THE first of the grand finals have been run and won for cricket season, while other teams are finishing their home and away campaigns in style.
Gisborne District Cricket Association (GDCA)
Broadford will look to defend 260 with confidence next week in McIntyre Cup Firsts action after a productive day with the bat away from home in Woodend on Saturday.
Riley Nolan’s 26 and Jack Connell’s 35 helped set the tone for Broadford, but it was Gareth Sharp and Jake Zerella who anchored the innings with 57 runs apiece as they eventually made 259 off their 80 overs.
Thomas Boyer fell seven runs short of a century with 93, but it was his innings which helped propel Romsey to 290 against Macedon at Romsey Recreation Reserve.
Taylor Stevenson scored 45 runs and Chris Burkett added 40 as there were frequent contributions from the Romsey middle order.
The Johnstone Shield Firsts had a one-day weekend to determine the final order for the season, and it’s Wallan who took out the minor premiership after a fierce battle with East Sunbury at John McMahon Reserve.
Runs were hard to come by throughout the balance of the day, with the Magpies doing a great job in restricting East Sunbury to just 107 runs off 40 overs.
Scott O’Donnell led the way in taking 3/19 off eight overs.
Highlighting just how hard it was to score; it took Wallan 37 overs to chase down the target but they did so with four wickets to spare.
Hamish Mullavey-Clark anchored the Magpies’ chase, scoring an unbeaten 39 to help guide them to the minor premiership.
Kilmore needed a victory to stay in the race, but irrespective of their 35-run loss to Eastern Hill at the Kilmore Cricket Ground, Aintree’s victory against Diggers Rest rendered the game a dead rubber in the end.
Regardless, the Blues made a terrific start in restricting Eastern Hill to 3/30 in the early stages, but eventually, the Eagles started to get on top, and it was Brayden Speechley’s 36 runs which helped the Eagles make a defendable 9/155.
Elliot Frendo, Stuart Partridge and Ben Dawson took two wickets apiece for Kilmore.
In response, Kilmore were never able to recover from a slow start, with three ducks in the early stages restricting the Blues to 3/8, and they were 7/54 for one stage, before Cameron Bryant’s 23 and Marcus Davern’s 31 helped put the Blues back on track, before they were eventually bowled out for 120.
Fraser Lewis and Daniel O’Sullivan did all the damage in taking four wickets apiece for Eastern Hill.
In McIntyre Cup seconds, Romsey have finished their season in second place after accounting for Macedon by 55 runs at Tony Clarke Recreation Reserve, with Matthew Richardson scoring 69 runs and the duo of Chris Marienfeld and Jed Richardson taking three wickets each.
Broadford had no answer to Woodend, scoring just 84 runs in what was an 83-run defeat at Harley Hammond Reserve.
In the Johnstone Shield Seconds, Wallan have finished in second position, with Beau Fowler’s 56 and Russell Whittingham’s 54 guiding the Magpies to a 24-run win over East Sunbury at Greenhill Reserve.
Eastern Hill were too good for Kilmore, scoring a 53-run win at Kings Park Reserve on the back of Peter Speechley’s 50 and Hayden Szczykulski’s three wickets, while Darcy McNicholas scored 34 runs for Kilmore and Jake Bourke took four wickets in a losing effort.
Lancefield are the Jensen Shield premiers after a dramatic game against Riddell yielded a six-run victory.
The Tigers looked to be in desperate trouble when they fell to 4/17 in the early stages of the game, but Lachlan Mitchell’s 61 and Alan Sinclair’s 33 guided them out of trouble as they eventually made 9/169 off their 40 overs.
In response, Riddell looked to have things under control for a large majority of the innings, and guided by Hayden Castle’s 75, needed 16 off the final two overs to win.
But Harrison Lehner and Luke Malone’s tight bowling ensured Riddell would not get the runs needed, conceding five runs each off their final over apiece to get the Tigers home for a famous premiership victory.
Andrew Richardt took 2/30 to lead the way for the Tigers with the ball.
Unfortunately, they were denied a double in the Club Grade North grand final, with Gisborne scoring an 111-run win.
Seymour District Cricket Association (SDCA)
Tallarook have pinched top spot at the very last gasp from Seymour following the final round of play in the Seymour District Cricket Association.
Four wickets to Lachlan Watts, who did all the damage in the middle order, and three wickets to Samuel Manchester, who cleaned up the tail, helped Tallarook bowl Puckapunyal out for 79.
Joshua Rudge and Mitch Itter did the rest with the bat, with Rudge scoring 29 and Itter scoring 46 to help Tallarook take an easy victory with 15 overs gone, winning by 10 wickets.
Their cause was helped greatly by Yea scoring a three-wicket win over Seymour, a result which has left the latter in second at the conclusion of the home-and-away campaign.
Tristan Watson provided the most resistance for Seymour, scoring 30 runs, but none of the Seymour middle order could convert starts as they were bowled out for 138.
Lachlan Drummond, Braidon Horkings and Simon Van Duinen took two wickets each, but it was not enough as the Tigers won with nine balls and three wickets to spare.
Pyalong have secured fourth place with a comfortable 59-run win over Alexandra.
