St Peters captain Luke Ford recognises the danger that his Geelong Cricket Association elimination final opponent Lara presents going into this weekend’s clash.
In a dramatic final round, the Saints secured fourth spot and a first-up final against third placed Lara at Bisinella Oval and knows his side must contain some of its stars.
“They’ve clearly got an electric batsman at the top in Vish (Malhotra),” Ford said.
“He can take a game away in the space of 10 minutes. They’ve got that fire at the top, then they’ve got the experience in the middle with Daniel (Weigl), Sods (Robert Sodomaco) as well.
“Kaden Marum, with bat and ball, has shown throughout the year that he can be dangerous at times.
“And Luke Wilson, who had a year off and has come back and has had a stellar year. So they’ve got aspects all through the team, which is why they sit third.”
St Peters made sure of a finals berth with an epic run chase against East Belmont on 7 March.
Needing 282, the Saints didn’t rely on Ford to make the bulk of the runs with Brad McMaster (83 not out), Billy Ford (79) and Brogan Hayman (53) getting the job done with three wickets in hand.
Since starting the season with two consecutive ducks, Luke Ford has gone on to amass 690 runs at an average of 86.25 and although he made 36 on Saturday, he was pleased with the collective effort from his batters.
“It’s never always about one or two guys doing the job, and you do, certainly at times, need one person to stand up, but the conversation pre-game was that it’s not going to take one guy to get 130 or 140,” he said.
“If that happens, that’s great, but we’re going to need guys to build big partnerships and we’re going to need some 70s and 80s, and we got that.”
After being 1/100 and then 5/116, Ford said the 120-run partnership between McMaster and younger brother Billy was as important as it gets.
“Those two probably have had a little bit of a tough time at the moment with batting, but that’s the ebbs and flows of cricket,” he said.
“And that’s the maturity from those two as well that you can have some lean weeks and you can struggle, but all it takes is to spend some time out in the middle and get a couple away to the boundary.
“They picked certain bowlers and picked certain ends to target and the way they batted as a pair, it was very well needed.”
Ford said it was encouraging for the rest of the competition that a newly promoted side in Lara and a recently promoted club in St Peters would play in a final.
“There’s no denying that North Geelong are clearly the out and out favourites and there’s no shying away that they are the best team in it and we respect that,” he said.
“(But) we deserve to be there and it’s a good thing for the competition. I think it shows division two clubs that it can be done. Whether they’re good enough, who knows, but if you put the right people and the right things in place, it can change quickly.”
JORDAN Moran’s class shone with a delightful century to steer Grovedale to victory against South Barwon.
Victory to either side would have meant a spot in the four, but that was dependent on St Peters losing.
Moran’s 131 came from 132 deliveries and included 19 fours and two sixes as Grovedale successfully chased the 300 needed for victory, ending on 326 all out. Moran’s 10th ton equalled the club record held by Gary Kellson.
Daniel Brew (38), Andrew Vine (37) and Michael McNeel (31) provided supporting acts for the main Moran show. McNeel announced his retirement after game number 255 and 6352 runs for the Tigers.
South Barwon paceman Sam Ellis never stopped trying with 4/66.
LARA new-ball pair Luke Wilson and Kaden Marum steered their team into the finals with a thrilling win against St Joseph’s.
Needing to win to play finals, Lara successfully defended last week’s 247 all out, although it got close.
Wilson took 5/55 from 23 overs and Marum snared 3/66 from 20.3 to have Joeys all out for 236 in the 92nd over.
A 246-ball 73 from Riley Pickering provided the backbone of St Joseph’s run chase, but he couldn’t find anyone else to push past 50 with his side all out for 236.
NORTH Geelong cruised into next weekend’s qualifying final against East Belmont with a win against Newtown & Chilwell.
Resuming on 2/69 in pursuit of 136 for victory, Philip Visser continued his good form with 59 and the ever reliable Adam Costello was on 40 when stumps were called with the Magpies on 9/193.
But it was Two Blues spinner Chris Williams who earned the three votes, taking 7/67 after snaring 6/65 last round to end the season on a high after some horror injury battles.
