East Belmont won the right to challenge North Geelong for this season’s Geelong Cricket Association premiership following a high-scoring preliminary final win against Grovedale on Saturday March 18.
It will be the Lions’ fifth grand final in a row and it will be the third time in as many seasons that they will meet North Geelong in the decider.
Grovedale won the toss and batted first at Winter Reserve with a 109-run opening stand between Andrew Wedge (28) and Jordan Moran.
Moran would go on to score a sublime 99 from 80 deliveries. He hit 12 boundaries and two sixes.
Runs flowed during the innings with Michael McNeel getting 26 before being run out while Anthony Quarrell (25 not out) and Luke Guest (32 not out from 16 balls) added an unbroken 52-run stand at the end to push the final total to 5/244.
James McMahon took three wickets for East Belmont, but it was Ben Knight’s 0/24 from 10 overs that prevented a bigger total.
A 140-run second-wicket partnership between Josh Lacey and Sean O’Neill then gave East Belmont every chance of victory.
Lacey hit 10 fours in his 62-ball 60 while O’Neill smacked 92 from 98 before having to retire hurt with leg cramps.
At 4/173, the game was getting tight, but Lachlan Inglis (39 not out off 43) and Ben Knight (36 not out from 33) shared a 76-run stand to get East Belmont home with five overs remaining.
Spinner Bailey Sykes continued his impressive debut season with 3/53 for Grovedale.
The grand final will begin at 11.30am at KFC Oval, Highton.
Torquay will meet Murgheboluc in the Division 2 grand final at Leopold.
Murgheboluc defeated Geelong City in the preliminary final, chasing down 156 for victory thanks to 50 from in-form opener Lewy Hyland.
In Division 3, St Albans Breakwater will meet Bell Park at Hamlyn Park after Bell Park defeated Thomson with openers Ben Grinter (85) and Michael Lymer (74) adding 162 for the opening wicket.
Waurn Ponds/Deakin meets Guild St Mary’s at Winter Reserve in Division 4.
Mandeep Aulakh made 93 from 65 balls and Anand Choudhary took four wickets for Guild St Mary’s in the preliminary final win against Little River.
