South Barwon came back from the brink of disaster to keep its Geelong Cricket Association Division 1 finals hopes flickering with an almighty turnaround against Newtown & Chilwell.
Newtown & Chilwell resumed on day two on Saturday 20 February at 0/128 chasing South Barwon’s 211 with Dylan Hodge on 64 and Pat McKenna on 56.
They took the score to 144 and were on course for a comfortable win before McKenna departed for 57 and Hodge followed soon after for 78.
Then came the carnage as quick Sam Ellis (4/53 from 22 overs) and spinner Nick Butters (4/75 from 21.1) refused to give up.
The Two Blues lost 10 wickets for 56 runs to be all out for 208 in a stunning result.
The win puts the Swans (44.04 points) in sixth spot with just 3.32 points separating third placed Lara (47.36), fourth placed St Peters (45.05) and fifth placed Grovedale (44.88) with one round to play.
CENTURIES to East Belmont pair James Lidgett (143) and Luke Inglis (125), along with 84 from Sean O’Neill enabled their side to bat all day and compile a hefty 5/422 against Grovedale.
With first-innings points already achieved last week, East Belmont resumed at 1/163 with a 14-run lead and cashed in with Lidgett’s 143 coming from 219 deliveries and Inglis’ 125 from 121 balls with 21 boundaries and a six.
East Belmont will finish second while Grovedale needs to beat South Barwon and hope other results go as hoped.
ST PETERS fell just short of a win that would have gone a long way to securing a finals spot, although St Joseph’s also fell agonisingly short themselves.
Chasing St Joseph’s 261, St Peters ended on 9/250 with the game drawn.
Joeys seamer Ryan Simmonds snagged 6/51 from 22 overs and bowled with superb control while paceman Austin Humphrey took 3/74.
St Peters was 4/40 before a 155-run stand between Luke Ford (83) and Matt Sorgiovanni (80) restored some confidence.
James Stokes smacked an unbeaten 39 from 30 balls and, at nine down, elected to shut up shop during the final stages with Joeys unlucky in the end.
St Peters meets East Belmont in the final round and need to win while St Joseph’s finals hopes appear all but over.
NORTH Geelong sewed up the minor premiership with a huge win against Lara.
Needing 312 for victory, Lara was all out for 112 with left-arm finger spinner Bailey Sykes snaring his first top-flight five-for with 5/30 while paceman Dale Kerr took the prize wickets of Daniel Weigl and Vishesh Malhotra on his way to 3/23.
The Magpies opted for a second hit, ending at 3/124 with Alistair McCann (38 not out), Ned Cooper (34) and Adam Costello (25 not out) gaining valuable centre-wicket practice.
Despite sitting third, Lara needs to beat St Joseph’s in the final round to make playing finals a certainty.
IN BELLARINE Peninsula Cricket Association A2 Grade, it’s a scramble for finals spots with one round to go.
It makes for confusing reading, but we’ll try and sum it up.
If Collendina (3rd) defeats Ocean Grove (1st), it will play finals. If not, and St Leonards (4th) and Winchelsea (5th) both win, it’s curtains. It gets even more confusing. If the Cobras lose and Winch and Portarlington (6th) both win, they need Port to have a narrow victory and not get thrashed themselves with percentage coming into play.
Portarlington needs to climb two places to finish fourth. This can be achieved if it beats St Leonards and Wallington defeats Winchelsea.
St Leonards needs to beat Port and if that happens, should make it unless Winchelsea gains enough percentage. If Winch does gain the necessary percentage, the Saints can still finish fourth with a win and a Collendina loss.
Winchelsea needs to beat Wallington (2nd) and one of Collendina or St Leonards to lose to make it and can finish as high as third. If Winch, Collendina and St Leonards win, the Kookaburras can still make it by gaining 0.119 percentage points.
Ocean Grove will finish top if it wins and probably even if it loses unless it’s by a huge margin and Wallington thrashes Winchelsea.
Wallington will finish second unless it can make up 0.157 percentage points with a big win and a Grove loss.
Surf Coast will finish seventh and Newcomb eighth.
