Juniors battle it out in finals epic

Reports by Scott Checkley LDCA Junior Chairman

Under 17

THE highly anticipated replay of last year’s U17 Grand Final took place on the Wonthaggi Turf between two very talented young teams, a big crowd was in attendance with barely a car park left around the oval. 

Inverloch skipper Harry Butcher won the toss and elected to bat on a good looking Turf pitch. 

Butcher opened up with Riley Harris up against the formidable left arm combination of Tim Niven and George McCausland.

With McCausland removing both openers Inverloch were in early trouble, Isaac Seuren and Rhys Newman dug in to get though 11 overs together before Newman was bowled by a very good Niven delivery. 

The addition of spinner Jackson Huther into the attack caused havoc to Inverloch’s middle order and when Seuren was dismissed for a well-made 29, Invy had slumped to 6/59.

McCausland then returned to the attack and bowling at good pace he bowled full and straight hitting the stumps on three occasions to dismiss Inverloch for 61.

Best bowlers for the Island were George McCausland 5/16 off 9 overs and Jackson Huther 4/6 off 6 overs.

After the break the Island’s Heath Womersley and skipper Max Arceo opened the innings, Inverloch were fired up knowing the needed quick wickets to get back in the game.

Jesse Dugard delivered the goods second ball with a very quick delivery seeing Arceo’s off stump doing a cart wheel. 

When Butcher had Womersley caught at short cover the Invy boys had their tails up, two more wickets to Butcher and one each to Newman and Terlich saw the Island in big trouble at 6/33 and all of a sudden it was game on. 

Noah Williams (8*) then joined Tim Niven (22*) at the crease and these boys showed great composure under the pressure applied by some outstanding Inverloch bowling and inch by inch they accumulated the remaining 29 runs to secure the premiership. 

Best bowlers for Inverloch were Harry Butcher 3/17 off 10 overs with Dugard, Newman and Terlich all taking a wicket each and bowling great spells.

Congratulations to coach Connor Epifano and his team on an outstanding season, going undefeated and becoming premiers is a great achievement. 

Player Of The Match went to George McCausland for his give wicket haul. 

George is an outstanding young bowler and together with his Player Of The Match in the U15 GCL Grand Final for the LDCA shows that he has a huge future in the game. 
Inverloch 61 def by Phillip Island 6/62

Under 15 

A GREAT under 15s grand final was played at McMahon Reserve between two very good teams, a large crowd gathered and the oval was in great condition offering the batters great value for shots. 

Town won the toss and elected to bat with openers Max Carter (23) and Yuthil Ratnaike (36) getting them off to a great start with a 48-run partnership. 

At the 20 over mark of the split innings format Town had reached 1/75 with Ratnaike 35 not out and the in-form Angus Livingstone 10 not out.

Phillip Island’s turn at the crease saw Drew Fusinato (23) looking in great touch after the early loss of Zack Hughes who was bowled by Ratnaike.

With the dismissal of Fusinato, Archie Williams and Jobe Williams formed a good partnership to have the Island at 2/61 after 20 overs, not far behind with plenty of talent still to bat.

The Scorpions second turn to bat saw the quick dismissal of Ratnaike, Clayton Quaife joined Livingstone at the crease and with a mixture of well-timed shots and good patient defence the boys put on 49 valuable runs.

With Livingstone (38) and Quaife (26) dismissed some late hitting by big Hamish Gill got the score up to 166, the best of the bowlers for the Island was Harry Arceo with 2/38 off his 8 overs.

Needing 106 for victory the Island suffered an early blow with the loss of Archie Williams for 20 but with young star Jobe Williams at the crease the Island were still in the game. 

Unfortunately, nobody was able to stick around with Williams and when he was dismissed for a well-made 26, the Island had slumped to 8/86. 

To the credit of Zac Sund (22*) and Jackson Allan (12*) the Island kids fought the game out right to the end batting out the full overs. 

The best Bowlers for Town were Ratnaike, Fletcher McLennan and Angus Livingstone with two wickets each. 

Player Of The Match went to Angus Livingstone for his efforts with bat and ball, Angus had a fantastic finals series with 52 retired in the Semi Final and has a bright future.

Leongatha Town 5/166 def Phillip Island 8/130