The last round of the season has set the club up nicely for finals with A Grade, A Res, B Grade Gold and C Grade Gold teams making it through. A big shout out to B Grade Blue, C Grade Blue and the Women’s teams on their seasons as well – lots of great cricket took place!

The weekend just gone saw nearly all our teams in action.

In B Grade, Blue played Harcourt at Campbells Creek. Losing the toss and bowling first, we restricted our opposition to 6/188 on a quite fast and dry ground. We didn’t quite claim enough wickets to bring this total down to a par score however. Chasing this total was always going to require a solid innings from someone, and we had plenty of batters getting a start (Darren Baker 27, Lachy Holman 19, Curtis McLennan 26, Lucas Bester 33, and Mick Penrose 21) but no one could go on a post a big total. Thus we fell short by 24 runs with a total of 8/164. So we missed out on the finals by a few games, having lost a few close ones during the season. With continued development in our batting, we can turn those close games into wins next season.

B Grade Gold treked out to Newstead looking for revenge after last week’s close loss. And revenge was found (as was free sausos and buckets of hot chips!). Newstead put themselves in and crawled to 5/125 off their 40 overs. At one point, 100 looked too far off. Tight bowling was the order of the day and Dec’s 2/6 off 6, Nick’s 0/8 off 8 (with a couple of hard dropped catches) and Gabe’s 1/16 off 6 leading the way. Sammy took 2 wickets as well. That total was never going to be enough and Dec’s chanceless 64 not out lead the way as we ran down the total in the 31st over. Excellent hospitality from Newstead saw us hang around for food and drink.

In A Grade action, we batted first and got off to a flyer. Daz, Brash (45) and Levi (29) did the damage. Darren finished with a very classy half century (98 not out) and the team posted 7/205 off the 40 overs, keeping a few wickets still in the shed. After a short and sharp spell from Jordy Brasher (2/16) including a ball we all agreed was essentially unplayable, Dave ‘the destroyer’ George came on and snaffled 4/13 off 8 overs. Charlie Warren and Camblar Kays picked up a couple each and we cruised to a very handsome victory, wrapping up second spot and a double chance next weekend.

In the women’s games last Friday, Gold batted first with our openers Gabby and Adalia getting a good start. They ran many singles and had no outs. Dee made her highest score of 5… perhaps it was the change of batting partner… Helen didn’t try to run her out at all (unlike Andrea!). In the field, Kirby kept like she was born to be a keeper, letting through no byes. Evie bowled fast and knocked middle stump out of the ground with her first ball while Grace found her fielding position at point and pounced on every ball and threw at the stumps with amazing accuracy. It was a really fun game with lots of laughs. And we won by 2 runs as well… bonus!

The Blue team found it tough going against flag faves Newstead. The team played well with Miho starring with the bat and running well between wickets. Tanya was on the receiving end of some live rockets- she turned to protect her face and stopped a ball coming at her at 100km an hour – she is now sporting a whopping bruise. Lots and lots of wickets fell which meant lots and lots of penalty runs added to the Steaders scoreboard. In the field, Rhian bowled neatly- taking 1 for 6 off 2 overs. In the end the top side ran away.

In C Grade, Gold had the week off after skittling Newstead last week. Blue took on Muckleford and needed to pass the total without loss of wickets and have Harcourt lose to have a chance to make the finals. The Brasher duo of Dec and Sammy got us off to a solid start but were unable to go the full distance. Dec proved to be the mainstay of the innings with 50 not out but notable contributions from Emma Smolak, Alfred Chaffey and Evi Kneebone with the bat got us close.

In A Res we took on Guildford. They had a hit first and Tom Brasher took 4/16 as Guildford got to 102 all out with some help from a few (!) extras (38!). Darcy and Jase Cordy got us off to a flyer with some great shot making off short pitch’s opening bowling attack. The win was secured in the 23rd over and the win means A Res make the finals – a brilliant effort from a not pretty ladder position earlier in the season.

THIS FRIDAY:
The 2 United women’s teams play each other in a showdown at the Camp for an end of season derby! Come on down! The BBQ will be firing up, the fridge will be cooling the drinks and the cricket will be entertaining!

THIS SATURDAY – FINALS:
C Grade: Muckleford v Castlemaine United Gold, Mapsom-Timmins Oval, 8.45am (continues on Sunday morning)
A Grade: Barkers Creek v Castlemaine United , Camp Reserve, 1pm
A Res:North Castlemaine v Castlemaine United , Barkers Creek, 1pm
B Grade: Castlemaine United Gold v Harcourt, Campbells Creek, 1pm

Good luck to everyone and let’s make some Grand FInals!

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