Senior boys narrow defeat in cricket final

SCHOOL SPORT VICTORIA – SANDHURST DIVISON

Senior Cricket

Game 1 CMC vs Marist College Bendigo
The boys started the day winning the toss and electing to bat against Marist College. The boys hit a snag early as Henry Edwards was dismissed for eight runs. However, Jasper Cheesman (33) and Wil Pinniger (46) took to the Marist attack, racing to score 99 off the first 10 overs. The dismissal of Pinniger unfortunately was the first of the next eight, as wickets fell consistently for the next 10 overs. The boys did manage to bat out their 20 overs and finished at 9/155.

Marist got off to a steady start getting to the fourth over before Jack Wilson was able to break through with the score on 37. The bowling from there was tight and consistent and the fall of wickets was continuous. All bowlers hit a good length and were rewarded with wickets for their efforts.

Marist struggled to make any real headway and were bowled out in the sixteenth over for 96. The best of the bowlers was Declan Stevenson 2/0, Xavier McNamara 2/1 and Kael Rainey 2/9. The win was a great start to the 2023 campaign for the boys and they qualified for the final which was to be played against Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

Game 2 CMC vs BSSC
Winning the toss again, captain Jasper Cheesman elected to stay with the winning formula and bat. It was, however, a case of déjà vu as Edwards was again dismissed in the second over. Cheesman (36) and Pinniger (28) then went to work, hitting the boundary frequently, and ticking the runs over, until Cheesman was caught trying to up the run rate. Tobie Travaglia came to the crease and also hit the ball well, collecting a valuable score (42) in the middle overs. He was well supported by Jack Smith (18no) as the boys went on to make a very competitive 139 off their 20 overs.

The CMC boys went into the field confident of being able to defend the total set, however, some early erratic bowling did not help the cause as BSSC were none for 28 off 4.5 overs. It was then that Henry Edwards struck, taking the first wicket and putting a stop to the run flow for a few overs. BSSC then started to hit a few boundaries, and the game was beginning to get away from the boys. Another wicket to Edwards (2/15) and then two to Declan Stevenson (2/26) and one to Xavier McNamara (1/8) saw the boys get back into the game.

With three overs to go, BSSC needed a run per ball to win. Despite some great balls being sent down, the few that were off-line were punished by BSSC and they reached the required total of 140 with just 2 balls to spare.

It was a terrific game by both teams, and the boys should be very proud of their efforts. Thanks to Mr Sam Harreman for Umpiring, and Mrs Julieanne Hewitt who came along to score for the day.

Back L-R: Jasper Cheesman, Jack Wilson, Wil Pinniger, Tobie Travaglia, Dylan Waters, Declan Stevenson
Front L-R: Archer Billings, Ethan McMahon, Kael Rainey, Henry Edwards, Jack Smith, Xavier McNamara