Angus Heslin has continued his rich run of form with the ball, taking his third five wicket haul in as many weeks at Barr Reserve on Saturday.
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It only took two balls in the innings for Heslin to strike, having Colt’s opener Mitch Giggins caught at short cover by Ben Welsh.
Angus McMillan and Heslin bowled brilliantly in partnership with each other, both bowling tight lines, not allowing the Colt’s batsman any reprieve.
With the pitch not giving much movement to the bowlers in the first session, the ball was thrown to Brock McCabe, who struck in his third over, removing the dangerous Josh Newton caught and bowled for 28.
McMillan continued his work at the other end and was rewarded the very next over when he found the edge of Thrum, caught smartly at second slip by Matt Knight.
Colt’s Nanson brothers then rallied for a 49-run partnership, before Heslin was brought back into the attack with immediate success, with Josh looking to leave a rising delivery, only to have it find the edge of his bat and cannon into the off stump.
With the Colts’ batsmen looking to attack, Heslin attacked the stumps in his next over. He drew a poor shot from the dangerous looking Tyler Nanson, bowling him through the gate for 40 from 52 balls.
The Colts’ young brigade were looking to hit out or get out with the score at 5/105, but Heslin was still on the attack in his next over, taking his fourth wicket for the day, having Marek struck in front, giving the umpire no option but to raise his finger for LBW.
Heslin had his fifth wicket in his very next over, an attempted yorker turned full toss, hit straight down the ground and caught by Xavier Mitchell at mid-on.
With the Colts reeling at 7/112, Brock McCabe had Marek dancing down the pitch to a well flighted delivery, only to miss, keeper Reid Clarke snapping the bails off before he could get back to his ground.
Brock soon had his third and then fourth wicket, having Ormond caught at silly point by McMillan, and in the 42nd over he once again flighted a delivery and Colts’ number 11, Lister, charged down the pitch and skied the ball, caught well by Ben Welsh at mid-on. Colts all out, 130 runs short of the Lakers’ target.
The A grade currently sit in fourth position on the ladder and finish the home and away season with a two-week bye.
Their finals chances are not quite locked in, their season hangs on the results in other matches across the league over the next two weeks.
A Res go down in close one
The precursor game following on from an entertaining local derby under 12s thriller was top of the table clash against the strong outfit of Rovers Bruck.
Sending in Rovers Dishot and Lidgerwood went to work bowling tight lines with Lidgerwood nicking off to part time keeper Fraser Smart.
Pressure was mounting and a time for a change saw TJ Docking add another one to his stats book.
Mr entertainment Ethan Thorp created a great runout and 3/40 after 14 was looking good.
Unfortunately a solid partnership of 80 was put together until part time bowler Smart claimed his 1st for the day.
Tight bowling at the death from “angle grinder” Ollie Connell and Dishot (2 wickets) saw Rovers post 6/167.
Part time batter Smart and night watchman Hill strode to the crease and were dealt some impressive bowling, fighting hard to set a platform before both were back in the shed for 20 and 19 respectively.
Nehal Tahir was positive as was Luke Buerckner both showing glimpses of their best form before departing.
Sam Lidgerwood (38) got to work with a mixture of strong hitting and patience supported by Andrew Dishot (13).
6/116 some work needed to be done and it was Thorp (24) and Tom Lovell (17) who stood up both going better than a run a ball.
A couple of late wickets saw the Yarrawonga 2nds fall just 10 runs short.
Plenty of positives to take from the game, now to face another strong outfit in Benalla this Saturday.
B grade cement top spot
Yarrawonga Mulwala 4/130 def Beechworth Wanderers 3/127.
The ladder leading Lakers played the Beechworth Bushrangers needing to win to cement top spot.
After losing the toss and being sent into bowl Gillies asked his competition leading wicket takers in House and Frauenfelder to open the bowling with Big Hunt removing the dangerous Beechworth skipper for 8.
Wickets were then hard to come by and the bowlers rotated to try get another breakthrough.
Youngster Will Murphy delivered once again to be the pick of the bowlers breaking the solid partnership with his excellent line and length drawing the edge for Charlie ‘Jammo’ Jamison to take a good catch at first slip.
Last week’s hero with the ball Gillies came crashing back to earth. Phillips and Dowling toiled without luck then House returned to get his lone wicket and round the Bushrangers innings out at 3/127.
After last week’s top order debacle, Gillies and Connell opened looking to set a solid foundation before Connell smashed a full banger straight to point.
Montgomery got a terrible lbw from a ball that pitched a foot outside leg stump, Cowboy Keely lbw trying to hoist one of square leg into the Mulwala Football Clubs meet the coach day and Pettit getting bowled from a good Yorker the collapse had arrived.
At 4/47 the inform Phillips joined Gillies to steady the ship. With some smart batting the pair chipped away at the total punishing any loose deliveries to the boundary.
After the halfway point, both set batsmen lifted the tempo with the flu ridden Gillies being particularly savage on the Beechworth bowlers to score an unbeaten 74 with 12 boundaries and Phillips a run a ball 31 to get the win.
A bye next week and a couple of solid weeks in the nets should have the team in top order for the finals.
C Grade win as Air Hudson takes flight to help seal finals spot
Yarrawonga Mulwala 3/80 def Gapsted 10/76.
Before the game had even started, there was a bit of cat and mouse at the selection table with self-confessed gun, ’Housework’ Hawking missing due to a severe case of chafing from doing the weekly chores and the late omission of Captain Brear with Net documentation troubles.
Surprisingly this didn’t seem to put a dampener on the Lakers mood on a hot, sunny first day of Autumn as they took on the Gorillas from Gapsted at Lakers HQ.
It was the Gorillas who won the toss and chose to bat, much to stand in skipper Vagg’s excitement as he was clueless in what decision he should make should he win the toss, asking everyone at the ground for advice, even the young lass working the jump at Club Lakers.
Bowling: For the second week in a row it was the pair of ‘Two First Names’ Michael and ‘Air’ Hudson who opened up the attack which was an inspired choice as they had the Gorillas top order wobbling at 4/16 off 8 overs and the opposing skipper ‘Mr Consistency’ Newton back in the sheds.
‘Air’ with three of the four. His first, a caught and bowled that certainly surprised him. The crack of bat on ball, caused him to jump in the air, the ball ballooned so slowly that it was nearly Sunday when he caught it and landed.
Teammates are not sure if his exit off the field a few overs later was to see his adoring young fans or for a quick change of underwear.
With that change, and also a change in the attack, the pressure continued to mount with ‘Poison’ Pickering and ‘Premierships’ Martin hooping the ball around reminiscent of the great ‘Swing King’ Terry Alderman.
Ball after ball just missing the outside edge and then in successive overs both finally got a nibble to have the Gorillas 6 for 30.
Keeper ‘Chopper’ Leeburn taking a blinder by landing in the lap of ‘Stand In’ Vagg at first slip to remove Gapstead’s dangerous ’Wheels’.
From this, the Gorillas began to get a little partnership going with batter ‘Onions’ helping to double their score as the Lakers eyes began weeping.
‘Stand in‘ Vagg had enough of this and chose to bring ‘Air’ and ‘Two First Names’ back on to try and clean up the tail which had immediate impact.
‘Air’ taking a second caught and bowled as he obviously doesn’t trust his teammates fielding and ‘JC’ Gove rushing in from the boundary to dive and take absolute screamer to dismiss ‘Onions’ who felt grilled and like everyone was amazed as catches like that do not happen in C Grade too often.
‘Premierships’ finished off the job uprooting middle and off stumps for the last wicket. The Lakers bowling beautifully and fielding finally getting it right with the old phrase ‘Catches Win Matches’ to have the Gorillas all out for a total of 76.
Batting: again it was the solid pair of ‘Slug’ Hargreaves and ‘Blocka’ Wilson opening the innings.
They got things off to a flyer with ‘Slug’ thinking he was the late Dean Jones walking down the wicket to Curtly Ambrose to try and assert his influence on the Gapstead bowlers.
Both played an array of shots to the boundary with the score skipping out to 60 before Blocka (25) went for one too many and was out plumb LBW.
The wicket surprisingly brought the young David Clarence Boon doppelgänger ‘Aviator’ Colvin to the crease which brought a slight pause in the game due to the cheering coming from the Nathan ‘Baby Giraffe’ Parker Stand.
Reports also suggesting that usual number 3 ‘Stand In’ and ‘Number Cruncher’ Vagg made the captain’s call to protect his healthy average and it will certainly be talk of the town this week.
Slug (28) fell in the next over, abandoning his aggressive approach to nick one to the keeper which was followed by a quick cameo from ‘Two First Names’ (12).
The Top Gun ‘Aviator’ playing shots out of Boony’s textbook and Little Picks hit the winning runs, hunting down the target of 76 to finish on 3 for 80 and give the Lakers the points.
‘Air’ Hudson (Man of the Match) with five wickets to get his first ‘Michelle’ of the year closely followed by ‘Chopper’ who had a great day with the gloves, diving all over the place and was later spotted at 7:30pm still rolling and somersaulting through the Maccas car park on his way to Cobram.
Next week, the Lakers head to Moyhu Rec Reserve for the third time to take on the Greta Whites where they owe them one from last time.
Bulls u14s just miss finals after defeating Greta
Greta White 10/110 def by Yarrawonga Mulwala Bulls 8/159.
As their season was on the line, the young Bulls travelled to Greta for the second morning of their two day game.
Defending a high total of 159, quicks Finn Wood and Jack Browning took the new ball each bowling with pace and precision shaking up the top order of the opposition.
Veteran and legend of the Lakers Gus watched his son Jack Browning from the sidelines rip through the Greta top order claiming 3/ 7 off his three overs including a classic caught and bowled.
Not to be out done, fellow opener Finn ‘Wild Thing’ Wood bowled with extreme pace claiming 1/12 off his 6 overs as Greta settled after being in early trouble at 4/15.
Captain Darcy, who has set the field all year and rotated his bowlers like a senior captain, threw the ball to Byron Dodd and Mitchell Smith to keep the pressure on the opposition.
Dodd instantly claiming two quick wickets with a super caught and bowled diving to his left.
Dodd finished with a tight 2/7 off his 5 overs.
Mitchell ‘the better twin’ Smith bowled with pace clean bowling the oppositions most dangerous batter. Claiming 2/28 off his 5 overs.
Levi ‘the best Purtle’ Purtle came on and continued to bowl tightly with his left armers angling across the right hand batters who had trouble scoring off him.
Darcy Hargreaves came on with the other two leg spinners in the side and completely bamboozled their inform batter, clean bowling him with a flipper.
Darcy finishing with 2/13 off his 5 overs.
‘Leggies’ Tyce ‘Warnie’ Woodhead with the blonde hair came on and looked as though he was bowling leggies wrong uns and flippers tieing the opposition down.
Then from the other end Blair Livingstone Laing kept the pressure on with his leggies. Jacko ‘the other better twin’ Smith kept all day like a pro taking catches and stumping at ease.
40 overs in the pads is never easy but Jacko does this every week with a smile on his face which his tea mates appreciate.
Jacko did say he’s eyeing off Reid’s spot in the A grade for next year. Greta all out for 110. A great way to finish the year off for the Bulls with a win.
Finishing fifth on the ladder after a slow start to the year.
Improvement, fun and enjoyment is all a coach could ask for and all of these boys have done themselves proud for the season.
Well done and the club will continue to see these young cricketers progress through the ranks at the mighty Lakers cricket club.
Under 14 Rams finish with a tight tussle
Yarrawonga Mulwala Rams 10/129 def by Benalla Bushrangers Red 10/133.
The Rams finished their season admirably in defeat against the top ranked Benalla Bushrangers.
Bowling first, the Rams managed to break some strong partnerships to contain the total to 133.
Bailey Richardson, Taj Parker and Jordan Knight all picked up 2 wickets each.
With the bat, the chase was Lachie Cruikshank (11 runs) and Taj Parker (21) did some outstanding work early with a handy little partnership to get the momentum going in the right direction.
This was followed nicely by middle order batsmen, Tathila Suriyapathiranalage Don (14) and Bailey Richardson (8).
The run rate was steady, but quality bowling made it difficult.
Enter the hard-hitting birthday boy - Declan Reeves! Whack! Whop and Bash…. Balls were flying everywhere.
Whenever Dec was on strike, the ball seemed to ping off the middle of the willow and crash into the fence.
His 30 runs from 27 balls gave the Rams a real sniff! However, in the end it wasn’t to be. The Bushrangers bowlers did a great job to drag the win away from the Rams who eventually fell 4 runs short.
This however, demonstrates the enormous amount of improvement in this young side over the season.
From round 1, being bundled out for 46 and looking all at sea to round 10, coming ever so close to knocking over the flag favourites.
The future is bright for the YMCC - great season Rams!
Season closer sees Lakers girls finish on the up
Yarrawonga Mulwala Girls 102 def Rovers United Bruck 188.
With the last game of the season looming, the Lakers Girls hosted RUBCC at Vic Park no.2 and were looking to put in a solid performance with bat and ball.
Captain Kate Giblett won the toss and placed her faith in her bowlers to restrict the visitors to a modest total.
The Captain delivered with the first over yielding only 4-runs.
Early bird Bella Ward took up the ball and squeezed 3-runs and the first wicket from her efforts.
Bailey and Lexi Richardson both were unlucky not to jag a wicket with their opening overs. With a few lucky runs hurting the run rate.
Rosie Lidgerwood and Matilda Thackray answered the call by slamming the brakes on the opposition batters, slowing the scoring opportunities.
Paige Bamford excelled with the ball, bowling tight as a drum and snaring a wicket to be the puck of the Lakers’ attack.
Stella “Hilly” Hill secured a wicket for 14 runs and Elsie Lidgerwood bowled without luck, conceding 20 runs and should have grabbed a wicket or two.
Some big late hitting had the tourists in the box seat, with the locals needing a big effort with the bat to secure the points.
Hill and Thackray opened proceedings but were tied down and couldn’t get the runs flowing at the rate required.
Elise Lidgerwood tried some switch hitting to push things along but couldn’t piece the field.
Lexi Richardson also got pinned down to some excellent RUBCC bowling.
Bamford and Lewis sensed the urgency and hit out to hit the accelerator and get the game back on an even keel. The arrival at the crease of the Captain signalled a glimmer of hope.
Giblett belted a number of boundaries and took quick singles to have the bowlers frustrated and was the best batter for the home side.
Bella Ward was her usual sharp, reliable contributor with the bat and Rosie Lidgerwood’s batting is developing nicely as her technique produced an array of scoring shots.
Unfortunately, the total proved too grand and the game slipped from the Lakers’ clutches.
The 2024-2025 season is now consigned to the history books, the Lakers Girls again performing well and continue to learn the game.
Especially pleasing is their efforts, attitude and willingness to learn.
The improvement, fun and enjoyment continues and we know just how awesome the girls have contributed to making the club even better.
A big thanks to the players, families and coaches for their commitment to the team week in and week out.
Certainly a proud club thanks the Lakers Girls for their sensational season and we look forward to even more girls cricket next season.
Under 12 Rams win in final over thriller
Yarrawonga Mulwala Lakers 3/101 def by Yarrawonga Mulwala Rams 7/104.
The highly anticipated contest between the Rams and the Lakers lived up to everyone's expectations with the Rams winning the semifinal by 3 runs.
On a warm morning at the picturesque Vic Park No 2 oval, the Rams lost the toss and were sent into bat.
Hugo Bott and Murphy Doyle opened the innings and got the Rams off to a solid start, scoring freely before retiring.
Finn O’Brien was back in the team and worked his way into his innings before retiring also.
The Rams then lost a few wickets in quick succession, before Ned O’Brien (14 retired) and George Hill (8 off 13) steadied the innings and made valuable runs.
Murphy Doyle (10 off 17) and Hugo Bott (14 not out) returned to the crease and went about chasing quick runs.
Doyle was soon dismissed, which opened the door for Finn O’Brien to return to the crease, where he found the boundary on four occasions to finish 30 not out.
The Rams compiled a competitive 7 for 104 off their 20 overs. ‘Line and length’, was the message the Rams bowlers were given by the coaches if they were going to defend their total.
The Rams started their bowling innings keeping things tight. The Lakers batsmen were capitalising on any loose deliveries which brought the crowd to life.
Lincoln Ridley (1/3 off 2 overs) claimed the first wicket of the innings and was well supported by Paddy Doyle (1/1 off 2 overs) and Layken Saunders (1/8 off 2 overs) who both managed to get one through the defence of the opposition batters.
With the match heading into the final overs, the nerves and tension amongst the crowd were starting to rise.
Needing to bowl and field well to secure victory, Finn O’Brien took hold of the ball for the final over and the Rams kept the runs to a minimum, helping them secure a three-run victory.
A fabulous contest was played out, with a noble finish to the season for the Lakers, and the Rams advancing to the Grand Final next week against Benalla Bushrangers Blue.
Under 12 Bulls
Benalla Bushrangers Blue 3/136 def Yarrawonga Mulwala Bulls 8/93.
Yarrawonga Chronicle