McCausland’s heroics not enough against Sunraysia

THE Leongatha and District Cricket Association team looked set to finish their Melbourne Country Week campaign on a winning note last Friday after Phillip Island youngster George McCausland ripped through Sunraysia’s top order in the Division 2 plate final.

McCausland took 5/17 off his allotted six overs, reduced from eight because he is under 19 years of age, but it was more than enough to put Sunraysia on the backfoot by the middle of the afternoon at the Donald McLean Reserve at Spotswood.

But in a thrilling finish, Sheldon Calarco of Sunraysia
unleashed 103 not out off 126 balls, ramping up the tempo towards the end with 10 fours and two sixes, to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with little more than an over to go.

Leongatha had earlier managed a decent total of 223 off 50 overs, boosted by a hefty 46 extras which incredibly included 35 wides.

Mitchell Clark led the way with 48 off 88 balls, after a couple of early dismissals and a series of batsmen came to the party in the middle stages to contribute to some useful partnerships including Joel Brann 9, Jakeb Thomas 31, Aydan Williams 28, Jack Hume 29 not out and Jarrod Hoy 14 off 13 at the end.

But it was McCausland who turned the game with his brand of fast-medium left-arm bowling, introducing something different into the attack from what Sunraysia had seen in the close match on Monday.

And just when Nick Blacker 21 and a well-set Calarco looked like starting a fightback in the middle stages, Thomas and Brann combined to deliver the important wicket of Blacker to keep their opposition on the ropes.

But try as they might, Leongatha simply could not remove the dangerous Calarco as the margin was progressively eaten away, still with plenty of overs in hand.

Across at Noble Park Reserve, which would have been a lot closer to home for the Leongatha boys, their nemesis on Wednesday Warrnambool had capped off a great week by polishing off the Maryborough and District challenge in similar style to their win over Leongatha.

They have won back into the Provincial division next year but for Leongatha, they achieved their first goal of protecting their spot in Division 2 from which to mount a promotion challenge again next year.