By One Short

The sudden COVID-19 lockdown on Friday deprived Grampians Cricket Association of one of the season’s most definitive rounds.

Following Cricket Victoria’s COVID  protocols, the only cricket played in the Grampians was Friday night’s under-16s. Senior, under-13s and Wimmera girls cricket missed out. 

Cricket will return this week for under-16s and seniors. Considering only one match remaining, the association has called off under-13 games for the rest of the year.

An under-16 grand final will be on Sunday at Central Park in Stawell starting at 10am. The association will provide umpires and balls for the 40-over-a-side match.

The association’s pennant committee, in a hastily convened meeting, decided not to play last week’s round at a later date. It instead decided to stick with an original draw and treat the round as a wash-out, allocating three points to each team.

 

 

It also worked through various scenarios should there be another lockdown.

The decision left St Andrews out of the four and with a bye in the last round, that is  where the Saints will stay. 

The final home-and-away round on Saturday involves scheduled matches between Swifts-Great Western and Youth Club at Stawell’s Central Park and Buangor-Tatyoon playing Pomonal at Tatyoon.

This last-round draw will probably be the same as semi-finals the week after. The only exception would be if Pomonal could defeat Buangor-Tatyoon, allowing the Combine to replace the Hawks on top of the ladder.

With finals imminent expect both teams to be at near full strength.

The Combine has a barrage of quicks to throw against Clubbers’ Nic Baird, Jarrod Illig and Trent Homden, who has recently been promoted to opener with success.

Cam Kimber has not played recently, so you would expect the all-rounder to return. 

The Combine batsmen might use this match to finalise its batting line-up against the Clubbers’ Kimber, Slorach, Healy, and newcomer Ben Newton. 

The Hawks at Tatyoon are also building towards their final 11 and will provide stiff opposition for Pomonal, which would like nothing better than to cause another upset – similar to their defeat of the Combine.

But while the Tigers’ bowling is more than adequate, their batting is their Achilles heel. They must all score runs against the most successful attack this season, and this includes Clayton Mackley, Matt Peal, Lynden Brewis and Lachy Green. While the results of this round are mainly academic, each side would  like to enter the finals on a high.

This week: Swifts-Great Western v Youth Club at Central Park, Stawell, Buangor-Tatyoon v Pomonal at Tatyoon, St Andrews, bye.

Last week: Abandoned.

Ladder: Buangor-Tatyoon 39 points, 1.87 percent: Swifts-Great Western 36, 2.40; Youth Club 24, 0.82; Pomonal 15, 0.44; St Andrews 12, 0.60.

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