Murgheboluc’s 160-run win against Thomson helped set up an epic final-round showdown between the top three Geelong Cricket Association Division 3 teams.
The Frogs took care of business against Thomson on Saturday 20 February and are locked in a battle for a top-two spot with Waurn Ponds Deakin (WPD) and Lethbridge.
Murgheboluc is in second position, but can finish first with a win against Bannockburn and a WPD loss. The Frogs can also slip to third if they lose and Lethbridge defeats WPD.
Murghe captain Luke Brown isn’t looking that far ahead, though. All he wants to do is win this week against Bannockburn.
“It’s an interesting situation for us,” he said.
“We just want to win our game, finish in the top two and with the second chance.
“They (Bannockburn) beat us in the T20 earlier in the year so we know what they’re capable of. We just want to go out there and play our brand of cricket and knowing if we can do that, I think we’ll come out the better team.
“That’s sort of forefront of our mind is to play to our game plan and nail that.”
The Frogs resumed on Saturday at 3/123 in pursuit of Thomson’s 189 all out.
Owen Dunipace (73) and Luke Webb (69) took the score to 4/164 after putting on 111 for the fourth wicket. Murghe was eventually bowled out for 269 with Jake Spalding (4/48 from 26.4 overs) and Josh McDonald (2/63 from 25) putting in a lot of work for the Tigers.
“The middle order has been really strong for us this year and to have Luke and Owen firing towards the back end of the year, and still to have Mick Groz (Grozdanovski) come back in the team, it’s something to look forward to,” Brown said.
“Our bowling unit has been really good all year and to have that firing, the batting firing going into finals is really exciting and hopefully propels us into winning a couple of games.”
Thomson had a second hit and was 7/109 at the end of the game with Eamon Mills (48) getting runs while Josh Hutley (3/19) and Brown (2/16) had success with the ball.
“Josh hasn’t had too many overs under his belt and for him to come in and get three pretty good wickets was really handy for us,” Brown said.
“It’s really good knowing that everyone’s bowling really well at the moment and we can hand it (the ball) to anyone at any time.
“(I’m) feeling pretty confident with the ball at the moment, knowing that I can play a role. And if it’s not going too well, I can hand it off to somebody else knowing that they’re going to come in and do their role. (It’s) really handy and it gives you a bit of confidence.”
CORIO paceman Mitchell Humm spearheaded his side’s win against Bannockburn. Defending 163, Humm took 8/47 from 26 overs to have Banno all out for 131 to cement the Devils’ spot in the top four. The only way Corio can miss finals is if they lose to Marshall and Modewarre defeats Thomson in a highly unlikely outright win.
LETHBRIDGE is finals bound after a win against Modda. Resuming at 0/28 chasing 165, the Rosellas got there in 29 overs before declaring with Anand Choudhary (62) and Harry Lever (53 not out) making the runs. Ben Clarke made 65 in Modda’s second innings of 148 all out with Jesse Sheehan snaring 3/6. Lethbridge then tried for a miracle outright and was 5/91 after nine overs and had to settle for six points.
WAURN Ponds Deakin took care of business, bowling Marshall out for 98 after the Eagles made 151 on day one. Ethan Rogers was the star with 6/35 with the English quick taking his season’s tally to 32 wickets.
