Sport
7 February, 2025
Victories help championship sides secure top four spots
THE Moyne Shire Division One Championship saw Allansford-Panmure, Merrivale and Koroit all record strong victories over the weekend.
Allansford-Panmure won the toss on home soil and elected to open proceedings with the bat in hand.
The Gators got off to a fast start, finishing their first innings 9/290 thanks to contributions from Declan Bourke (30), Lachlan Rea (85), Shaun Griffin (31) and Mack Mills (61).
Warrnambool’s Nicholas Frith claimed the most wickets with 3/55 from 19 overs, followed by Bishan Karunarathne with 2/48 from 13 and Dinusha Jayasinghe 2/34 from 15.
Warrnambool’s chance at the crease proved less than ideal after all wickets fell for just 56 runs – with only Seth Wallace (13) and Jason Mungean (11) reaching double figures.
Allansford-Panmure’s Josh Parsons boasted a five-wicket haul, surrendering just 22 runs from 10 overs, while Mills, Charlie James and James Mulheron all took a wicket while giving up six or fewer runs.
Electing to enforce the follow-on, Warrnambool returned to the crease but lost the first four wickets to Daniel Ryan inside 10 overs before falling 6-100 as the Gators cruised to victory.
Merrivale also earned a win on home soil, defeating Mortlake’s Championship side with nine wickets to spare.
Mortlake won the toss and elected to bat but fell after less than 35 overs having collected only 53 runs, with just one player recording double digit runs.
Marcus Bunney was the man to blame after taking an incredible eight wickets with only 19 runs surrendered from 17.3 overs.
Despite the strong bowling performance, Merrivale themselves struggled with the bat as the wickets fell for just 87, with Nicholas Sinnott and Bunney himself top scoring with 14 runs apiece.
But Mortlake could not find form during their second innings.
Merrivale made short work of the chase in their second innings, with Sinnott (21no) and Rhys Wallace (12no) steering Merrivale to victory.
Meanwhile, Koroit hit the road to take on Nirranda at Port Campbell.
Koroit won the toss and sent the Titans in to bat, who performed strongly to jump out to 10/101 with contributions from Brendan McMahon (23), Christopher Haberfield (19) and Ben Oates (14no).
Koroit’s Joshua Campbell proved a nightmare for Nirranda’s batters, posting results of 5/21 from 14 overs in addition to Noah Billings (3/22 from nine) and Patrick Brady (2/25 from 15).
Koroit’s turn at the crease started in red hot form with a 98-run partnership from Patrick Sinnott and Lachlan Rooke before the fall of Rooke’s wicket on 60.
But Nirranda wrestled back control as the remainder of the batters fell having added only a further 52 runs, finishing 10/150.
Jarryd Walsh performed best with the ball in hand, claiming four wickets while giving up 35 runs through 14 overs while Nelson Reason took two wickets from just four overs, surrendering 19 runs.
Samuel Haberfield, Bruce Alexander and Jhyce Bartlett rounded out the wicket takers.
In their second innings at bat, Nirranda was unable to replicate the success of its first innings – losing a wicket before earning a run.
McMahon (19) and Haberfield (16) steadied for a partnership of 33 before losing two further batters without adding to the total.
Nirranda ended its innings 10/79 with Campbell again proving strong with the ball in hand – claiming four wickets while giving up only 16 runs on 13 overs.
Kurt Howard also performed well, taking a trio of wickets with 13 runs from his nine overs.
Koroit only needed 11 overs in its second innings to chase down the Titans’ total, despite losing three wickets on its way to victory with seven wickets to spare.
Each of the three victors secured spots in the top four with the Gators, Merrivale and Koroit respectively trailing only Noorat Terang at the top of the table.
