Meredith captain Tyler Dittloff produced a superb all-round game to guarantee his side a top two finish in Geelong Cricket Association Division 4 this season.
Dittloff took three wickets and made an unbeaten 51 from 50 deliveries against fellow finals aspirant Newcomb & District.
The Rams are 15 points clear of third placed Lethbridge, but had to do it the hard way with opening bowler Jason Murray injuring his calf, which means the team had to field with 10 men for the majority of the Dinos’ innings.
Murray faces a battle against time to be fit for Meredith’s first final on March 15.
While Dittloff took three late wickets in the Dinos’ total of 122 all out, off-spinner Harli Givvens bowled well to take 2/18 from eight overs while Chesney Milne took two wickets as did Murray before his injury.
“I was pretty happy to roll them for that,” Dittloff said.
“On that ground, I think the pitch didn’t have a lot in it and it was a pretty good batting wicket to be honest.”
Often 120 can be a tricky chase and at one stage Meredith was 4/78, but Dittloff and opener Givvens (31 from 28 balls) and Matt Ringin (11 not out) steadied the ship.
Dittloff has made 409 runs this season, but with a top score of 55, he said it has been frustrating not to get a big score. Apart from one failure against St Albans Breakwater, the skipper has been remarkably consistent with his lowest score being a pair of 21s.
“I’ve had a lot of 30s and 40s so it was good to go on and make sure we got the points,” he said.
“I’ve made a lot of starts and got out, so it’s nice to to be there at the end on Saturday.”
Givvens has made 544 runs and taken 19 wickets this season.
“We’re lucky to have him and he’s been really good,” Dittloff said.
“He bowls well and is a good fielder, so it’s the total package.”
Dittloff said securing a top two spot was important, but wasn’t necessarily looking to overtake Little River at the top.
“We’ll take it if we can get it, but we’re relying on Little River to drop one again,” he said.
“We don’t play them again so while top spot would be great, we’re pretty happy we can finish in the top two.”
Dittloff said there were several options to replace Murray in this week’s team.
“We’ve got a couple of blokes in the twos who’ve been getting some good scores,” he said.
“Dan Measures had another 40 on the weekend and made a hundred a couple of weeks ago. Troy Bott’s been injured as well and hasn’t played the last five games, but hopefully we’ll get him back at some stage soon.”
Most of Little River’s batters got runs in the win against Guild St Mary’s. The Redbacks made 7/195 and then bowled Guild St Mary’s out for 94 with Luke Wright (4/20) and Nick Fairchild (3/21) getting wickets.
Hayden Spiller took 4/12 in Lethbridge’s eight-wicket win against St Albans Breakwater. Spiller then made 33 not out in chasing down the small total of 49.
