Tom Mathieson turned in a captain’s performance with the ball to lead North Geelong to a six-wicket victory against East Belmont at home and book his side a place in the Geelong Cricket Association grand final.
Mathieson, who took 4/23 and bowled four maidens in his ten overs, claimed the key wicket of Josh Lacey (34) in the 34th over to put East Belmont at 4/105 and prevent the visitors building further scoring momentum.
East Belmont saw out the 50 overs, setting a middling target of 9/148 as Mathieson dismissed Dylan McMahon (7) on the last ball of the innings.
The rest of the wickets were shared evenly by North Geelong’s five other bowlers, with not a weak performer among them.
Sam Hall was the linchpin for the North Geelong batting order, with the opener surviving till the 35th over before being caught behind off the bowling of Jack Jenkins after hitting 64 runs from 104 balls.
Hall’s dismissal at 4/140 left North Geelong within single digits of the visitors’ total, and two overs later Andrew Ferguson (11) hit a boundary to send his side to the grand final and East Belmont to the preliminary.
Grovedale had a similarly emphatic win against Newtown & Chilwell in the knockout semi-final.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Grovedale smashed 6/293 and comfortably defended that total, bowling out the Two Blues for 210.
Jordan Moran was the star for the Tigers, belting 123 runs in 124 balls and building a 196-run partnership with Michael McNeel (79), who came in at second drop.
By the time Moran was dismissed, caught behind in the first over of Dylan Hodge’s (1/35) second spell, Grovedale had scored 4/242 with 6.1 overs remaining.
With wickets in hand Grovedale’s middle order batted with abandon, adding 50 runs in the final six overs.
The scoreboard pressure proved to be too much for Newtown & Chilwell, who nevertheless stayed in touch for most of the innings, making 4/134 from the first 33 overs.
But after Jack Wrigglesworth (3/44) claimed George Rhodes’ (48) wicket an over later the wickets began to fall regularly, the Two Blues bowled out in the 45th over 83 runs short.
Grovedale will travel to the Winter Reserve to face East Belmont in the preliminary final this Saturday, March 18.
