THE first senior premierships have been handed out in the Gisborne District Cricket Association for 2026, with Broadford in the thick of things.
Broadford took on warm favourite Malmsbury Green in the final of the Club Grade North competition, but made a mockery of that status by taking a comfortable 62 run win at the Malmsbury Sports Ground.
It was a day to remember for Broadford captain Aaron Culpin, who scored an unbeaten 52 to help guide Broadford to 6/154, before cutting his way through the Malmsbury middle order to take 4/36 in a clear best on ground performance, with Malmsbury Green bowled out for 92.
Martin Egan also contributed heavily with 3/15.
McINTYRE CUP
Meantime, in McIntyre Cup, Broadford and Wallan’s status in the competition is on the line next week, with Wallan needing a further 139 runs to stay up, while Broadford need six wickets.
Sikander Sharma picked a handy time to score 43, while Joshua Nolan added 30 as Broadford made 168.
Joshua Mullavey-Clark and Scott O’Donnell took three wickets each, while Hamish Mullavey-Clark and Steven Bell took two wickets apiece.
Matthew Clayton was aggressive early for Wallan as he made 15, but Taylor Shell changed the game with 2/1 off four overs to help leave Wallan 4/30 at the end of the day.
Romsey will need to chase 291 next week against Woodend.
Aaron Paterson and Louis Moor took three wickets apiece, but could not stop Marcus Stewart from scoring 100 as Woodend finished on 290.
JOHNSTONE SHIELD
Despite losing in Johnstone Shield, Kilmore will make the finals courtesy of Harkness’ 35-run win over East Sunbury.
Kilmore, for its part, lost by four wickets to Sunbury Kangaroos.
Dale Tassone scored 46 and Rhys Quinert 42 as the Blues made 143, but despite four bowlers taking wickets for the Blues, the Kangaroos were too strong in scoring 6/146 to finish third.
The Blues take on the undefeated Eastern Hill next week, who have its tails up after winning by 131 runs over Eynesbury.
Dean Fulco’s 89 single-handedly guided the Eagles to 8/198, before Benjamin Bryant took 4/13, Tim Rudd-Schmidt 3/3 and Nathan Fowler 3/35 as Eynesbury’s efforts was done in 24 overs, bowled for 67.
Lancefield’s first season in Johnstone Shield ended with a five-wicket defeat to Diggers Rest Bulla Village.
Lachlan Mitchell scored 44 and Mitch McLean scored 25 to help the Tigers score 149, but despite Andrew Richardt’s 3/30, Diggers Rest chased down the target to score 5/150.
LOWER GRADES
In McIntyre Cup Seconds, Wallan utilised a hattrick from Darby Bishop and a big innings from Bradley Regan to end its season on a positive note, defeating Broadford by eight wickets.
Broadford started strongly through good innings’ from Connor Stute (24), Cody Ball (27) and Samraat Sharma (66) but were reeled back in through Ben Funnell, who took 3/24, before Bishop’s hattrick late in the piece ensured Broadford would score 9/160 as part of his 3/25.
Regan then played a whirlwind innings, scoring 92 off 63 deliveries, combining with Troy Jeffs, who scored 32, to win easily, with Wallan scoring 2/164.
Romsey was no match for Woodend, losing by 63 runs.
Set 171 for victory, Matthew Hoyt performed strongly in scoring 56 runs, but he had no one else go with him as Romsey was bowled out for 107.
Earlier, Hoyt also took 2/27, while Chris Marienfeld took 2/29.
The highlight of the final round of Johnstone Shield was a dramatic tie between Eastern Hill and Eynesbury which allowed the minor premiership to go Eastern Hill’s way.
Batting first, it was Peter Speechley’s 46 which allowed Eastern Hill to set 6/164, before looking in great shape to have Eynesbury 4/22.
However, some good middle order hitting brought Eynesbury back into the game, and Eynesbury needed a two off the last ball to win, and one to tie.
Eynesbury scored a single, meaning it missed out on the minor premiership by just one point.
Kilmore finished its season on a positive note, defeating Sunbury Kangaroos by seven wickets.
Zac Osmond and Mathew Isles took two wickets apiece to help restrict Sunbury to 8/129, before Rohan Audehm scored 43 runs, and Travis Hede 31, to set the foundation for Kilmore to chase down the target easily, doing so in just 24.2 overs, scoring 3/131.
A tough season for Lancefield ended with a seven-wicket loss to Diggers Rest Bulla Village.
The Tigers had few winners batting first, with Josef Moro top-scoring with 17 in their 70, but despite Samuel Taylor’s 2/17, couldn’t make inroads with the ball, with Diggers’ finishing on 3/76.
Meantime, the Jensen Shield premierships went to Riddell and Melton South respectively.
