A cracker of a match

By Kath Gannaway
AFTER competing in the last two Strachan Shield grand finals, one would expect the Round 4 clash between Warburton Millgrove and Seville to be a cracker – and that’s how it’s shaping to be after the first day’s play.
Seville battled gamely all day, and at 4/80 the innings could’ve gone anywhere. A solid 59 from John Aumann pushed the score to a respectable 191. If last year’s Grand Final is anything to go by, the Burras would have to improve if they are to get the points in this clash, but they certainly have the batting line-up disciplined enough to chase down that total.
Mount Evelyn gave their fans the usual action-packed day of cricket. Captain Kane Jones would be disappointed, with the side falling well short of batting out its allotted overs. But with Woori Yallock teetering on the edge at 5/43, his side looks well poised to take the points.
Brad Jones led from the start with a blistering 85, while ably supported by his brother Kane with 40. Once again Simon Young did a power of work for the Tigers taking 5/107 off 21 overs. Kane Jones backed up his batting performance with 2/20 with the ball, supported by the ever reliable veteran Chris Anderson who took 3/21.
Coldstream have secured first innings points against Silvan after the first day. With a superb bowling performance led by brilliantly by D Semkin (6/14), the Slugs failed to fire with the bat and were rolled for 92. Despite the steady bowling performances of Stu Thompson (2/25) and Shane Walliker (2/38), there were just not enough runs on the board, and at 4/95, the Crocs are poised to push for outright victory.
In RA Finger Trophy, the old boys strutted their stuff and showed the youngsters a thing or two. The standout would have to be the performance of Seville’s Garth Woodford. Normally picked as a solid top order bat, Garth ripped through the Warburton Millgrove (73) batting line up and allowed another veteran in Scott Luckhurst (43) to have the Blues (7/139) in front after the first day’s play.
In other games, Woori Yallock (1/121) have the upper hand in their clash against Mount Evelyn (151), Healesville posted 231 with veterans Dicky Maile (36) and Stewart Simmonds (4/72) battling it out. In the final game, Blackie Thompson (26) led a dogged Yarra Junction side to 144, which leaves their game against Gruyere in an interesting position.
The standout performance in the lower grades has to be R. Groves who scored an even 200 for Coldstream in the One Day Grade. His score led to Coldstream posting a massive 4/339 which easily eclipsed Kinglake who were bowled out for 29.
The best juniors from the Under 14 and Under 16 grade strutted their stuff on Sunday with Region 8 games against FTGDCA. The boys will play in three Region 8 games which will give the Country Week selectors a chance to pick the best talent for the VMCU competitions held in January 2012.
Also on the representative calendar is the VCCL U21 Semi-Finals in which Region 8 has qualified. Woori young guns Simon Young and Frosty Smith have been selected in the 14-man squad which will play on Sunday 20 November.
Details for the game are still to be confirmed after the other VCCL U21 games had been completed on Sunday.