Starting off batting first Yarrawonga compiled 4/196 and dismissed Ovens Valley United for 150 to win by 46 runs last Saturday at Stan Hargreaves Oval.
Opening batsman Ben Welsh made a brilliant 74 while Brock McCabe was unbeaten on a well made 62.
Captain Kyle Archibald was the only other batsman to make double figures when he made 38.
Ovens Valley United started the run chase in fine style with 64 runs on the board before B McCabe broke through.
The score moved along to 93 before the second wicket fell and from then on it was a struggle for Ovens Valley United.
The last 8 wickets fell for 56 runs. Main wicket takers for the Lakers were Aneeque Azam with 3/26 off 8 overs and Welsh who claimed 2/7 off 5.1 overs.
McCabe and Van Kreeck both took a wicket each.
A Res go down in close contest.
Gravy day saw A Reserve take a road trip to Myrtleford to take on Ovens Valley.
Bowling first it was Mr reliable in Andrew Dishot who as usual gave the batsmen nothing returning figures of 0/4 off 5 overs.
The Ovens lads got a bit of a roll on before Tom Lovell stemmed the tide with his leggies claiming 1/29 off his 8.
Statistician TJ Docking continued his good form picking up 2 wickets. After Ovens 40 overs, the target to reach was 180.
Runs started to flow at a great rate early but unfortunately so did wickets and before you could blink the score read 5/57.
Hard hitting John Taylor showed his ability to access all areas of the ground and along with Corey McIntosh showing his class, things turned in Yarrawonga’s favour.
With Taylor gone, brought TJ to the crease moving the scoreboard to 6/126 before one went under McIntosh’s bat and he had to depart for a well constructed 47.
With TJ out, the away team required 47 runs with only 2 wickets left. Fresh off the header Ollie Connell went to work manipulating the gaps along with Xav Mitchell before the later holed out to mid wicket.
Will Murphy played some great shots and the last pair putting on 26 unfortunately falling 7 runs short, Connell finished not out 21.
At the halfway mark of the season A res are in the top 2 positions on the ladder still with some improvements to make hoping for a strong finish in the new year.
B grade’s big win
City Colts 10/116 def by Yarrawonga Mulwala 8/188
This week B grade headed over to Wangaratta to take on City Colts.
After winning the toss and batting, Hudson Gillies and Charlie Jamieson opened up with Hudson out early.
This brought Hunter Fraunfelder to the middle and he and Charlie began to punish the bowlers, hitting them to all parts of the ground before Hunter was dismissed for 33. Geoff joined Charlie in the middle and played the supporting role as Charlie brought up his first 50 for the club playing a great innings.
This brought Lach Phillips to the crease and the two continued to score before Geoff was run out off a no ball for 26.
Quick wickets fell around Lach Phillips who finished up 26 not out before Xave Dowling made a quick fire 16 off 4 balls to drag the total to 8-188.
After the break Jyda House and Lach Phillips opened up both bowling tight line and length and claiming a wicket each without conceding many runs.
After the early wickets, the City Colts batsmen began to form a good partnership before a direct hit from Jack Connell created a spark for the Lakers.
Hunter Fraunfelder was then thrown the ball and was the pick of the bowlers, bowling stump to stump and claiming 4-20 off his 6 overs.
The ball was shared around before Xave Dowling came on and bowled a fiery spell to claim 3-2 off his 2 overs to have City Colts all out for 116.
B grade have another win to be undefeated leading into the break.
Vagg vanquishes visitors with vast victory
Yarrawonga Mulwala 3/301 def Gapsted 5/136.
Some days are just made for cricket. Last Saturday, Gravy Day, was one such day.
With festive season in full swing, the C Graders overcame a few unavailability’s in personnel to secure a mountainous win over Gapsted on the picturesque Victoria Park Number 2 oval.
Having again got the better of the coin toss, the Lakers had the opportunity to set target for the opposition to chase.
Out to open the innings were the pairing of Matthew “Blocker” Wilson and Darcy Hargreaves, who gleefully accepted the invitation to get a score on the board.
The openers were both keen and cautious, defending the good and pouncing on the poor, and in no time at all the first drinks break arrived with 55 in the book without loss, 4.58 runs per over were setting it up for the home team.
Acceleration was the obvious call after taking a swig and the pair rattled up 72 runs before the partnership was at last broken by the Gorillas, Wilson gone for an aggressive 44 missing a big swipe to be bowled.
Hargreaves was joined at the crease by Ben Pickering with no decline in the scoring rate. This pair advancing the Lakers to 106 on the last ball of the 20th over when Hargreaves found the hands of the fielder, dismissed for 34 off 57 balls faced.
The youngster proving very consistent with the bat this season as the opener with 158 C Grade runs.
Pickering was on 21 when Joshua Vagg sauntered to the middle at the start of the 21st over, with the travellers buoyed by their second breakthrough of the day.
Their optimism was soon dashed by batting of Pickering and Vagg.
A salvo of shots soon rang out around the oval as both batters took aim at the opposition bowling. It was a sight to be seen.
Boundaries became the order of the day and both batters dished up a smorgasbord of big hitting that resulted in Umpire Norm Welsh filing an RSI claim to the WDCA. Boundary followed boundary, sixes and fours flowed unabated.
The willow was freely swung, and true cricket lovers were treated to that majestic crack of the ball hitting the sweet spot time after time after time.
When the second drinks break arrived at the 24th over, the score 2 for 145 at an increase run rate of 6.04 per over.
Take note of these figures dear reader as things were about to get nuts.
With the final 12 overs to the finish yet to be negotiated, the batters pinned their ears back and unleashed.
Pickering was scoring freely, with crisp hits finding the gaps. Benjamin recorded his half century at a run a ball before a lofted shot was accepted and the Lakers lost their third and final wicket of the day.
All this time, Vagg, after giving Pickering a head start of 21 runs, overtook his batting partner, and reached his own 50 off only 22 balls.
Then being joined by Shaun Hawking, who is no slouch with stick in hand himself, Vagg went completely ballistic.
In a Gilchrist-like performance, Vagg registered his three figures off 50 deliveries, an astonishing strike rate 200.00, that demolished the bowling figures of the opposing bowlers.
Hawkings joined in the party with 41* off 14, which on any other day would have been the envy of his fellow batters, but Gravy Day belonged exclusively to Vagg, finishing red ink on 110 runs from 55 balls, with 12 fours and 7 sixes.
The last 12 overs saw Vagg, Pickering and Hawking combine to double the score and sending the total into the stratosphere of 3 for 301, recording 156 at13 runs per over for the last stanza.
36 fours and 11 sixes inflicting the damage during this monumental Lakers innings.
Ball in hand after another outstanding spread at arvo tea, the Lakers where content, confident and cohesive in the field.
The bowling of Ben Pickering (7-0-0-31) and Kade Michael (7-3-0-18) was as tight as a drum that gave few opportunities for the “Gappers” to score.
The pressure of an 8.38 runs per over requirement to win the game, could not be easily countered.
Few runs and no wickets were doing the job, but a bowling change saw Darcy Hargreaves spin his magic and Matthew “Blocker” Wilson flew horizontal to his left to reel in a one-handed screamer in gully.
Some Blocker magic of his own.
GCC losing their first to be 1 for 45. Lucas Pickering (4-1-1-3), Vagg (3-2-1-1) and Hargreaves (5-0-2-32) went BANG, BANG, BANG and the GCC were 4 for 65, with the Lakers in the driver’s seat (honk, honk).
The Gorillas got a partnership happening that realised 61 runs before a little Hawking’s (4-0-1-14) away swinger took the edge was accepted in the cordon.
With that, the fifth wicket proved to be the last of the day and compulsory closure saw the visitors finish on 5 for 136, giving the good guys the win by 165 runs.
Vagg named player of the match, daylight second.
Merry Christmas and a safe and successful 2025 to all in the Lakers family.
Other YMCC news
Several YMCC players participated in a charity match against Oaklands Cricket Club for the McGrath foundation cricket event.
Unfortunately YMCC got off to a bad start but managed to scrape through elevating Maddi to the junior/female role.
YMCC lost one game out of 6 to finish on top, winning the Semi-final convincingly but unfortunately with the bar opening at10:30am, it wasn’t great for enduring a 5:30ish GF match.
YMCC got rolled even more convincingly in GF but a great day was had with a lot of money made for Breast Cancer Nurses so that was the key.
The Oakland’s CC has the whole grand final live on their Facebook page, it’s 30mins of not magical viewing but was a laugh watching it back.
Van Kreek, represented North East Knights against Mallee Murray Suns, carding a very impressive four overs and bowled beautifully at the death, claiming a Maiden over and then three wickets in the last.
Kirsty and her Knights team
On Thursday the girls got back from Hamilton after competing in the Victorian Country Cup. Although they didn’t score well, the girls all showed huge growth over the week and had a ball.
Kirsty had a ball and showed some great batting (even if it doesn’t show on paper), even managing to crack 2x fours on the first day in 40°degree heat.
The club can’t wait to see what the future brings for you.