie Young 1/7 off 4 overs (1 maiden). Their other bowlers also bowled well with Tyler Reed yielding only 16 runs off his 9 overs (2 maidens), Captain Glen Poynton 0/2 off 6 overs (4 maidens), and Jaiden Leiver 0/3 off 2 overs. Wicketkeeper Rylan Bomford took three good catches.
Yarra Junction had to bat 21 overs until stumps and after being 4/18 off the first 13 overs, finished on 4/29. Opening bowlers Dylan Smith, 3/12 off 8 overs (3 maidens), and Max Wills 1/4 off 5 overs (2 maidens), did the damage. The other bowlers used were Mark Unternahrer, 0/2 off 3 overs (2 maidens), Justin Smith 0/2 off 3 overs (2 maidens), and Matthew Burgess 0/2 off 2 overs (1 maiden). There were three excellent catches taken, giving good support to the bowlers. Firstly, Dylan Smith took a brilliant diving catch at square leg, Captain Robert Hutchings then snared a running catch at wide mid-off and wicketkeeper Anthony Cook took a nice catch behind the stumps. With rain overnight and in the morning, the match did not get underway until 2.03pm on Sunday afternoon and was called off for the day at 3.20pm due to the incessant rain. Resuming at 4/29, Yarra Junction progressed to 6/61 when stumps were drawn on Day 2 after an additional 24.2 overs were bowled. The first batsman out was Jordan Poynton, caught behind by Anthony Cook off the bowling of Mark Wells for 13 off 61 balls with the score then 5/46. It soon became 6/52 when Jaiden Lever was caught by Russell Hutchings at cover off Dylan Smith’s bowling for 16 off 99 balls (1 four). For Kilsyth, the main bowlers on Day 2 were Dylan Smith, who, to that point, had captured 4/20 off 20 overs (9 maidens), and Mark Wells 1/5 off 9.2 consecutive overs. The match will continue next Saturday.
The District 1 C Grade Fourth XI Grand Final against Chirnside Park Fourth XI was cancelled on Saturday due to the RDCA’s heat policy, and abandoned on Sunday without a ball being bowled due to the wet weather. Thus, the D. J. Strachan Shield Grand Final will be played next weekend on Saturday and Sunday (reserve days).
