The penultimate round of the Cessnock District Cricket Competition was completed last Saturday, with yet another century highlighting the round.
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Greta/Branxton second grade number five batsman Brett Bridge clubbed five boundaries and thirteen maximums before being caught out for 125 in the match against Mulbring at Mulbring.
The first grade minor premiership will come down to the final round after Mulbring and Supporters both succumbed to their first defeats of the season. Both teams remain on the same points, with Mulbring (1.89) holding the advantage with a slightly better quotient than Supporters (1.84).
Mulbring had not lost a match since December 2015, but they were humbled by an in-form Greta/Branxton by 58 runs at Miller Park.
Greta/Branxton batted first, and with a nice even track and lightning fast outfield they managed a par score 8-226 from their forty overs.
Mark Bercini made a scratchy 67, with Eddie Fisher (26), Barry Richards (25), Josh Dagg (24), Jake Goodyer (20), Joey Butler (15), Ryan Eagles (14), Nathan Holz (13no) and Dave Condran (12no) all contributing.
Darren Sutton took 3-58 for Mulbring, with skipper Cameron Ross (2-44 off 10) and Mick Mascord (2-39 off 5) picking up a couple of wickets each.
Although missing five regular top graders, the Marlins got off to a flyer in reply, and were 0-44 in the sixth over. However, a couple of quick wickets swung the momentum back in the home side’s favour.
Former Marlins skipper Josh Lewis played a sensible knock to finish unbeaten on 44, but he was quickly running out of partners, and they were eventually all out in the 33rd over for 168.
Drew Olsen made a quick-fire 34 at the top of the order, with Mick Mascord (22), Jason Varoxis (16), Andy Carmichael (14) and Ross (14) making starts.
Greta/Branxton’s wickets were shared between Dave Condran (3-21 off 5), Martin Shearer (2-38 off 8) and Barry Richards (2-35 off 7.2).
Wine Country are all of a sudden back in semi-final contention following their two-wicket upset win over Supporters Club at Baddeley Park.
Supporters batted first and piled on 7-223, with the top three of Troy Culley (85), Pete Brennan (70) and Andrew Nicolai (29) providing the majority of the runs.
Matt McCarthy (2-50 off 10) and Scott Miller (2-59 off 10) picked up a brace of wickets each for the visitors.
Docked two overs for slow rate, the Wood Ducks reached the target on the very last ball of the match with two wickets in hand in what was an exciting finish.
They were reeling early on at 3-34 after 16 overs and the mountain was getting steeper and steeper to climb, but Josh Dwyer (58) and Luke Vernon (48) went about getting the run chase back on track.
With an over to go the visitors required seven runs to pull off an unlikely victory. Luke Jeans was caught and bowled off the first ball of the over for a timely 37, then a couple of singles followed off the next two balls.
New batsman Rob Sidebottom blasted a classic cover drive for a boundary to level the scores.
The following ball was a dot, and then they scampered through for a single off the last ball to claim victory.
McCarthy remained unbeaten on 33 to complete a fine all-round game. Nathan Stapleford was the pick of the Supporters attack with 3-52 off 8. Wine Country can sneak into the semi-finals with a victory over Peden’s Hotel in the final round and hope that Mulbring can defeat Bellbird.
There was plenty to play for in the final fixture of the round, with Bellbird ending Peden’s Hotel’s finals aspirations with a comfortable 65-run victory at East End.
Bellbird batted first and made 7-220 from their 40 overs. Ben Fairlie worked the ball nicely for a crafty 67, Andrew Howson made a cameo appearance for 37, with Stef Durie blasting 54 from just 23 balls at the end to make a modest total look somewhat healthy. Nic Siers (16no) and Jason Orr (16) were the other batsmen to make starts.
Dale Johnston (2-39 off 8) and Dane Grills (2-24 off 7) were the pick of the Piranhas’ attack, but a couple of regulation catches off set batsmen cost them many more runs than they should have been chasing.
The home side were all out for 155 in reply, with veteran Tom Lantry continuing his recent good form with 44. Heath Walker (31), Daniel Russell (22) and Mark Crowfoot (22) were the other batsmen to make an impression.
Matt Tomlinson (3-45 off 10), Nick Siers (3-34 off 10) and Ben Troke (2-36 off 10) shared the wickets for the Tigers.
This sets up an exciting final round of cricket, with each game having a bearing on final standings and semi-final positions.
Second Grade
Greta/Branxton 10/223 (Brett Bridge 125, Darren Thomson 24, Dylan Lipscombe 19, James Shoulders snr 13, Matt Zechel 2-35 off 10, Dan King 2-42 off 6, Chris Kedwell 2-16 off 4.2) defeated Mulbring 10/135 (Matt Zechel 55, Wade Beavis 43, Darren Thomson 4-33 off 9, Jesse Minchin 2-40 off 8, Dylan Lipscombe 2-6 off 2.2).
Bellbird 7/202 (Joey Millington 47, Clint Starkey 40, Matt Shrieber 39, Dylan Stoker 31, Craig Schumacher 15, Eain Harris 3-27 off 5, Scott Price 2-46 off 10, Ryan Maxwell 2-33 off 10) defeated Wine Country 112 (John Dwyer 57, Ryan Maxwell 16no, Pat Cagney 6-32 off 8, Matt Clarkson 4-23 off 5.3).
Chelmsford Hotel 10/189 (A. Follan 37, B. Schmidt 29, A. Wanless 26, D. Killen 25, D. Johnston 18, M. Turnbull 15, A. Williams 3-33 off 6, R. Hindmarsh 3-15 off 6, G. Russell 2-47 off 9.2) defeated Peden’s Hotel 10/41 (A. Williams 16, T. Rowsell 5-15 off 8, M. Turnbull 2-21 off 7, B. Winegardener 2-5 off 1).
Supporters 5/175 (Dale Arnold 47, Mitch Woodbury 45, Andrew Fensom 18, Ross O’Connell 13, J. Bartley 2-29 off 7) defeated Denman Hotel 10/167 (B. Bartley 46, B. Lantry 38, R. Clark 24, M. Whitney 17, J. Skelton 16, Paul Wright 5-56 off 9, Dale Arnold 3-41 off 10, Zach Sneesby 2-28 off 8).
Third Grade
Greta/Branxton White 0/123 (Jamie McNamara 85, Dan Minchin 28) defeated Wine Country 10/98 (Peter Davis 35, Brett Stewart 13, Zach MacBeth 2-8 off 2, Jason Varley 2-15 off 6).
Laguna 9/76 (K. Barnett 18, J. Cleary 14, T. Johnson 6-28 off 10, A. Sweeney 2-20 off 10) defeated Supporters 10/73 (S. Weekes 30, G. Kelso 4-16 off 3.3, K. Barnett 3-29 off 5, S. Sullivan 2-11 off 10).
Greta/Branxton Blue defeated Denman Hotel by forfeit.
Bellbird bye.
Fourth Grade
Greta/Branxton 6/138 (Ben Ciba 52, James Thomson 25, Anthony Lawrence 17no, Logan Millard 15, Matt Gough 3-28 off 10, Andrew Clifton 2-24 off 8) defeated Mulbring 9/134 (Ben Rowlands 51, Rob Young 32, Anthony Lawrence 3-9 off 4, Pat Smith 3-47 off 7, Sam Hines 3-16 off 10).
Supporters 2/91 (Luke Smith 31no, Nic Gibbs 23no, Kobe Minter 21, K.Howson 1-16 off 6, K. Jordan 1-27 off 5) defeated Peden’s Hotel 10/80 (R. Fox 25, J. McNeil 22no, J. Ballenden 3-24 off 7, A. Field 3-16 off 4, S. Minter 2-19 off 7).
Bellbird vs Wine Country result to be confirmed due to discrepancies in the scoresheets.
Points Tables
First Grade: Mulbring 73, Supporters 73, Greta/Branxton 67, Bellbird 60, Wine Country 56, Peden’s Hotel 55.
Second Grade: Bellbird 75, Chelmsford Hotel 70, Supporters 67, Greta/Branxton 62, Wine Country 56, Peden’s Hotel 53, Denman Hotel 52, Mulbring 51.
Third Grade: Bellbird 71#, Greta/Branxton Blue 70#, Laguna 66, Greta/Branxton White 60#, Denman Hotel 46#, Supporters 46#, Wine Country 41#.
* Peden’s Hotel withdrawn from competition from 25/11/17.
# bye received, 0 points awarded.
Fourth Grade: Wine Country 72*, Greta/Branxton 70, Mulbring 70, Bellbird 60*, Supporters 55, Peden’s Hotel 47.
* Result on 17/2/18 pending due to discrepancies in scoresheets. No points awarded.
Club Championship: Bellbird 597.50, Greta/Branxton 590.13, Supporters 581.03, Wine Country 488.97, Mulbring 474.53, Peden’s Hotel 440.73.
Club Championship Formula:- First Grade x 3.73, Second Grade x 3.0, Third Grade x 1.5, Fourth Grade x 0.7.
NB: Only Greta/Branxton Blue third grade team contributes to club championship points.
