BELGRAVE SET FOR FINALS AS RECORD FALLS
By Steve Brown
Belgrave secured a finals berth in Reeves Shield after defeating neighbours Monbulk by four wickets on a day that will be remembered for Johnathon Levell’s brilliant 149 not out, lifting his season’s aggregate to a record breaking 704 @ 88. The 35 year old, dubbed “Penfolds” blasted a six to win the game and eclipse the record of 701 runs in a home and away season set by Ferntree Gully’s Dick Ballam in 1973. Levell has now earned the right to join the elite company of some of the association’s greatest batsmen such as Fraser, Chapman, Fairfull, Heath, Symons and Utting.
With a one day final round to play next Saturday, the Magpies join Knoxfield and The Basin as certain finals participants with Ferntree Gully clinging on to fourth position. Fifth placed Eildon Park is the only team outside the four who can make the finals if they defeat Johnson Park providing Ferntree Gully is toppled by Monbulk. In another twist, Knox Gardens, Mt Gate, Johnson Park and Upwey Tecoma can be relegated to Decoite Shield depending on results. Belgrave’s Levell batted all day as they chased 270 set by the Monbulk Hawks, whose bowlers struggled to take wickets, thus bowing out of contention. Dinusha Fernando gave Levell great support with a fine 54.
Eildon Park had the best of the batting conditions and successfully defended 297 against flag favourites Knoxfield who fell 18 runs short. Luke Scanlan went down fighting with 104 whilst Ben Gerloff showed he is a player of the future contributing 62. The loss won’t do the Knights any harm heading in to the sharp end of the season.
Ferntree Gully rebounded easily accounting for bottom side Upwey Tecoma by seven wickets. Blast from the past, Mario Catalano, returned to the first X1 top scoring with 76 and combined with in form keeper batsman Jayden Bradbury unbeaten on 64. The Blues face a tough test next week against Monbulk.
Knox Gardens 6/286 had too many runs in the bank for Johnson Park who lost the Devenish brothers, Stallworthy and Gaunt with just 15 runs on the board as Adam Wild (3/61) inflicted the early damage. The Sharks bottom order recovered partially moving the score to a respectable 223. They now face Eildon Park in the final round.
Mt Gate lost a vital game against The Basin by just 22 runs after failing to bat their full allotment of 80 overs. Scott Vozzo (4/32) and Jaryd Debernadi (3/43) cleaned up the Gators in the 76th over giving the Bears their sixth win on the trot.
Reeves Shield Ladder (Round 11)
Knoxfield 50, The Basin 44, Belgrave 36, Ferntree Gully 34, Eildon Park 28, Monbulk 26, Knox Gardens 24, Mt Gate 24, Johnson Park 22, Upwey Tecoma 22.
Norm Reeves Shield
Knox Gardens 6/286 (Butcher 109*McInerney 76) def Johnson Park 223 (Gstrein 38 Bourke 37 DeSilva 37 Wild 3/61)
Eildon Park 7/297 (C.Morris 137 B.Morris 38 Z.Wilson 3/57) def Knoxfield 280 Gerloff 62 L. Scanlan 104 Scholfield 45 Sinclair 4/61)
Ferntree Gully 3/192 (M. Catalano 76 Bradbury 64*) def Upwey Tecoma 181 (D. Howe 81 B. Galvin 6/34)
Belgrave 4/274 (Levell 149* Fernando 54) def Monbulk 270 (S.Cosstick 99 Emmett 34 M.Litterbach 4/72)
The Basin 207 (Rundle 41 J. Lee 31 Bunting 4/30 Wheeler 3/53) def Mountain Gate 185 (Bowden 38 Bunting 35 Vozzo 4/32 Debernadi 3/43)
DeCoite Shield
Auravale 226 (Inglis 4/45 Miles 52 Dodd 69 McDermott 40) def Lysterfield 143 (McDermott 5/42 MacDonald 3/33)
Upper Gully 6/241 (Balmford 104 Dowling 64) def Footballers 208 (Storey 42 McElroy 36 Lakshita 75 Luck 3/31)
South Belgrave 279 (A. Hart 54 J.McDermott 47 Barry 34 Sutherland 32) def St Johns Tecoma 9/187 (Evans 55 Sutherland 3/20)
Rowville 2/159 dec (Morsello 106*) & 4/140 (Morsello 58* Spencer 52 Blackman 34) def Knox Boronia Churches 79 & 224
Division 3
Knoxfield 7/191 (Sundaresh 65 Pimm 3/58) def Eildon Park 190 (Gaskin 59 Scanlan 5/33)
Belgrave 5/207 (Wood 97 Ayre 34* H. Emmett 3/30) def Monbulk 198
Ferntree Gully 6/200 (Diclaudio 57 Callaghan 51) def Upwey Tecoma 188 (R. Lizza 51*Berenato 45 Catalano 4/43)
The Basin 3/264 (Clarke 103 Rawnsley 88) def Mountain Gate 257 (Harris 57 B Croxford 38 K Croxford 38 Koster 4/75)
Division 4
Lysterfield 9/195 dec (Eagleton 58 Binks 39 Webb 3/31) def Auravale 105 (O’Neill 3/16)
South Belgrave 4/349 (Lawson 106* Ray 95 Maling 60) def St Johns Tecoma 190 (Chandler 50) & 112 (Grenda 82* Lawson 7/53)
Division 5
Lysterfield 4/253 (D'Rosario 52 Lapthorne 100*) def Knox/Boronia Churches 62 & 101 (VanMourik 4/24)
Knoxfield 7/442 (Harris 217 Pruysers 111) def Upper Gully 107
Eildon Park 5/412 (J. Hicks 154 Siwek 96 Farrell 58* Clark 45*) def Ferntree Gully 55 (Bowes 5/24) & 57 (Protest)
Division 6
Belgrave 2/190 (Wiseman 100*, Lee 100* Dodds 35*) def Knoxfield 278 (M. Plumridge 101 McInerney 45 Wylde 33* Collie 4/57)
Monbulk 6/305 (Simmonds 101* Dekkers 71) def The Basin 8/217 (Pollard 73 O’Sullivan 70)
Eildon Park 134 (Kallista 34 Walshe 33 VanDyk 3/17) & 5/118 dec (Casey 36) def Ferntree Gully 90 (Parker 44* Tibballs 3/17) & 8/129 (Hallo 40* Ibrahim 4/14) (Protest)
Division 7
Lysterfield 6/234 (Gwynne 45 Walker 50* Nicolopoulos 76) def Monbulk 232 (Badgery 66 Tibbals 62 Edwards 3/36)
Knox Gardens 6/361 (Grasser 100* Thompson 96) def Eildon Park 9/354 (Vadivelu 100* Downs 77 Pollard 54 Christiansen 3/38)
Mountain Gate 7/191 (Robinson 45 Stewart 37* Dalgleish 4/41) def Rowville 186 (Baulman 61 Young 4/53)
Upper Ferntree Gully 315 (MacGraw 3/43) def Auravale 306 (Richards 101* MacGraw 63)
Johnson Park 5/314 def St Johns Tecoma 8/227 (E. Glazner 100* S. Glazner 54 O’Neill 3/20)
B1
South Belgrave 6/161 (Murphy 45 Hutchinson 3/42) def St Johns Tecoma 157 (Topp 6/18 Miller 3/45)
Eildon Park 4/93 def Rowville 91 (Keir 3/14)
Waverley Wanderers 5/316 (Siriwardana 50* Solomons 52* Perera 50* Jayatillika 51*) def Upper Gully 49 (Perera 4/17)
B2
Ferntree Gully 4/200 (Greenall 50*) def Belgrave 7/193 (McNamara 50*)
Lysterfield 1/92 (Thompson 50*) def The Basin 87 (Niles 3/18)
