PENINSULA
By Mr & Mrs IT Gully
FLINDERS will play in the MPCA Peninsula grand final after beating Moorooduc in the Peninsula Semi Final by six wickets.
Moorooduc won the toss and batted first but lost their first three wickets for just twelve runs. These wickets included Rashimal Mendis and the dangerous Madushanka Perera for a duck.
Shamith Kannangara steadied the Moorooduc ship with 43 and Nick Williams scored 41 at the bottom of the innings, but it only helped the Ducks to 161 in 79.5 overs.
Dwayne Field, Matt Burns and Neil Barfuss were all convincing with the ball for the Sharks, snaring two wickets each.
Unbelievably Flinders took just 37 overs on day two to grab the win. Despite losing 2/21, Tom Clements with 53 and Blake Hogan-Keogh with 69, including thirteen boundaries, moved the scoreboard swiftly to 4/135. Shane Beggs and Barfuss took the score to 4/162 providing the Sharks with the six wicket win.
Long Island had left Main Ridge with a lot of work to do after the opening day of their match at Ditterich Reserve after scoring 225.
However, Main Ridge opener Michael Holmes smashed a six, which not only bought up his century, but won the game for his team.
Earlier, skipper Nick Jewell once again performed at the big dance scoring 101. Main Ridge went on to win the game and progress to the grand final.
Long Island won the toss and batted first.
Club legend Michael Burke top scored for the Islanders with 53 and skipper Aaron Paxton opened with 43 to lead the way for the Islanders. Pubudu Edirisinghe chimed in with 30 and Brad Bailey hit 29 to help the Islanders to a very competitive total.
Luke Collins was superb with the ball for the Ridge, claiming 5/50 from 19 overs including five maidens.
Main Ridge was forced to face the final six overs of the day, however took it in their stride, scoring more than six runs an over to be 0/39 at stumps. Skipper Nick Jewell resumed on 23 and Michael Holmes 16.
First published in the Mornington News – 20 March 2018
