The 4th placed U/17 team took on top side and undefeated Lysterfield on the weekend at Dobson Park and pulled off a remarkable victory in the dying overs to progress to the Grand Final against Johnson Park next week.  The 3rd XI shook off a shaky start to post a huge overnight total and have Eildon Park dwon for the count and then witnessed a bizarre 2nd day of play before comfortably moving into the Grand Final against Footballers next weekend.

 

U/17 v Johnson Park at Johnson Park starting at 8.20am Saturday and Sunday

3rd XI v Footballers at Upwey starting at 1.00pm Saturday and Sunday

 

U/17 Match Report

 

We won the toss and elected to bat and again started well with Liam Hunt and Nick Smith getting us off to a steady start.  After losing Nick, Sam Vance came to the crease and the boys kept the scorboard ticking over until Sam went to a spectacular close in catch.  Late in ouyr innings we lost Liam and at the end of our first phase we were 3/65.  Our bowlers were immediatley on the mark and restricted Lysterfields strong batting line up from going and our first change bowler T-Dog picked up the prize wicket of Jake Carter.  We kept the brakes on and overnight Lysterfield were 3/63.  Batting first on Sunday morning the bowlers struck early with Jay Williams picking up the key batsman Harry Carter in his second over and Stephen cartwheeled a set of stumps to set Lysterfield back on their heels.  Some outstanding bowling in the middle by Laityn and P2 saw 9 overs bowled for only 5 runs and from then the boys kept the pressure on and restricted Lysterfield to a score of 123.  Needing a further 53 runs to win, P2 and Aiden set a cracking pack early taking 24 off the first 4 overs before the Lysterfield bowlers put a clamp on us.  We lost P2 and then Marty and Aiden set about building a partnership that got us within 9 runs before they both went out.  That was the start of a nerve racking time when we lost 4/0.  With 5 overs left and only 2 wickets in hand it was an incredibly nervous time but Stephen and Jay calmly went about their job with a couple of singles and then a strong drive down the ground by Stephen saw us pass the score.  It was an amazing win and one that came about through discipline throughout the entire match with both bowling and batting.  The boys now take on JP next week in what should be a fantastic match.

 

U/17 Match Report

 

The 3rds took on Eildon Park and won the toss and elected to bat.  There were a few nerves when we were 3/30 and then Darren Spence and Dan Waters came to the crease and steadied the hip and then unleashed a boundary frenzy.  At the end out our 35 overs we were 3/178 with Dan and Darren both around the 70 mark.  We then bowled and it wasnt long before Jack Hughes was smashing stumps every and it became a bit of a procession until their middle order became a bit stubborn.  Sam Vance came on and bowled to his Captains instructions throwing the ball well up and the wickets cam again.  Over night we had Eildon Park 8/102.

 

Day 2 saw us bat again and we were hopefull of 35 overs of entertainment.  However that was not to be and in an amazing session Only Darren Spence and extras scored whilst every other batsman went out.  We ended up all out for 199 meaning that we had lost 7/21.  Fortunately Darren knocked up a magnificent century.  We then bowled for the final two wickets which took nearly 18 overs to get but in the end they arrived adn we are into the Grand Final.